The tuition industry in Singapore is worth a whopping S$1.1 billion. We calculate the financial costs of sending your child to tuition, and the social costs if you decide to leave your child to the vagaries of the school system. Words by Lum Yin Peng — The school year has just begun in Singapore but for eager parents, the scramble for places at popular tuition centres or slots with “star” private tutors probably started way before this. According to the Household Expenditure Survey released last year, two out of every three households with school-going children opt for tuition. On private tuition alone, Singaporeans forked out a whopping S$1.1 billion a year. To get an idea of how amazing this is, consider that the amount of money set aside in the FY2014 national budget for education was S$11.49 billion. Simply put, Singaporeans’ consumption of private tuition amounts to ......