$8,000 mortgages and double tuition for the same subject: the cost of Singapore’s education arms race

Natasha (0:06)

Hi guys, today I want to talk about the education arms race, which Singaporean parents are definitely familiar with. Now, there were two stories over the last few days that have brought us here. So the first was about a group of property agents who are branding themselves as primary school specialists who help parents strategize over property buys. Then, the Institute of Policy Studies released a survey that showed parents are more stressed now than 10 years ago and spending more on tuition and enrichment classes for their kids. Now, over the years, there have been moves to reduce the pressure in the education system. So why are parents stressing out? Why do they still feel they need to be part of this race? Welcome to The Usual Place, the podcast where we have real conversations about the headlines. I'm Natasha, and to help me answer these two questions, I have guests. My guests today are Jacqueline Ho, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Singapore Management University, where you teach the sociology of education. So this is really your research, which focuses primarily on the Singapore education system. And also welcome back to The Usual Place to talk about this again.

And next to you on the couch, I have Prab Nathan, a property agent, who has met parents who want to buy properties near certain schools. And you've seen this issue from a few sites. Before you started doing this, you were a science teacher for 5 years at Raffles Institution and 3 years at Dunman High School. And you're also a dad of 2 girls. Now your eldest daughter is starting primary 1 next year. Correct. Alright, so thank you both for being here. I'm going to hear your stories and about the research that you're doing, Jackie.

But I want to start with the property story.

With parents and property. Now Prab, you have been vocal about the crazy things Singaporean parents do to enroll their children in elite primary schools. Now, have you encountered parents who start searching for properties close to their specific schools, like quite early on? Or what do you tell them when you encounter these parents?

Prab Nathan (2:02)

Oh, you'll be surprised. I think they fall all along the spectrum. There are those who start worrying when their kids are like five years old. So the year after that would have to be the year where they have to enroll their kids.

There are those I've also met that their kids are like one year old, barely started to walk, and they're already like, no, I'm planning a primary school for them. Then I'm like, that's still five years away or six years away. And like, no, we have to start early because what if we don't get in? What if we need to have a backup plan? So there's a whole spectrum of them.

Natasha (2:38)

And when you meet them, what do you tell them when you kind of see the anxiety? I mean, would you say are they anxious or are they just very forward planning people?

Prab Nathan (2:47)

I think it's a mix of both. It's definitely a mix of both. There's a lot of anxiety. I still feel, what do I tell them? Well, I don't tell them straight away because I don't want to push them too far. But I'm quite strongly opinionated that while, yes, it's right to make a decision or a plan, there are so many things that can happen. There's so many retrenchments. There can be loss of income. There can be changes in your family structure, maybe a second one, maybe things don't work out or whatever like that. So many variables that can change schools. And even like with the government's position and everything, things can change within an instant. So have you planned for that? And that's what normally I bring up eventually. Like, what is the alternative? Do you have an alternative?

Yeah.

Natasha (3:41)

So, parents are doing this, but property agents are also in a way feeding into the anxiety. You know, why are they doing this?

Prab Nathan (3:49)

Well, ultimately, I think there's... If there's a need, you can sell that. And you can sell to the need. And especially with some of these like top elite schools or so-called elite schools, where their position, they may be in the central region, what we call in real estate, the core central region, or just outside the core central region. These places typically have always been places that have attracted the most growth and the prices there have always been one after another moving faster and faster, where we are now looking at PSF price per square foot of like 3,000 and above. And so for like 1,000 square feet kind of small tree bedroom kind of apartment, it's like 3 million and up. So these kind of things, I feel, because the money is there to be earned and there is a need, I do not fault these salespeople for my fellow salesmen or for actually selling into the need because who are we to really judge?