Logo Mark Singapore GovernmentA Singapore Government Agency WebsiteHow to identify 
Government Building
Official website links end with .gov.sg

Government agencies communicate via .gov.sg website
(e.g. go.gov.sg/open). Trusted websites  

Lock
Secure websites use HTTPS

Look for a lock (lock) or https:// as an added precaution.
Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Distinguishing Effects of School-Based Versus Private Tuition on Singapore Students’ Performance in International Benchmarks

Published on: 13 Jan 2026

NewsParliamentary replies

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim, Sengkang GRC

Question

To ask the Minister for Education whether the Ministry has assessed (a) what proportion of Singapore students’ performance in international benchmarks such as the Programme for International Student Assessment can be attributed to school based learning versus external tuition or enrichment; and (b) what methodologies are used to distinguish the relative contributions of each.

Response

  1. Research has shown that many inter-dependent factors — both in and outside schools — can influence student learning1. It is not possible to conclusively partition educational outcomes into distinct parts attributable to different contributing sources.
Footnotes
  1. E.g., Jacobson, M. J., Levin, J. A., & Kapur, M. (2019). Education as a complex system: Conceptual and methodological implications. Educational Researcher, 48(2), 112-119.