The situation today is quite different, with the Government leading the way and the private sector providing an alternative avenue through degree and skills courses.

Although we have now become a First World nation, we continue to use the tools of our grandfathers' generation to achieve tomorrow's goal of being a global schoolhouse. This is a considerable problem for the Ministry of Education which has done a remarkable job by focusing on public sector education which is now recognised as world class.

The commercial education industry is quite often misunderstood and the Government has attempted to deal with the 'commercial' and 'education' elements quite separately through the Ministry of Trade & Industry and Ministry of Education respectively.

Consequently, we have some five different agencies handling the commercial education sector, namely, the Ministry of Education, Spring Singapore, Economic Development Board, Singapore Tourism Board and Consumers Association of Singapore.

As a result, there are still many gaps in the administration of the private schools as each agency typically looks to control a specific area rather than look broadly at what these private schools are doing.

Perhaps the many problems which have been surfaced by The Straits Times are symptoms which require the Government to rethink and address these through a single holistic approach to regulate private-sector education.

A single government authority to regulate this high- growth industry which can further impose appropriate sanctions would be welcomed by concerned industry players.

Kannappan Chettiar
Chief Learning Officer/Chairman
Stansfield College