Fewer private schools offering prep courses for international students

SINGAPORE — Fewer private schools are offering preparatory courses for international students seeking to enrol in Singapore’s primary and secondary schools.

Latest figures from the Council for Private Education showed that there are now 34 schools, down from 38 schools as of December last year. The decrease comes as fees for international students in public schools in Singapore are set to increase in 2016.

Foreigners seeking admission into Primary 2 to 5 and Secondary 1 to 3 in Singapore schools must apply through the Admissions Exercise for International Students (AEIS). The prospective students have to take a centralised test on English and Mathematics.

Before taking the test, the prospective students may choose to take up a preparatory course.

Hanbridge School charges more than S$11,000 in fees for a six-month course, where students undergo six hours of lessons each day to prepare for the test.

“The teachers will cover the requirements for the AEIS – namely comprehension, the cloze passages, the grammar, vocabulary and we go according to the level that the students are studying for,” said Mr Vincent Young, Vice Principal at Hanbridge School.

The Education Ministry said the AEIS seeks to ensure that the international students have the required academic standard to be able to adjust to the rigours of the Singapore curriculum. Students do not get to choose their schools and postings are based on available vacancies and their performance on the tests. The intended residential area can also be considered.

Hanbridge School said 11 of its 36 students were accepted into public schools this year.

For Academies Australasia College, those sitting for the AEIS has been increasing since 2011 to reach 250 students this year. Nearly four out of 10 students were allocated schools this time round.

The Education Ministry said the pass rate for AEIS varies from year to year as the quality of students also varies.

Eight-year-old Yue Tian is among the international students who will enter a public school in Singapore. She is one of the successful applicants in this year’s AEIS. The Tianjin native will start Primary 3 at Bendemeer Primary School next year.

When asked why she chose Singapore for her child’s education, Mdm Zhu Bei said: “The environment is good, so I want my child to have a good education.”

Next year, international students will will pay an increase of between S$20 and S$150 in monthly school fees. The last revision for these students was in 2013. The ministry also said the move is part of its periodic review and to further differentiate fees by citizenship.

“Our target markets are mainly students from China, Vietnam, all the way to even India and of course from Indonesia also but the main bulk of our students – about over 60 per cent – are from China,” said Mr Desmond Ng, Business Development Manager at Academies Australasia College.

The Education Ministry said international students currently comprise about 4 per cent of students in schools, and this figure has remained fairly constant over the past few years. CHANNEL NEWSASIA