By Melissa Sim

THIRTEEN Vietnamese students paid $9,600 each for what they were told would get them three-year visas to work and study here.

But when they arrived in August, they found that the law bars them from working here. They also found that the course of study at the Stamford School of Commercial Studies, a certified CaseTrust school, was only a one-year diploma programme costing $5,300.

On top of this, their living conditions were cramped: All 13 of them were housed in a Rowell Road room by their Vietnamese agent from Study Abroad Consultancy and Construction, who has since become uncontactable.

The Consumers Association of Singapore says it handled 120 education-industry cases relating to agents and private schools last year. As of last month, this year's figure has already hit 124.

Stamford's chief academic officer, Mr Velayudham S, said he heard about the students' plight only two weeks ago, when a Vietnamese newspaper contacted him saying the students' parents were concerned about their welfare here.

He said he has been trying to reach the Vietnamese agent, who still owes him $20,000 in fees for 10 of the 13 students. This agent had introduced two students to the school previously, without any hitches.

Mr Vela is willing to let the 13 students continue studying here even if the agent does not cough up the shortfall. He has been buying groceries for them and giving them $50 every three days or so over the past week - although he knows he cannot do this indefinitely.

He also went to Hanoi over the weekend to speak to the students' parents.

Other private schools have had similar experiences with foreign agents who make false promises to students.

For example, they promise 'accommodation with a condo-feel' but then house the students in below-expectation hostels, said spokesman for East Asia Institute of Management Mark Chua.

The 13 Vietnamese students, for instance, were crammed into a room not much larger than 11/2 table tennis tables, furnished with two bunk beds and mattresses for all of them.

Only four of them are still in Singapore. Over the weekend, the school paid for six of them to go home. Three others left Singapore following their conviction for Customs offences involving non-payment of duty on cigarettes.

Miss Tu Thi Hoi, 24, told The Straits Times that her farmer parents and sister had paid for her to study and work here. She is hoping to continue studying until she can get a training work permit.

'I don't know what will happen, but I don't want to go home. I want a job here,' she said.

simlinoi@sph.com.sg

This article was first published in The Straits Times on 20 Oct, 2008.