The issue of private tuition has been repeatedly raised in Parliament over the years, with MPs voicing concerns that Singaporean kids are relying too much on private tuition.

Members of Parliament have raised concerns of tuition becoming a “crutch” for students, making them “lose the skill of self-directed learning”.

On the other hand, some are also worried that tuition has become very pervasive, creating an additional source of stress for students who are forced to compete with each other.

In my opinion, I strongly believe in private tuition where the student has genuine difficulty understanding the concepts taught in school. Sometimes, it is hard for a student to understand the subject matter completely in a classroom environment, especially in schools that have large class sizes. A private tutor, or a one-to-one home tutor, may be necessary in such cases to guide the student through the more difficult concepts and reinforce his or her understanding of the material.

In such cases, students are not using tuition as a “crutch”. They are using tuition as a means of enhancing their own understanding and keeping up with the rest of the class. Far from “losing the skill of self-directed learning”, it is in fact the job of the private tutor to motivate the student and provide encouragement so that the student can eventually become an independent learner.

I understand that many people are becoming concerned that parents are exhibiting “kiasuism” and are urging their children to go for tuition to avoid “losing out” to others. In some cases, that is indeed true. Tuition should not be merely for its own sake. There should be a genuine need and a desire to improve oneself. Tuition should not cause extra stress and burden to the student. Instead, a good tutor should be able to ease a student’s burden by clarifying doubts and de-mystifying concepts so that the student has better confidence tackling his or her school work.

I believe many parents and students are able to differentiate between what constitutes genuine needs and what constitutes mere “kiasuism”.

Also, in response to the observation that even polytechnic students (and students of higher educational institutions) appear to require tuition, I believe that this is the natural outcome when educational institutions become more ambitious and start to cram more material into their coursework. Over the years, we have seen polytechnic and university curricula expand to a point where some students genuinely need help coping with all the advanced material they are being made to master in a short period of time.

I personally get many enquiries from undergraduate students and even post-graduate students, requesting help in understanding advanced concepts in mathematics such as multi-variate calculus, mathematical statistics, econometrics, regression analysis, linear algebra, abstract algebra, and so on.

My students have benefited from private (one to one) home tuition. They have gained confidence tackling the difficult concepts presented to them, and have benefited from the personalized attention that one to one tuition provides them.

At school or at tuition centres, it is difficult to give each and every student such individualized, personal attention. That is where home tutors like myself come in. I strongly believe that well-qualified tutors like myself have a role to play in helping students strengthen their academic foundations and achieve better grades.