By Mavis Toh, ST
Call it the private life of Brian. Primary 4 pupil Brian Lim has three private home tutors, each coaching him on a different subject.
Tuesdays: English; Wednesdays: Chinese; and Thursdays and Sundays: Maths.
His mother, Mrs S.L. Lim, says simply: ‘The tuition is necessary, or he will lag behind his classmates because they all have tutors too.’
Mrs Lim, 38, an accountant, and her son are not alone. So pervasive is the practice that wags have called Singapore the ‘tuition nation’.
The tuition business is booming, and more parents are signing up their kindergarten and nursery-level children as well, tuition providers say.
Just two weeks ago, five parents wrote in to The Straits Times’ Forum page, commenting on the country’s ‘tuition syndrome’. They knew of Singaporean parents enrolling their children in multiple tuition centres, some even shelling out up to $3,000 a month.
Booming business
A Sunday Times poll last week of 100 primary, secondary and junior college students found that only three students do not have any tuition at all.
Of the other 97 students, 49 engage private tutors while 32 attend classes at tuition centres. 16 have both ‘types’ of coaching.
The most popular subjects are Maths and English, and a session typically lasts two hours, whether held at home or at a centre.
Private tutors do not need to register with the Ministry of Education (MOE). They may advertise in a newspaper’s classified section but their best ’sales pitch’ is word-of-mouth recommendation.
They can also register with tuition agencies which match them with students.
MOE requires tuition centres to be registered as schools.
Tuition agencies, which play middleman between students and tutors, are commercial set-ups usually registered as a business with the Accounting and Corporate Regulating Authority.
Figures from the Singapore Department of Statistics show that there were 417 tuition centres in 2005, up from 387 in 2004. In total, their annual turnover was about $110.6 million in 2005 and $105.9 million in 2004.
MOE statistics show that there are currently 1,231 registered private schools, of which 425 are tuition centres.
The Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) said that there were 17 complaints about the tuition business in 2006 as well as last year.
For this year, five complaints have been lodged to date.
When The Sunday Times spoke to 10 tuition agencies, most claim to have a pool of some 4,000 tutors.
The director of Xue Hai Tutorial Centre, Dr Low Boon Yong, said his centre opened three branches within a year. He has also received more than 30 inquiries about franchising his business.
Dr Low, who is also a senior consultant in orthopaedic surgery at Changi General Hospital, said all this activity is ‘a testament of the good business tuition centres are making’.
His centre offers tuition on core subjects.
Starting young
Tuition centres say students sent to them are getting younger.
Aspire Home Tuition’s spokesman said parents of kindergarten and nursery-level children have been asking for phonics tutors, so that these kids can have an early start in learning to speak English properly.
The spokesman for Score tuition agency said that two in 10 requests are now for kindergarten tutors.
He added: ‘Parents want tutors to teach their kids how to read properly, to help them build a strong foundation.’
And it seems now that ’smart kids’ have also caught the tuition syndrome. Mr Stanley Tan, 43, a full-time tutor for 16 years, has noticed a change in his clientele.
‘Previously, only students who are failing or barely passing their subjects come to me for tuition,’ said Mr Tan, who has 14 students. ‘Now, even those scoring distinctions – 80 and 90 marks – are coming for tuition.’
To cater to this seemingly insatiable demand, education centre chain SmartLab Education launched an online service this month.
It now offers students a ‘virtual classroom’ where they can log in from home to post questions to teachers on messaging systems or virtual whiteboards.
SmartLab’s managing director Hazel Poa said its aim is to eventually enable students to get help from tutors at all times.
Its online tuition service costs between $49 and $79 monthly, and caters to upper secondary and junior college students.
The market rate for private one-on-one home tuition is between $10 and $150 an hour, depending on the student’s level and the tutor’s qualifications.
Group tuition classes cost between $60 and $350 monthly.
Necessary, say parents
From the Sunday Times survey, 12 students said their parents spend $500 or more monthly on their tuition fees.
Dr Low of Xue Hai Tutorial Centre estimates that the majority of parents spend $250 monthly on tuition for each primary-level child. Secondary-level tuition will set parents back by about $400 monthly.
Parents said they are willing to fork out such sums because tuition is increasingly seen as a necessity.
SmartLab’s Ms Poa offered this explanation: ‘When everyone else is getting extra help, it raises standards all round and even schools start to expect you to get tuition.’
Madam Choo Swee Lin, 49, a manager, is one parent who initially resisted sending her son for tuition. She eventually gave in when she found her son, now 13, lagging behind his classmates when he went on to secondary school.
