Singapore families spent S$1.8 billion on private tuition in 2023, up from S$1.4 billion in 2018 and S$1.1 billion in 2013.
Those figures are often used as evidence that Singapore has become too dependent on tuition.
But after more than a decade working with parents, students and tutors, I think the more useful question isn’t whether tuition is good or bad.
It’s why so many families feel they can’t afford to opt out.
Tuition, at its simplest, is extra help. A child might be struggling with a subject, losing confidence, or preparing for an exam, and there’s nothing unhealthy about that.
The problem begins when tuition stops being driven by a child’s needs and starts being driven by fear that somebody else’s child is doing more.
That’s when extra help becomes an arms race.
Source: Genius Mind Home Tuition
The dynamics are familiar.
A parent hears a classmate has started tuition. A popular programme is fully booked. A child already scoring well gets a second tutor, so the first no longer feels like enough.
Each decision seems rational alone. But together, they create a race nobody consciously chose.
I don’t think it’s fair to dismiss this as simply “kiasu parenting”. Parents are responding to a competitive environment and to the fear of one day wondering if they could have done more.
Students drive demand too, but the tuition industry has a role to play as well.
In February 2025, then-Education Minister Chan Chun Sing criticised tuition providers that create a fear of missing out among parents, CNA reported.
The Ministry of Education has since worked with the advertising industry on a code of conduct for the sector.
As someone inside the industry, I think we should acknowledge this uncomfortable point: tuition should solve anxiety, not sell it.
Source: Genius Mind Home Tuition
There’s a difference between tuition as intervention and tuition as insurance. If a student is failing and needs help, few would question it.
The harder conversation is about children already coping well, where tuition gets added not because anything is wrong, but because parents fear doing nothing will disadvantage their child.
That creates a moving finish line. A B grade becomes an A; an A must become an A1.
There’s nothing wrong with ambition. But we should make sure it doesn’t quietly become anxiety.
Source: Chris Liverani on Unsplash. For illustration purposes only.
I run a home tuition agency, so I obviously believe tuition can be valuable, particularly one-to-one tuition, when the issue isn’t effort but a mismatch in pace or learning style.
But more tuition isn’t automatically better tuition.
One principle I use with parents is the “minimum effective dose”: enough support to solve the problem, not so much that it consumes the rest of childhood.
A child may need help with one subject, not four. After a few months, ask whether it’s still necessary: is the child improving, growing more confident, and more independent?
Good tuition should eventually make a student less dependent on tuition. If a child can say, “I understand this now, I think I can manage on my own”, that’s success.
Singapore’s education system has made real changes to reduce competition.
The PSLE T-score was replaced with wider Achievement Level bands from 2021, weighted assessments for Primary 1 and 2 were removed from 2019, and mid-year examinations have been progressively phased out across primary, secondary, junior college and Millennia Institute levels.
These are meaningful changes. But if the underlying fear of falling behind remains, competition simply moves outside the school gates.
You can remove an exam; you can’t legislate away anxiety.
Before enrolling a child in tuition, I’d encourage parents to ask: what problem are we trying to solve?
“My child doesn’t understand fractions” is a problem. “Everyone else seems to have tuition” is a fear. The difference matters.
Parents should also look at their child’s entire week, not each activity in isolation.
School, homework, CCA, enrichment and several tuition classes may each look manageable alone.
Combined, they can leave little room for sleep, friendships or simply doing nothing, and a child’s free time is not wasted time.
Singapore’s tuition culture is unlikely to disappear, and I don’t think it needs to.
The healthier goal isn’t to eliminate tuition but to restore its original purpose: a tool used intentionally, for a reason, for as long as it stays useful.
The tuition arms race begins when we stop asking, “What does my child need?” and start asking, “What is everyone else’s child doing?”
If parents, educators and tuition providers can return to the first question more often, our children might still pursue excellence without feeling that every free hour is another one they’re losing.
Gary Ong is the founder of Genius Mind Home Tuition, a Singapore home tuition agency. He has worked with parents, students and tutors for more than a decade.
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Featured image adapted from Genius Mind Home Tuition.