Education ● Parents seem persuaded that tuition is not optional

I refer to the latest government survey on household expenditure, which showed that families in Singapore spent $1.8 billion on private tuition for their children in 2023 (Spending by S'pore families on private tuition rises to $1.8 billion in 2023, Jan 19).

- Maybel Chong

Have efforts by the Ministry of Education (MOE) to de-emphasise the obsession with academic performance achieved the opposite effect?

Having been in the private education industry for over a decade, I have concluded that MOE's moves to remove mid-year examinations and change the PSLE scoring system have instead heightened parents' anxiety and persuaded them that tuition is a necessity, not an option.