Private education institutions (PEI) will have less adminstrative burdens and compliance costs by the end of this year. the Council for Private Education, which regulates private schools in Singapore, said in a statement on Wednesday.

To protect fees students' pay, schools must either use an escrow account, or buy insurance guaranteeing that fees are returned to students if the school folds. Following a tender exercise in June, the CPE will put in place a revised insurance scheme, which will take effect from Dec 17, to enable more competitive premiums and services.

Instead of having to buy insurance on the same day students pay course fees, PEIs will now have up to seven working days. They can also source for insurance from five appointed insurance companies instead of the current two. These include Etiqa Insurance Berhad and Tokio Marine Insurance.

PEIs with the four-year EduTrust award will now only need to submit fee protection scheme data to the CPE once every six months instead of every month. Schools with the one-year EduTrust Provisional award will submit data once every three months.

From Oct 30, schools can submit information to the CPE as part of its annual returns exercise via data-encrypted emails instead of through thumb drives.

By year-end, supporting documentation with regard to teacher deployment, government-accredited courses and student contracts will also be reduced.