The Need For Tuition Was Caused By MOE

Tuition is an evergreen essential in grades-obsessed Singapore, placing it on par with food and necessities. Even Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong had a private tutor, the prominent economist the late Professor Lim Chong Yah, when he sat for his A level examinations. I know many children of Ministers and MPs also have tuition, a hushed knowledge that has made its way to the common man.

As a semi-parent to my nieces and nephews, I have seen how the appropriate teaching can ignite the spark of passion for learning, whether by school teachers or tuition teachers. As a tutor, I have also seen the agony of parents when trying to grapple with how to help their children. As an educator of over 10 years, I do not see tuition as the evil that causes parents or children stress, but these are induced by MOE itself.

While Singapore pride itself on being progressive and veering away from a paper-based society, we know that which school you go to matter, especially in the contacts of old boys’ or old girls’ club. When applying for jobs, some companies will ask for your results in PSLE, O levels or A levels, with civil service being equally guilty of that.

Yes, they have taken away exams from p1 – p3/p4/p5, but what happens is students ultimately have to sit for the PSLE exam, which is, well an exam.  Parents lamented that their children’s schools do not have exams and cannot prepare them for the stamina or vigorousness required for the national exam eg. English written paper (1h 10mins + 1h 50mins).

How do you use another yardstick to track their progress when ultimately the secondary school posting exercise uses the most fundamental and timeless yardstick – exams? 

When I first knew of the 2016 policy that changed the old T-score system to the now PSLE 'Achievement Levels (AL) Scoring System' in 2021, I knew it was going to be a major stress for parents.

In the past you can score as such:
T-score system
Math 98, English 84, Science 89, Chinese 84 – and you get 266.25 (average x 3) out of 300, making you eligible to go to Raffles which typically needs a score of 265 and above). You have a plethora of other schools to choose from – Nanyang, Dunman, St Nicholas, Singapore Chinese girls, etc.

AL System
Now the same score will be Math AL1, English AL3, Science AL2, Chinese AL3 – total 9. This effectively prices you out of Raffles which needs an AL of 4-6. Suddenly you are restricted to fewer “good” schools.

It is no wonder parents are worried and are sending their kids to tuition to maintain 90 marks and above. In fact, most of my ex-schoolmates agreed that we are most likely unable to enter our alma mater if we are to sit for PSLE under the current system.

Imagine scoring 90 x 4 (AL 8; 270) vs 89 x 4 (AL 8, 267) vs 84 x 4 (AL 12, 252), the difference between 8 or 16 marks makes a whole world of difference.

Under the old T score, 252 would still open your doors to “good” schools like Singapore Chinese Girls (non-affiliated), Victoria, Cedar, River Valley (which is not possible with AL12 now).

If we look at the old and new PSLE scoring system, you would realise that the old system is much more lenient and forgiving.

The syllabus too has become more difficult – more difficult math paper (now that they can use calculator, questions are harder). For science, you need the right key words even if you understand the material perfectly. I have seen 2 exact questions by 2 different schools and they are looking out for slightly different keywords! English has many inferences questions.

My fellow tutors may have used “advertising tactics” but that is a normal in the world of business. Take F&B for instance, Hai Di Lao gives free manicures, stuff toys, $1 Haagen Daas ice cream (similar to tuition centers that give incentives to students) , a Shi Li Fang promoter is always giving out flyers in between Orchard Central and 313, my friendly neighbourhood Watsons salesperson is always telling me about the sales and how I will regret not buying some beauty products (no FOMO as I know there is always some sales). Colgate is always saying 9 in 10 dentists recommend their toothpaste but I still use Oral B.

I don’t see how advertising is the reason for stressing parents out, unless a particular center or individual is cornering parents and students in room and forcing them to sign a package (*looks at beauty salons*). Tuition is just a tool to help remedy a problem where schools are not solving.

I could go on about the inefficiency of the local school system, but I do believe that the root of the problem lies with MOE and not tuition.