May 14, 2018

Private tuition has had the bad reputation for engendering an overly-competitive society, but should it really be banned for good?

NUS Lecturer in the Dept of Economics Kelvin Seah tells The Straits Times banning tuition might in fact be counterproductive. Raising the example of South Korea’s tuition ban implemented during the 1980s, he relates the emergence of a black market for tuition services and a rise in tuition fees. The ban that was eventually lifted in 2000, makes a strong argument against completely banning tuition in Singapore.

Rather than completely prohibiting tuition, a more effective way of discouraging tuition among Singaporean parents would be to alter the education system. If less emphasis were placed on academic achievement, there is a likelihood parents will not view tuition as indispensable for their children. Alternative considerations can be given to non-academic skills and qualities when it comes to school admissions, allowing students to have more opportunities in terms of qualifications for education. Seah mentions that this is precisely the model Singapore has chosen to adopt, and though the demand for tuition will not vanish overnight, the intense rivalry would be reduced in time.

Read the full article here.