OCBC launches 5-year tuition programme for underprivileged children with S$500,000 commitment
Staff volunteers and professional tutors will deliver 8,000 hours of tutoring in total under the partnership with The Hut
[SINGAPORE] As a father of five, Anour Ramli knows the difficulties of raising children in Singapore’s competitive education system, which puts immense pressure on students to perform well in exams.
Compared to even just a decade ago, the range of topics that children study has increased, he said. As a result, tuition is no longer a “luxury”, but a “necessity”.
Noting that school “simply cannot thoroughly” meet “the challenges, pace of learning and amount of things they learn”, he said tuition “definitely helps”. Consistency is key, he added, since students are taught new topics daily and tuition can help them revise “at a slower pace”.
“Opportunity to thrive”
Three of Anour’s children – aged seven, 10 and 12 – are current beneficiaries of The Hut, a charitable child and youth centre dedicated to helping those from underprivileged backgrounds. His two eldest kids have already graduated from The Hut’s educational programmes and are now in secondary school.
Anour’s younger children will receive free tuition on a weekly basis through OCBC’s new partnership with The Hut. The bank will commit S$500,000 to the five-year programme, which will deliver 8,000 hours of tutoring in total from both professional tutors and OCBC staff volunteers.
“Our financial situation is not so burdened by the cost of tuition, and how often the tuition is conducted (helps) the kids,” Anour said.
His children are among the 150 beneficiaries living in the Marine Parade estate who lack access to supplementary academic support and are underperforming in school. Organisations such as the Ministry of Social and Family Development, kindergartens and primary schools refer these children to the programme.
Sunny Quek, head of global consumer financial services at OCBC, said: “We believe that every child deserves the opportunity to thrive, regardless of their background.
“Through the support of staff from the bank’s consumer banking business, we hope to empower these young minds not just academically, but emotionally and socially – helping them build confidence and resilience for the future.”
The majority of the volunteers – who will dedicate one year to the programme – hail from OCBC’s global consumer financial services division. Meanwhile, the funds are contributed entirely through staff fundraising efforts.
Programme set-up
The younger children – those in levels from Kindergarten 1 to Primary 1 – will be tutored by OCBC volunteers, with a focus on foundational literacy and numeracy skills.
Meanwhile, those in Primary 2 to 6 – who have more demanding academic requirements – will receive support from professional tutors. The tutoring will continue until the children graduate from the programme.
Class sizes will be kept small, at nine students maximum, to allow the tutors to adjust the pace of learning to suit each child. The regular sessions will also enable them to customise their teaching approaches.
Each volunteer is required to attend courses by the National Library Board’s kidsRead programme and social enterprise Learning Vessels’ early learning initiative.
Through these, they will learn how to conduct engaging reading sessions and improve reading proficiency among children.
Meanwhile, the funds will go towards hiring the professional tutors for the older children. The structured classes will be aligned with the Ministry of Education syllabus, and ultimately help the students prepare for the Primary School Leaving Examination.
Representatives from The Hut will regularly monitor each beneficiary’s progress and communicate with their parents to ensure their needs are met.
Nancy Quah, chairperson of the board of directors at The Hut, said: “We want to give children from lower-resourced families an edge, so that they can start on the same footing as others.”
Similarly, Quek noted that it is “not a level playing field” when children enter primary school.
A survey by the Singapore Department of Statistics showed that families in the Republic spent a total of S$1.8 billion on private tuition in 2023, with that value expected to grow.
Ongoing partnership
The programme’s launch was announced on Sep 21 at OCBC Square in the Singapore Sports Hub, where around 90 children – beneficiaries of The Hut – and their families enjoyed a sports day-themed event.
At the game stations, participants could play archery, floorball, cornhole and bucket ball. OCBC staff volunteers took on various roles such as station masters, who facilitated the activities.
Since 2020, OCBC has partnered The Hut for tuition support and befriending, albeit on a more ad-hoc basis.
Quek said: “It is really good to see all the kids progressing, which is why we decided to renew our commitment for five more years.”
Quah added that there may be opportunities for OCBC volunteers to teach financial literacy to the beneficiaries during the weekly sessions, which will equip them with money management skills from a young age.
Collectively, nearly 150 volunteers from OCBC’s global consumer financial services division have contributed more than 2,000 volunteering hours.
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