‘I regret not sending him for tuition earlier, as his foundation is now so weak,’ said Madam Choo. ‘I now tell all my friends with school-going children that tuition is very necessary.’
She pays $350 a month in total to her son’s three tutors, who teach Maths, English and Chinese.
Another parent, marketing manager Tan Eng Hong, 50, was shocked when his Secondary 4 son’s teacher told him to engage a private tutor.
‘The school conveniently pushed the ball back to parents, to tell us to engage private tutors for our kids,’ he said. ‘This is a serious failure in the education system.’
Singaporeans have become ‘over-dependent’ on tuition, he felt. Mr Tan signed his son up for a maths tuition class at $300 for 10 sessions.
Help or hindrance?
MOE’s stance is that it understands parents want the best for their children and that it is their decision whether to engage tutors.
It also advised parents to allow their children sufficient rest and avoid cramming their time with too much tuition.
It added that Singapore’s schools provide a ‘holistic education’ to meet the educational needs of students.
‘Students will be adequately prepared for the demands of the school’s curriculum and national exams by their schools,’ it said.
A secondary school teacher, who wanted to be known only as Mr Ang, felt that tuition has its pros and cons.
It helps those who are ’slower’ or shy in class. One flipside, however, is that students will not pay attention in class because they can ‘turn to their tutors for help later’, he noted.
Other teachers The Sunday Times spoke to agreed that it has become harder to ensure that every student can cope in class. Co-curricular activities, marking of students’ work and administrative matters leave teachers little time to provide individual classroom coaching.
Meanwhile, among the 97 students in the Sunday Times survey who have tuition, 68 found it ‘useful’ and 64 even found it ‘enjoyable’.
Brian definitely says he cannot do without tuition, even if it is tiring.
He said: ‘Sometimes I wish I can replace tuition time with computer games, but then I won’t be able to catch up with the others in class.’
School teacher does it for free
Four years ago, Mr Anthony Fok started Xue Hai Tutorial Centre with only 25 students.
Now, there are five branches in Singapore with about 600 students in total.
Instead of basking in the success of his venture, Mr Fok sold all his shares to his business partner last year and switched to teaching full-time at Hong Kah Secondary School, covering Principles of Accounts and Mathematics.
The 25-year-old Nanyang Technological University accountacy graduate said: ‘I feel more fulfilled teaching in a school because I can help all kinds of students there, even the poor ones who cannot afford tuition.’
However, Mr Fok continues to teach the 80 students under his charge at Xue Hai.
The tuition centre charges $100 for four lessons at the secondary level and $150 at the junior college level.
He does not receive any salary for his lessons at the tuition centre, where he teaches Economics and English. He said: ‘I teach for free here partly to help out, but mostly because I really like this job. As most of the students started with me long ago, we have become quite close.’
As he is well known for his ability to deliver results, parents try all means to put their children in his class.
Last year, a parent offered him $250 an hour to teach her JC son Economics three months before the A levels. Although Mr Fok rejected the amount offered, he accepted the student because he was ‘hardworking and really willing to learn’.
The student, who used to fail the subject badly, got an A for his exams and even went overseas on a scholarship.
Mr Fok spends his weekdays concentrating on teaching his students in school, but his weekends are fully packed with classes at Xue Hai.
When asked if his family and girlfriend minded his busy schedule, he said: ‘I’ve been busy all along, even when I was in university, so they understand. I just need to plan and manage my time well.’
From $220 monthly takings to $20,000
In the first three months of becoming a full-time tutor, Mr Phang Yu Hon earned a mere $220 monthly from his one student.
Now, the physics tutor has close to 90 students and earns about $20,000 a month.
The 41-year-old gave up his research engineer job after four years at the Ministry of Defence in 1994 and decided to tutor full-time.
‘I had been giving part-time tuition and found I had a flair for teaching,’ said Mr Phang.
He said it is not uncommon now for an entire extended family of children to attend his sessions.
‘Word gets around and, year after year, cousins, siblings, the whole family, they come back to me for tuition,’ he said.
Mr Phang has turned one of the rooms in his three-room Bishan flat into a mini-classroom, with desks, chairs and a whiteboard.
On weekdays, he gives lessons from 7 to 9pm.
Weekends are packed with classes from 12.30 to 9pm.
Until two years ago, MrPhang was ‘running around the island’ giving individual one-on-one sessions.
‘Group tuition can be achieved only by tutors who have reached a certain degree of stature and experience,’ he said.
