According to the now defuncted Todayonline, 12 Sep 2019, it reported that households in Singapore spent about S$ 1.4 billion on tuition between October 2017 and September 2018, especially in a tiny country with a population of 5.7 million people.
Tuition is indeed a multi-billion dollar industry in Singapore. Education plays a crucial role in the country’s culture, with many parents emphasising academic performance. This has led to a flourishing private tuition industry, which includes individual tutors and tuition centres offering extra lessons in various subjects, particularly mathematics, science, English, and even soft skills.
Tuition has become so ingrained in Singapore’s education system that many students attend additional lessons outside regular school hours. According to recent reports, the private tuition market in Singapore is valued at over SGD $1 billion annually. This figure includes both private one-on-one tutoring and group lessons provided by tuition centres.
Various factors drive the demand for tuition services:
High Academic Expectations: Singapore’s education system is known for its rigour, and the national exams, such as the PSLE (Primary School Leaving Examination), O-Levels, and A-Levels, are highly competitive.
Parental Pressure: Many parents see tuition as a means to ensure their children succeed academically, believing that extra lessons can improve their grades and prospects.
Educational Advancements: With the rise of EdTech, online tuition services have also grown, providing more flexible and accessible learning options. Tuition centres and private tutors cater to various academic levels, from primary school students to pre-university programs. Despite the high tuition costs, many parents consider it a necessary investment to ensure their children’s success in a competitive job market.
A Straits Times article dated 5 Feb 2025, “MOE studying how to discourage tuition centres from playing on parents’ fears“, made me write on this topic. It said, “MOE is studying ways to discourage tuition centres from undesirable advertising practices that tap into parents’ anxieties and fear of missing out”. Indeed. The pressure does not come from such advertising but from the tuition increase, centres sprouting from shopping centres to neighbourhood centres.
My son is going for PSLE this year. Luckily, I have an uncle, a retired primary school Chinese teacher who just retired from giving tuition. He had rejected many of his students, who were even prepared to make adjustments to go to his place for tuition instead of him going to their houses. Next, he stays far from where I am housed in Pasir Ris. A dual bus change journey can easily take 45 minutes in each direction. He picked up Zoom, and I spent time with him so that he could become fluent in the technology. He has to learn how to open PDF files, edit (mark the scripts), and use other technologies like WhatsApp and a 2nd camera to show Chinese text that he writes on paper. Of course, there were kinks initially, but we managed to overcome them, and now I can safely leave the two of them during tuition.
According to the Household Expenditure Survey 2023 by the Department of Statistics (DOS), the tuition business has escalated to SGD $1.8 billion. The study also showed differences in tuition spending between households of different income levels. Higher-income families tend to use their “resources and connections” to support their children’s development, and they tend to enrol their children in more enrichment classes or pricier tuition in the light that it would help the young ones do better in their studies.
Based on the available data, the total household expenditure on private tuition in Singapore for the specified years is as follows:
| Survey Year | Total Expenditure on Private Tuition (SGD) |
|---|---|
| 2012/13 | $1.1 billion |
| 2017/18 | $1.4 billion |
| 2023 | $1.8 billion |
These figures indicate a consistent increase in spending on private tuition over the years. In 2012/13, households collectively spent $1.1 billion, which rose to $1.4 billion in 2017/18 and increased to $1.8 billion in 2023. This upward trend reflects the growing emphasis on supplementary education
I wonder if someone ever stops and wonders why schools are not functioning like tuition centres. Class size, overarching curriculum to catch up, plus undue pressure on the educators to race against time in academic and time used for non-academic areas. Why are the 1.5-2 hours of tuition more valuable, if not more effective, than the school lessons? Were the tuition centres able to teach the areas with a high chance of questions appearing in those areas? Years ago, we started e-learning, which is supposed to help impart knowledge to the students. Is it used, or is it effectively used?
While some have critiqued this trend, arguing that it places undue pressure on students and parents (and the haves vs the have-nots), the tuition industry continues to grow and adapt, providing services not only for academic subjects but also for niche areas such as coding, robotics, and even music and sports.
Well, I hope I will strike Toto—$12 million this Friday night—so I can probably send my poor kid to school to learn and not suffer.
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