16th August 2010 9:00
By Blue Tutors
A recent article on Google news has told of the pressure on students in Singapore even before they enter primary school. A five year old Singaporean boy, Timothy Lee goes to Kindergarten from Monday to Friday, but also attends private tuition on Saturdays, where he is taught phonics and the abacus to give him a grounding in reading and mathematics. Timothy’s mother believes that the tutoring is important, and Timothy himself said: “I don’t feel tired. I get to meet my friends and we sometimes play games in class,“
Parents throughout Singapore are paying what some would consider extortionate amounts for a tutor for their children. It’s claimed the reason is because of the dreaded PSLE (Primary School leaving Exam), which guarantees students of a place at a good secondary school, which generally leads to them attending a top university, rather than a polytechnic college.
The companies offering private tuition are obviously cashing in on the demand from parents to give their children a head-start in their education. A website called KiasuParents.com (Kiasu meaning overly-competitive) claims to receive more than 2 million hits per month from parents looking for the best tutors. It’s also reported annual revenues of £250 million from its learning centres, which excludes the market for home tutors, another thriving economy.