Tightening Regulation of Private Schools

9 Dr Lim Wee Kiak asked the Acting Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) since the incorporation of the Council for Private Education (CPE), (a) how many private schools have been ordered to stop conducting courses for contravening the Private Education Act; (b) how many owners of these schools have been taken to Court; (c) why one school was operating for a few years before it was ordered to stop; (d) whether the registration of private schools can be tightened by coordinating with ACRA; and (e) how does CPE police such schools to ensure compliance.

The Acting Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) (Mr Ong Ye Kung): Mdm Speaker, the Private Education Act empowers the Council for Private Education (CPE) to take errant private education institutions (PEIs) to task in the interests of the public, students and prospective students.

Under the Act, PEIs are required to meet certain standards in areas, such as corporate and academic governance, information disclosure and fee protection measures before they are registered by CPE. Any PEI that has been found to have contravened the requirements of the Act can have its registration period shortened, suspended or cancelled. Managers of a PEI are also subject to certain prescribed responsibilities and duties – failing which, they can be held liable for a criminal offence.

Since CPE's inception in 2009, eight applications for renewal of registration were rejected. Six PEIs have been ordered to close, due to regulatory contraventions. Thus far, four cases have been taken to Court. We can cooperate with ACRA to make our whole regulatory regime better but, most importantly, is to make sure that CPE itself is responsive and vigilant. So, to ensure compliance, CPE monitors the PEIs closely through regular checks and on-site inspections.

To improve its responsiveness, in 2014, it established a Monitoring and Investigation Department, dedicated to early detection and identification of enforcement issues. This provides early warnings and industry advisories, which remind PEIs of their regulatory obligations.

In cases where a contravention of the Act has been identified, investigations are done to ensure due process before the appropriate regulatory actions are taken. Depending on the complexity of the case, the amount of time taken for the investigation and enforcement process may vary.

Dr Lim Wee Kiak (Sembawang): Mdm Speaker, I would like to thank the Acting Minister for his answer. I would like to ask the Acting Minister how many students are there currently enrolled in all these private institutions and, of these, how many are Singaporeans. How big is this particular market that we are talking about now?

In terms of quality assurance, when the Acting Minister talked about it, we are also not very clear as to what is the employability of all these graduates that come out from these CPEs. What is the monitoring mechanism?

Currently, I receive complaints or feedback from residents that when they go for courses in the private education sector and then they try to apply for Civil Service jobs, the Civil Service will say, "This is not applicable, we do not recognise this degree at all". They are just wondering, if the CPE actually recognises this, why does the Government not recognise it when they apply for a job?

Mr Ong Ye Kung: I thank the Member for that question. The enrolment numbers are not small. Every year, the intake of Singaporean students alone is about 14,000. In comparison, for NUS, it is about 7,000. So, it is not a small number.

It reflects the fact that many students and their parents want a degree. They feel that a degree is the way to have a good career, which is why SkillsFuture is so important. It is to turn the question around to ask, "What do you want to do with your career?" and "What area are you interested in?"

We are putting career guidance in education and career guidance right down to the Secondary school level so that, hopefully, with early intervention and discussions, students can discover what they like to do, what they are interested in and what is the path to pursue. It may or may not be a degree. It may not be a degree now, it may be a degree later and all kinds of paths start to open up.

This is why, along with SkillsFuture, it is an important initiative to raise our University cohort participation rate from the current 32% to 40% by 2020. This is done by expanding our University space, particularly we now have SUTD, which is expanding its enrolment and intake and also SIT, which is also opening up its range of courses and also raising its intake.

At the same time, I fully agree with the Member that we need to watch the PEI space closely. I think there has to be more disclosure of information with regard to the employment outcomes. As the Member may notice, The Straits Times picked up news on MOE calling for a tender, picking out eight or nine of the top PEIs with the largest intake, to conduct a survey in order to establish what are the employment outcomes. So, over time, together with expansion of University places, more disclosure of information and effective regulation of the PEI space, we hope we have a better balance.