I REFER to Ms Jessica Chong's letter on Tuesday,'Exam offers troubling peek into school attitude'', and wish to share the experiences of my children and my friends' children, who studied in Singapore's elite schools.

Despite the education system's 'teach less, learn more'' initiative, students are being taught more but are learning less.

Content-wise, they are taught topics which are usually ahead of their level. But as their foundation was not properly laid in Secondary 1, except for the exceptionally bright ones, the majority struggle through.

When these students' exam results are released, their parents rush to hire tuition teachers. So tuition centres flourish, including those specialising in the Integrated Programme, coaching students from elite schools like Raffles Institution, Raffles Girls' School, Hwa Chong Institution and Nanyang Girls' High School.

Aren't these students among our brightest, who, logically, would not require tuition if their teachers are up to scratch?

Parents have no choice when the schools set their exams at such difficult levels that our children lose confidence and self-esteem.

At these top schools, students pay school plus supplementary fees ranging from $285 to $400 a month. Yet, the teachers are either not competent enough, or the curriculum is so rigorous that parents must rely on tuition teachers to help their children keep up.

My son's experience as a student in a top junior college is an example. When he scored below 40 per cent for one of his A-level preliminary papers, and with just one month to go before the official examination, we had to hire a tutor and spent close to $2,000 on tuition fees. The result: He scored an A for the paper.

How does one explain the turnaround? Was the school paper set at a level way beyond that of the A levels? Or was the teacher incompetent? My view is that many of his peers coped because they had tutors all along, whereas my son tried to do it on his own.

The Education Ministry should review the curriculum and examination standards set by the various schools and reduce the disparity.

Our students will then have more time to bond with their families rather than learn from tutors what should have been taught in school.

Lisa Ng (Mrs)

This article was first published in The Straits Times on May 24, 2008.