Heroes Unmasked: Junior college graduates offer free tuition to raise funds for Covid-19 charities

As Singapore battles the Covid-19 pandemic, TODAY’s Heroes Unmasked series highlights those who are doing their bit to spread kindness and compassion during this period. In this instalment, we speak to five junior college graduates who provide tuition in exchange for donations to charities and non-profit organisations.

SINGAPORE — While cooped up at home during this circuit breaker period, Miss Moh Jin Yin, 19, wanted to find a way to encourage others to raise funds for charities and non-profit organisations supporting those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The former Raffles Institution student, who is currently waiting to enter university in the United States, said: “I was thinking of the kind of service we can provide as students and I realised that the most valuable thing we can offer is tuition.” 

Miss Moh, who is currently working as an intern in a financial institution, pitched the idea to several of her schoolmates from Raffles Institution and four girls agreed to join her.

On April 17, the five teenagers launched Project Circuit, a website where students taking their A-Level examinations this year can register for free tuition lessons from former junior college students  — as long as they “pay it forward” with a donation of at least S$20 to a charity or non-profit organisation.

However, Miss Moh said that making a donation is encouraged and not strictly enforced as some students signing up could come from low income families. 

Each 45-minute tuition session is conducted online either through a tutoring tool called Bramble or video conferencing platforms such as Zoom and Skype.

Two weeks after they launched, Project Circuit had about 20 students sign up, asking for help with their exam preparations with some students registering for multiple sessions to cover different subjects.

So far, they have raised around S$700 for charity. 

They also decided to expand their pool of tutors to include other friends and individuals who have contacted them. There are now 30 tutors available.

Tutors’ academic achievements are also detailed on the website as a way to allay parents’ concerns that their children are receiving proper guidance with their school work, said Miss Moh.  

Miss Loh Su Jean, 19, who helped Miss Moh start the initiative, said that they were inspired by other tutoring initiatives which were directly supporting needy students. 

One such initiative is Covid-19 Tutoring Support for Students, which was started by a 20-year-old Singaporean studying at Oxford University and gives free lessons to those who cannot afford private tuition.

“We wanted to diversify our approach. We saw junior college students who were not underprivileged but could still benefit from tuition… Since we were also raising money for charities, we could use this to kill two birds with one stone,” said Miss Loh. 

Ms Catherine Kausikan, 19, another member of the founding quintet, said they also wanted to help students who are gearing up for A-Level examinations because their studies might be affected by the circuit breaker period.

“We know that studying for A-Levels is a tough and stressful time... add on the circuit breaker and we couldn’t really fathom how our juniors could cope with the workload,” said Miss Kausikan. 

Students who signed up for free tuition lessons said they were grateful for the help and were enticed to register for sessions because they felt they were also contributing to a good cause.

Raffles Institution student Wong Shao Yi, 18, said she made a donation to Touch Community Services and felt more relaxed that someone close to her age was tutoring her in general paper, a subject she struggles with.

“It was almost like asking a friend to help you with your schoolwork,” she said.

Polytechnic student Alex Lim, 19, who plans to take the A-Level examinations as a private candidate this November, signed up for multiple lessons and said he donated S$25 to Habitat for Humanity, a non-profit organisation which provides affordable housing for those in need.

“I am already taking private tuition online from elsewhere, why not donate money for a good cause? It is cheaper than if I had lessons with other tutors,” he said.

Project Circuit is hoping to recruit more students and tutors, and has expanded its services to include advice on university applications. 

The team stressed that this was not meant to substitute college counselling services offered by schools, but meant to complement it. 

Miss Loh said that Project Circuit could still be used to support charities even after the Covid-19 pandemic subsides.

“As demand picks up near the examination periods, we could possibly look to support other charities like those that support childrens’ education or underprivileged youth. 

“We are aware that we had the privilege of receiving a good education, so we hope more students will approach us so that we can share what we learned with them.”