Education cost going up (but the causeway jam is still there)

As I read Jeremy’s front page report on ST today, I was disturbed by MOE’s decision to raise school fees, even as I can imagine everything else being in its place (the timing of the raise, the amount to raise, the emphasis placed on raising fees only for non-citizens etc.)

So here’s the run down of the figures as reported on ST, plus, in graphical format. Note the magnitude – one wonders if MOE will continue to extrapolate periodically this way, while comparing public education with private schools like SAS.

Can you smell the election at the corner? 😉

Ok, politics aside, also note that the currency for many ASEAN neighbors are de-valuing vs SGD, so if these kids aren’t here on scholarship, basically their parent’s hopes of sending them for a Singapore education continue to diminish by the day.

Which brings us to the other change. Just last Saturday I was debating a fellow Malaysian that it’s better to send the kid into the Singapore education system at a later stage instead of Primary 1, as the kid would have acquired a better identity that matches his country of origin and/or family. I came in through the JC system myself. However, he raised a point that it is impossible to get into the school after primary 1, due to the intense competition, and the fact that the kid is already behind – i.e. you might be going to primary 3 in Malaysia, but you’ll go into primary 2 in Singapore due to poorer command of English or stuff like that. I didn’t believe that at first, brushing it aside as a something typical of the schools in Woodlands as the most popular schools for Malaysians to send their kids to (thus being competitive). But MOE’s latest actions does at least acknowledge that it’s hard for the citizens, and they are going to make it even easier for citizens to get in by giving them 2 votes while continuing the university-like admission criteria of checking for your sibling, relatives, home distance, alumni, etc etc etc. So much for slipping into Primary 1.

Maybe try having the kid attend some PAP kindergartens and learn some Singapore songs to help melt the school principal’s heart when appealing.

Here’s another perspective. Today 8% of the students are PRs, 4% are foreign, says ST. The number of PRs has increased dramatically over the decade until recently when PM put a stop to it. These PR, if they settled in, will have kids going to school starting right about now. By instituting such system, the PRs and foreigners who go to public schools will become even hungrier and even better selected due to even more pressure from the parents to perform (for the increased fees they pay), and, regardless of priority given to citizens, will still increase in sheer number (PRs only pay more and not go to the school of choice, besides, the citizens are still not making enough babies). All else equal, the lower rung citizens will find it even harder to do well in school in a competitive environment where each student is ranked against each other. Moreover, some of the PRs will be squeezed out of the few popular schools to attend the less popular ones, possibly neighborhood schools, also making it more stressful in places where there wasn’t much stress to begin with.

Do you agree to this view? Or do you think the capabilities of the kid to perform in school has less to do with family education and pressure, and more to do with the schooling environment, so more citizens getting into good schools means citizens will be more successful in winning the rat race?

And will the additional revenue be channeled to making a new causeway specially for school buses only?