No more mid-year exams means less stress right?
Apparently not. At least for some parents and students.
Singaporeans are getting anxious following the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) recent announcement of the removal of mid-year exams starting from 2019.
Gavin’s Tuition Centre has just the solution for them.
In light of MOE’s announcement, Gavin’s Tuition Centre has promised that it would keep its in-house mid-year and end-year exams.
They made this decision based on a survey conducted on 130 parents. 90% expressed concern about tracking their children’s progress once exams are removed.
The rising worry and a corresponding demand for assessment has encouraged the tuition centre to extend its existing exams to students who aren’t enrolled at any of its centres.
From 2019, anyone can sign up to sit for exams at Gavin’s Tuition Centre if they pay an undisclosed fee.
It’s unclear if this policy extends to all levels, as the centre offers tuition services from Primary to Junior College subjects.
But didn’t Education Minister Ong Ye Kung ask for tuition centres to do away with exams too?
He did.
Mr Ong also mentioned that simulating exam conditions would be “preying on the apprehension and anxieties of parents and students“.
So why is Gavin’s Tuition Centre proceeding with its plans?
The reason is simple.
Parents want assessments so that they can monitor how much their children are learning, and the centre is trying to meet this demand.
Before we accuse the centre of doing exactly what Mr Ong warned not to do, we should bear in mind that it seems like these parents and students are expressing genuine anxiety about the new arrangement.
The sudden removal of exams may leave them a little lost about how to check on the children’s learning.
Perhaps it would help them better adapt to the if traditional assessments are kept in place for a while more, until they ease into the new system.
Exams aside, Gavin’s Tuition Centre strictly adheres to MOE’s curriculum and syllabus and will be looking to embrace the changes in its own way.
The centre will be piloting “stress-free learning programmes” which will allow students to learn through innovative means like robotics and coding.
In terms of classes offered, the centre provides a wide range of subjects beginning from the pre-school level all the way up to junior college.
For the full list of subjects offered, visit the centre’s website here.
Gavin’s Tuition Centre also has branches at Tampines, Hougang and Marymount.
The fast-approaching changes to the exam system will be a drastic shift for parents and students.
Tuition centres that supplement learning at home and in schools, will have to come up with ways to help with the transition.
Maybe Gavin’s Tuition Centre is on to something — ameliorating the anxiety that parents and students face on the ground, when it comes to formal assessments.
But now that parents may be paying for exams in our tuition centres, perhaps the issue of exam anxiety has shifted down the education food chain, rather than gone away completely.
Featured image from Google Maps.
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