Tuition in the past was like taking medicine and you sent children for it only if they were doing poorly in a subject.

This has changed over time.

Tuition is neither healthy nor fair because of the cost. It is also not sustainable, because in university and the working world, there is no tuition to help you.

I recall a meet-the-parents session during which the teacher commented on how my child's performance in a subject had improved lately, and the teacher understood that it was because my child had been having tuition in that subject.

I told the teacher that the tutor had merely taught ahead of the school syllabus. But the teacher did not see anything wrong with that, which took me by surprise, as I feel that a student should learn first in school and not from a tutor.

If such a situation is allowed to carry on, at some point, most of the learning could be taking place outside of school, with students going to school only to be tested.

This outsourcing of responsibility is not a good thing.

I subsequently had a conversation with the school's principal and it was clear that the school would not be able to tell whether a child was doing well because of a teacher's efforts or because of tuition.

As far as the school was concerned, it seemed like only exam results mattered, and based on my earlier meeting with the teacher, I wondered if tuition might even be encouraged by the school because it helps to lighten teachers' workload.

If our teachers, schools and the Ministry of Education do not fully understand and acknowledge what tuition has become, Singapore will never be able to address the problems associated with it.

China outperformed Singapore in the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) ranking in mathematics.

I applaud the Chinese government for acknowledging the problems posed by tuition even as the country has done well in Pisa scores.

Now China can begin to address the societal problems that can arise with an education system that is heavily reliant on tuition.

Shouldn't Singapore also have a rethink?

Qiu Guanhua