What a busy year!

Many parents have emailed me with messages of concern that I've not been updating my blog. Thank you for remembering me and thank you for your support. I've been busy with the administrative work (MOE registration) of our new centre at AMK.

After going through the tedious process of registering our centre with MOE, I have a new-found respect for centres which follow the procedures and ensure that they register their centres with MOE. It is not only expensive, it is mind-boogling and a very draining process with loads of paperwork & hurdles.

For parents who are clueless about this MOE registration thing for tuition centres, let me share with you. It is a very stringent process with a lot of documentations, physical checking of premises & long discussions.

Why should you feel assured that your child is in 'good hands' at a MOE registered school?
- The premises MUST have adequate fire safety measures in place. I spent a few thousands of dollars on this & it was another tedious process to get the Fire Safety Certificate. Adequate fire extinguishers, escape routes, etc etc are very important in case of an emergency!
- Physical inspection of premises includes checking our toilets (must have enough toilets for students), layout of classrooms (must have enough space for students to be comfortable), etc etc. They even check out our neighbours! Apparently, if our neighbours are engaged in businesses that generate a lot of noise (e.g. hair salon due to noise from the hair dryers), our application will not be approved!
- All courses must be submitted to MOE and must attain their approval. Submission to them is not just informing them of the title of the course. We have to give them detailed coverage of what we are doing in the program (syllabus), the aims & objectives, desired outcomes, etc etc. This means that every programme is carefully thought out and planned & vetted by MOE. 
- All teachers/tutors conducting the programmes must be approved by MOE. MOE has their set of (rather stringent) criteria on the qualifications of the tutors. The centre must submit the teacher's/tutor's certificates & photocopy of NRIC. It is not some 'random' person teaching your child. The tutor credentials are properly vetted by MOE.
- Even the company accounts must be submitted to MOE after an audit by auditors. I've not figured out their purpose for this but I guess it is to ensure the 'health' of the centre, in case it suddenly closes down and leaves parents/students in the lurch.




However, of course, there are 'black sheeps' which have gotten the MOE registration but do not follow the 'rules'. I'm sure centres who do follow the rules will not hesitate to show the MOE certificates & letters to the parents when requested.

How to know if a centre is MOE registered?
You can check out the lists here: http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/private-education/school-list/
I think they may take a while to update the newly approved centres, but they do issue a certificate to the centres, so you can probably request to see it when you drop by the centres.

Amazingly, many 'popular' tuition centres are NOT registered with MOE! Though they may have good programmes, dedicated/qualified teachers/tutors and good track records, there might be quite a lot of aspects not looked into without MOE registration of their centre.

In any case, do drop by our centre at AMK if you are interested in our services. We have before and after school care, tuition classes for kindergarten, primary and secondary levels and enrichment classes such as 3G abacus, art and phonics. Details available here: www.mwtuition.com.sg