As an international student, I fully understand the Ministry of Education's (MOE) reason for raising school fees for foreign students in government schools ("Fee hikes for non-S'porean students from next year"; Oct 12).
What I feel uncomfortable about is the increase in school fees again, when they were raised just a year ago ("Fee hike for international students and PRs attending local schools"; Oct 1, 2015).
The balance between Singaporeans and foreigners is now tilted too much. This is not good for integrating international students with local ones.
The higher fees also pose a burden to some international students' families, as not all of them are wealthy.
Some foreign students are considering furthering their studies somewhere else. This would aggravate the "brain drain" problem.
I do not expect the MOE to withdraw plans for the fee hike. But I hope that fees will not be raised consecutively year after year.
Duan Hongxuan, 16,
Secondary 3 student
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