By Amelia Tan

AFTER a year-long lull in private schools closing, two have shut down in the same month, most likely casualties of the deepening recession.

The latest is a private Japanese and English language school at Shaw Centre. It ceased operations earlier this month. Its 20 students do not know if they can get their money back, as the principal has gone missing.

Vietnamese student Bui Tan Luoc, who studied English for three months at Goro Global School, wrote to The Straits Times following a report on Saturday about a school shutting down without notice earlier this month.

That school, Britannia School of Education at International Plaza, has yet to give the fees back to its students.

Mr Luoc, 30, and his schoolmates were told by Goro Global's principal, Mr Hisashi Nagatsuma, on Feb 4 that the school would be closed from the following day for renovation. He said classes would be conducted temporarily at the Tenrikyo Mission Center at International Plaza.

But when the students turned up for their classes there on Feb 9, they were handed letters by the staff that said Goro Global had shut down due to 'serious financial problems'.

Mr Nagatsuma wrote in the letters that he wanted to extend his 'deep and sincere apologies' to the students, but he did not mention if they would be getting a refund of their fees.

The students approached the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case), which advised them to apply to the Small Claims Tribunal to try and get their money back.

They are now waiting for a hearing to be scheduled but are not pinning any hopes on Mr Nagatsuma showing up. For the last two weeks, efforts to contact the principal and his wife Kumiko, both Japanese citizens, have failed. She taught Japanese at the school. The three units occupied by the school at Shaw Centre are empty.

A Thai student, who wanted to be known only as Debby, said: 'I came to Singapore to study Japanese because it is known as an education hub. I never would have imagined that a school here could take my school fees and close down so suddenly.'

She had paid $3,000 for a six-month Japanese-language course the week before the school closed down.

Mr Luoc said: 'We want to get a lawyer to sue Mr Nagatsuma, but we can't afford it. We really don't know what to do now.'

The last private school to get into trouble in Singapore, Froebel School of Education, lost its licence to operate in October 2007, following complaints by students and staff.

A Bill will be introduced in Parliament later this year to tighten regulations so that private operators will not dent Singapore's reputation as an education hub.

Case executive director Seah Seng Choon said the private schools could have been hit by the global recession. 'Schools are probably finding it difficult to attract students from traditional sources like India and China due to the recession. They shut down as they do not have enough students.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.