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本帖最后由 jjrchome 于 2-12-2011 23:12 编辑
Tuition boom as kids prep for Integrated Programme
Parents feel competition is now keener, and IP schools and JCs will be tougher to get into
Published on Dec 2, 2011
Learning Lab tutor Christina Kwek conducting a Primary 5
science class at the tuition centre's science lab in Mountbatten
Square last week. Parents keen to get their kids into an elite
Integrated Programme school are spending big on tuition for
the PSLE. -- ST PHOTO: TERRENCE LIM
BUSINESS is booming for tuition centres that promise to help good students excel in the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE).
The reason: More parents want to help their children score 250 aggregate points or more at the PSLE and secure places in secondary schools offering the Integrated Programme (IP).
More are sending their children to tuition centres that charge $100 to $300 for four two-hour lessons a month. Some fork out upwards of $500 a month for tuition in two or three subjects.
One of the most sought-after tuition centres, The Learning Lab, has opened a second branch, while the Mind Stretcher Learning Centre has gone from 15 to 18 branches this year, and will be opening another three. Growan Learning Centre in Marine Parade has 50 pupils on its waiting list.
Several centres conduct entrance tests and examine the children's detailed academic records before placing them in their tuition groups.
The boom has extended to private tutors as well, and parents have been known to offer tutors handsome bonuses if their children succeed in making it to an IP school.
The IP allows secondary school students to bypass the O levels and go straight to the junior college (JC) level. It is offered at several top secondary schools and JCs, with more in line to introduce it over the next two years.
While the PSLE has always been a high-stakes examination for Primary 6 pupils aiming for a top-rated secondary school, parents say the game has changed significantly.
They feel competition is keener, now that entering an IP school secures a six-year ticket all the way to the JC level.
Business development manager Alan Lim, 40, an old boy of Raffles Institution, wants his Primary 5 son to also attend the premier boys' school, which has an IP all the way to the A levels.
His son has topped his level for two years running, but Mr Lim has enrolled him for tuition and motivation camps to ensure he aces the PSLE next year.
He worries that if his son fails to enter RI at Secondary 1, it will be too difficult to get in at the JC level, even if he does well at the O levels at another school.
Learning Lab manager Ling Cheah said the vast majority of parents who send their children to its centres are aiming for places on the IP. 'It is their holy grail,' she said.
Parents give two reasons for their anxiety. First, as more top secondary schools offer the IP, they believe these schools will become more difficult to get into.
Cedar Girls' Secondary and Victoria School, which will offer the IP from next year, take pupils with PSLE scores of at least around 240. Parents expect that minimum to rise because other IP schools have cut-offs above 250.
Most parents who spoke to The Straits Times were also worried about the JCs their children would attend.
With the IP already running in several top JCs, they feel that students who do the O levels elsewhere will find it harder to get in because most of the places would go to the colleges' IP students.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) has given repeated assurances that these JCs are offering just as many places as before to those coming in via the O-level route.
But in the absence of hard numbers from the schools, parents have resorted to doing their own checks, and cite figures to explain why they worry.
Store manager Celia Lim, 38, who has high hopes for her Primary 5 son, said she checked on Hwa Chong Institution and RI: 'Each school has 1,200 Junior College 1 places every year, and only 250 places go to O-level students. Previously, all their 800 to 900 JC 1 places were given out based on O-level results. So, of course I worry.'
She spends $800 a month on tuition for her son. Next year, she expects to spend even more by enrolling him at The Learning Lab.
Responding to parents' concerns, MOE said yesterday that the expansion of the IP to more schools would mean opportunities for more students to benefit from the programme. Schools with the IP now have just over 3,000 places in total. There will be 5,000 places when seven more schools offer it by 2013.
The ministry said: 'Opportunity for students to enter the JCs offering the IP after taking their O levels has not diminished after the IP was introduced, because MOE has expanded the enrolment at the JCs offering the IP, as well as created new JC places for students.'
It was referring to schools such as Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), Dunman High and River Valley High, which now offer JC-level classes. They formerly stopped at Secondary 4.
A spokesman for Hwa Chong said yesterday said students who enter the school after the O levels come from 50 secondary schools across the island.
An RI spokesman said that in terms of A-level performance, those who join at the junior college level perform just as well as those who have been on the IP since Secondary 1.
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