Improper conduct or sexual conduct offences involving private tutors or private education centres

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Dr Wan Rizal, Jalan Besar GRC

Question

To ask the Minister for Education (a) what is the percentage of students currently engaging the services of private tutors or attending extra lessons in private education centres; and (b) how many improper sexual conduct related offences have occurred in the past few years involving private tutors or private education centres.

Response

1. As tuition is optional and supplementary in nature, MOE does not track the overall number of students who attend tuition or enrichment classes, or the number of sexual assault cases involving private tutors and private education centres. If such cases are reported, they will be handled by the police. Based on police records, over the past three years from 2018 to 2020, there were about 8 reports of sexual assault of students by private tutors or teachers from private tuition centres or enrichment centres per year. This represents about 0.3% of the total number of police reports of sexual assault.

2. As private tuition is a commercial business, we encourage parents to exercise discretion and due diligence in engaging the services of tuition and enrichment centres, as well as individual tutors.

3. As the Minister for Home Affairs informed Parliament last month, the Government is reviewing whether to make it mandatory for persons employed in sectors working with children to be screened for serious offences, including sexual offences.