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Huge jump in fees for Singaporeans who re-apply for modules of ITE part-time courses

It is good the Government is encouraging Singaporeans, especially seniors, to be lifelong learners. And there seems to be many working adults taking up part-time courses with the Institute of Technical Education (ITE).

Huge jump in fees for Singaporeans who re-apply for modules of ITE part-time courses
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It is good the Government is encouraging Singaporeans, especially seniors, to be lifelong learners. And there seems to be many working adults taking up part-time courses with the Institute of Technical Education (ITE).

The part-time National ITE Certificate (Nitec) courses are conducted in modular form.

If a student fails or drops out from a module prematurely for whatever reason, he or she needs to pay the full re-application fees of over S$1,000 for that module on the next enrolment.

This is equivalent to what a foreigner pays for one module.

Singaporeans pay about S$70 to S$80 for each module when they first enrol.

This means that part-time Singaporean students will have to complete the modules for a course on time to avoid the hefty fees.

I understand Nitec courses are already subsidised for Singaporeans, but will the steep re-application fees for modules discourage them from continuing their learning?

On my part, I did not re-apply because it was too expensive.

One suggestion would be to raise the re-application fees progressively, say, double or triple the subsidised fees in succession if the student has to re-enrol or re-apply.

This is especially so for those who failed the module but attended it diligently throughout the semester, as well as those who are 60 years old and above.

Perhaps ITE or the Ministry of Education may want to step in and review this to encourage more Singaporeans to be lifelong learners.

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