SINGAPORE: Government agencies will meet in June to discuss ways to regulate the private school sector in Singapore.

And guidelines are expected to be ready by the first quarter of 2009.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) recently introduced an Act to tighten the control of how these schools operate.

While it is not the role of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to regulate how private schools operate, it has some suggestions on how new guidelines can better protect consumers and help to promote Singapore as an education hub.

John Gregory Conceicao, Director for Education Services at Singapore Tourism Board, said: "STB would be looking from the perspective of what students and parents are looking for in terms of standards. For example, if you're looking at the academic qualifications of lecturers and the infrastructure that schools have - whether it's a proper school in a proper building and the kind of facilities that they have and probably also teacher-student ratio."

Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, said: "These measures will help augment our strong reputation for our destination in quality education. And also, equally important, provide necessary safeguards so that the interests of international students can be taken care of."

But the tourism board has no plans to regulate the operation of student agents who bring some overseas students to private schools here.

It would rather manage these through an association of such agents.

Mr Conceicao continued: "What we want to see is self-regulation. STB will play a role in advising them on the standards that they should have but we're not going to take them to task or regulate."

STB advises overseas students to work through with the 200 licensed Singapore Education Specialists, trained by STB and located in 11 cities in China, India and Southeast Asia.

86,000 international students studied in Singapore in 2007 and the Singapore Tourism Board hopes to double that to 150,000 by 2015.

STB is already stepping up marketing efforts not just in primary cities in China, India and Southeast Asia but also outlying provinces as well. - CNA/vm