From next year, foreign residents and Singapore
permanent residents will have to pay more to enrol their children
in local schools.
The increase ranges from $20 to $60 per month for PRs,
and $20 to $150 per month for international students at primary and
secondary schools and pre-universities.
International students who are not from Asean countries
will have to pay $1,300 a month next year to attend junior colleges
and centralised institutes, up from $1,150 currently.
Fees for those in secondary schools will go up to $950
a month, from $800 currently. Those in primary schools will have to
pay $600, or $50 more than the current rate.
In a statement yesterday, the Ministry of Education
said the revision is part of a periodic review of school fees and
will further differentiate them by citizenship.
Fees for Singaporean students remain unchanged.
This is not the first time school fees have increased
for non-Singaporeans.
In 2009, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the
Government would sharpen the distinction between citizens and
non-citizens, so as to enhance the privileges of being a
citizen.
Then, international students attending secondary
schools, for instance, paid $226 a month including miscellaneous
fees.
In 2009, younger children studying in primary schools
were charged $156 a month, including miscellaneous fees.
The fee hikes, however, are unlikely to deter
foreigners from working in Singapore, said Ms Annie Yap, managing
director of human resource and recruitment firm AYP Group. This is
because foreigners who wish to apply for a Dependant's Pass for
their spouses or children have to earn a minimum income of $5,000 a
month, she said. "This is just a very minor increase," said Ms
Yap.
"School fees for foreigners in other countries like
Australia are in thousands and the fees for permanent residents are
not subsidised, unlike in Singapore."
For 44-year-old Briton Anna Gibbons, who drives an Uber
taxi, the increase in school fees is "significant". The single
parent has lived in Singapore for six years and has two children
aged eight and 10 in Primary 2 and Primary 4, respectively, in
Elias Park Primary School.
"I'm on a limited budget, so it's going to be a
struggle but I'll just have to work around it," she said.
While foreign parents on lower budgets may be caught in
a bind, the fee hike should not deter foreigners from coming here,
and local school fees are still more affordable than fees in
international schools, said Dr Yvonne McNulty, an associate
lecturer at SIM University.
International schools can charge $15,000 to $30,000 per
year for primary school. "What would deter foreigners is the
ability to get a place in local schools... Gaining a place in a
local school is getting more difficult for non-Singaporeans," said
Dr McNulty.
ST