Homeschooling "on the rise" in Singapore

I was heartened by the headline above in the Straits Times - until, that is, I actually read the article.

Have a guess how many primary school children are actually homeschooling in Singapore? (Including all the expatriates who have the automatic right to homeschool, unlike locals.) Factor into your calculation that the population of Singapore is around 4.6 million people.

Well, the true figure is about 280. That is right, less than 300 children are being homeschooled, in Singapore. Apparently, this almost vanishingly small number is regarded as a trend, by the article writer.

The question is, of course, why are so few Singaporeans being homeschooled? The answer is the same one we have received, so far, to date: permission, while it can be given in theory, is difficult to obtain in practice.

We don't have to go far to come to an understanding why so few people receive permission to homeschool. The official Ministry of Education position is, according to the Straits Times: "...as far as possible, Singaporean children should attend national schools to learn a common set of core values, knowledge and skills". Underlying this seems to be the view that homeschooled children might not share these "core values" - hence getting permission for it, is not easy.

I don't know if our experience of trying to homeschool our son, Ainan, is typical or not. I can only say that it hasn't been easy. I have been trying to get permission for homeschooling for one and a half years. We have got nowhere so far. I have written many, many times to the curiously named "Compulsory Education Unit" that is in charge of homeschooling, but the only replies I have ever received are: "We will revert to you shortly". That is fine, except they never revert at all. Six months will pass - and then I write again, only to receive the same reply: "We will revert to you shortly". Only they don't....this procedure may be repeated ad nauseam.

One day I even called up the executive responsible for answering my mails, who wasn't doing so. She would only say: "I can't give you an answer".

Well, there you are then. No wonder there are only 280 homeschooling children in Singapore. I wonder how many of them are, in fact, the children of expatriates? You see such children don't need permission. What I would like to know is how many Singaporean children have ever been given permission to homeschool? Are there, in fact, any at all? We don't know. We only know that we are still waiting for that famous reply to revert - after one and a half years.

The odd thing about all of this is that anyone who really feels strongly about homeschooling will find that almost any other country of the world would give automatic permission to homeschool, to anyone who sought it. Virtually alone in all the world, is Singapore concerned about a "common set of core values". Most other countries are satisfied to offer a diversity of educational opportunities to their people. They are not scared of diversity.

We will still try to secure homeschooling for our son - and perhaps our other children - in Singapore. We will see if we can make that total 281 or more.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and four months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and nine months, and Tiarnan, twenty-six months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)