Over the years, the Singapore private education sector has encountered constant and tremendous challenges. It is estimated that the private education sector in Singapore is worth S$3 billion (US$ 2.21 billion), and in 2020 approximately 121,000 private school students enrolled in the Singapore Private Education Institutions (PEIs) (3).
Despite the substantial value that the private education sector holds, many education experts and quality assurance consulting firms such as Eduvalue have observed a decline in private education trends. They indicated that these challenges are attributed to stricter Singapore’s regulatory and audit requirements, cycles of economic impact, increased competition from government-linked educational institutions, a shift towards work-skills training, and aggressive competitions amongst the PEIs. Needless to say, the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the sector’s struggles, especially in terms of recruiting international students to Singapore due to travel restrictions.