More than 50 vendors, offering courses from Muay Thai boxing to academic tuition classes, have converged at the Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Taking centrestage are workshops for parents on nutrition, reading and Primary School Leaving Examination studying techniques.

Several educational activities for children have also been lined up, including a creative writing competition, maths quizzes and musical performances.

Catered specially for parents of children under 12, The Kidz Academy is expected to draw about 100,000 visitors over three days.

The guest of honour at the opening ceremony on Friday, Mr Lim Biow Chuan, deputy chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Education, urged parents to take this opportunity to explore more aspects of development for their children.

'I want to reinforce the fact that there are so many other things parents can involve their children in besides academic pursuits. It is good to expose kids to the non-academic forms of education as well,' said Mr Lim, an MP for Marine Parade GRC.

Madam Usharani Navaratnam, 45, a housewife, was there with her three sons aged eight to 12 at yesterday's launch.

She said having so many vendors and programmes under one roof helped her as a parent. 'I need to keep updated with the educational programmes. As Singapore's learning technologies advance so fast, many parents end up losing touch.'

The Kidz Academy will be on at Hall 603 of the centre until June 7. It is open from 11am to 9pm. Admission is free.

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