‘When I started, I gave individual sessions, driving around Singapore like a taxi driver.’
The full-time tutor of 14 years was a Raffles Institution student.
He graduated with first-class honours in electrical engineering from the National University of Singapore.
Mr Phang, who holds classes every day, has turned one of the rooms in his three-room Bishan flat into a mini-classroom.
She makes study a fun ride for students
With her help, 95 per cent of her students score As – in maths and science.
And every top student in her tuition groups is rewarded with a ride in her ‘cool’ two-door Renault convertible.
Ms Laura Oh, 26, is a Nanyang Technological University materials engineering graduate turned full-time tutor. She specialises in maths and science subjects from primary to junior college level.
A private tutor for the past 10 years, she now takes home a ’substantial five-figure salary’ each month.
She believes her popularity derives from selling more than knowledge. ‘It’s a whole package – friendship, values and customised assessment material,’ she said.
Ms Oh has about 80 students under her charge: 15 come for one-on-one sessions and the rest for group tuition.
She is so popular that there is a queue of 31 students waiting to join her classes.
One parent, she recalled, even rang her every two days to check if there were any vacancies for her son.
Ms Oh, who is single, is also a shrewd businesswoman. She has 10 full-time tutors working for her. Very often, students attend lessons at her Loyang condominium unit.
Otherwise, she goes to students’ homes.
While she said tuition ‘is now a necessity because everyone is so competitive’, she feels a good tutor helps a student shorten the learning process so as to hit ‘his peak’.
Ever energetic, she has also written a series of children’s stories revolving around the adventures of her and her dog, titled Laura And Chester.
The stories involve maths and science concepts, told in a fun way.
Drama spices things up
‘I don’t guarantee results, but they always get them,’ said Mr Tong Yee.
‘Them’ would mean distinctions or at least very good grades in one of those hard-to-ace subjects: General Paper (GP) and English.
That is why the 34-year-old former teacher’s tuition centre, School Of Thought (SOT), which he set up with three friends, has 170 students on its waiting list.
About 400 students are enrolled currently.
Mr Tong does not admit it, but he clearly is the ’star’ at SOT. The other tutors take about eight classes a week, but he handles 16. Each class has 12 students at most.
Mr Tong, who teaches only GP and English, said that his students did well because they were encouraged to ‘genuinely care about what they write’. His students ‘never sleep’ in class, he said.
The centre charges $180 a month for four GP sessions.
Mr Tong, who majored in drama at the National University of Singapore, thinks that his personality is what connects him with his students: ‘I find it very easy to dramatise issues and draw out an audience.’
And he always makes a point of availing himself to his students, often playing the role of a counsellor.
Mr Tong and his colleagues produce a monthly magazine, Broader Perspectives, which has news analyses and essay tips. About 16,000 copies are sold a year and eight junior colleges have made it compulsory reading for their students.
Mr Tong makes about $11,000 a month from teaching, directorial fees and the magazine’s earnings.
SOT’s founders have now started a cafe too. Its name? Food For Thought, of course.
Maths guru ’saves’ kids
A poster in the room at Goldhill Centre reads: ‘Miss Loi’s temple, enter and be saved.’
Joss Sticks is the name of Ms Celine Loi’s tuition centre, where at least 20 students walk in every weekend to work on their maths. The full-time tutor of eight years has about 80 students under her charge now, each paying $60 a lesson.
The maths guru earns a five-figure monthly income from tutoring. News of her centre spread by word of mouth and also through her website (www.exampapers.com.sg).
The interactive webpage of the 33-year-old, who is single, is laced with humour. For example, students can avail themselves of her services for the ‘effective prevention of last-minute Buddha foot-hugging syndrome’, a Chinese idiom for last-minute exam cramming.
Ms Loi also sells exam papers at about $60 a subject on her site.
The maths graduate from the National University of Singapore has at least 10 students on her waiting list now.
She also has no qualms in ’sacking’ any student. ‘I tell those who refuse to work hard and do not need tuition not to come back,’ she said.
Her ‘favourite’ ones are those with an F9 grade. Every year, a month before the final exams, Ms Loi gets SOS messages from at least 10 such students.
‘I had students who scored less than 10 marks for their preliminary exams and ended up with an A in the O-level exams,’ she said.
Ms Loi typically has a 3 to 10pm workday. On school holidays and weekends, she works from 8am to 10pm. But when the exams draw nearer, she works past 11pm at times.
‘Sometimes, I get gastric pains because I don’t have time for meals,’ she said. ‘I also don’t have much personal time.’
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