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SINGAPORE: The advertisement read: "PSLE revision by this year (sic) exam setter. 'O' Level revision by SEAB teachers Oct 1st".
It was enough to prompt Madam Tay (not her real name), a parent of a 12 year old, to call the mobile number provided, wondering if the exam setter would "leak" some questions during the revision, given that the ad appeared in the Straits Times Classifieds on September 23 and 26 - a week before the PSLE exams.
"I asked (the man who answered) how was this possible when teachers themselves do not know whether the questions they set will be used. He told me that he works in Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB)," said Mdm Tay, who eventually did not enrol her daughter because she felt it was "not right" and had doubts about the claims.
MediaCorp investigations have revealed that the ad was not true - and the SEAB is now investigating the case, as he is neither a staff member nor a PSLE question setter.
But when this reporter visited SuccessNat Tutorial Centre three times last week, posing as a parent of an 11 year old entering Primary Six next year, the same story told to Mdm Tay was repeated.
Mr Gerard Lim, 23, whose name the centre was registered under, according to Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority data, claimed he was an SEAB staff and was into the second year of a "five-year contract to set exam questions for PSLE".
He also claimed that "all of (his) tutors are setters" and that they had set all four papers in last year's PSLE and this year's Mathematics and Science papers.
But two of the centre's tutors, Ms Shann Wong and a Ms Hui Min, told MediaCorp separately that they were not setters.
But Mr Lim changed his tune when this reporter identified herself as a MediaCorp journalist. He admitted his ad was "misleading" and said he had set mid-year and preliminary examination questions for schools which he refused to identify.
"Some questions I had set before appeared in the PSLE," he explained. As for the claim about SEAB teachers in the ad, Mr Lim said: "We set papers according to SEAB standards and to PSLE syllabus."
Mr Lim placed similar ads in ST Classifieds on October 17, 21 and 24.
Mdm Tay's reaction? "If he's bogus, he ought to be exposed. It's not right to take advantage of parents who are gullible," she said. "And parents who signed up are not encouraging the right values."
The Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore told MediaCorp it "expects all advertisements to be truthful, honest, decent and legal".
"If indeed the advertiser is unable to substantiate that the revision is done by SEAB teachers, as claimed in the advertisement, we will, with the help of the media owners, suspend the advertisement," said ASAS chairperson Associate Professor Eleanor Wong.
For parents like Mdm Tay, who still wonders about the integrity of national exams, the Ministry of Education (MOE) told MediaCorp: "SEAB requires all setters, including teachers, of national examinations to sign an undertaking declaring that there is no conflict of interests and to comply with confidentiality requirements and safeguard all official information they have come across in the course of their duties."
Action will be taken against those who are found to have breached such undertakings, it added.
A former teacher who has set PSLE questions before, and did not want to be named, said the public had nothing to fear as the MOE has "very stringent processes" in place. For example, if a teacher's child is sitting for the PSLE, he will not be allowed to set questions for that year.
But with some teachers placing ads offering tuition, as MediaCorp found when it scanned the classifieds, how can the authorities stop teachers from moonlighting?
The MOE said it permits teachers to give private tuition "only if it does not detract them from the official duties assigned in school". It added that such part-time employment should not exceed six hours a week.
"School principals are given the authority to manage any requests from teachers to undertake outside part-time employment as they are in the best position to monitor and advise if any such employment conflicts with the teachers' work in school," said the MOE.
Still, SuccessNat Tutorial Centre is not the only centre to claim its tutors are PSLE exam setters.
The head of a mathematics tuition centre also told MediaCorp that its tutors have set PSLE exams before, two of which are still in the MOE, while the third has retired from the service. But unlike SuccessNat, this centre did not place this information in any ad.
As for Mr Lim, he claimed that only two parents responded to his ads, and only one signed up for the revision - a low response, he believes, because the ad came too close to the PSLE exams.
- TODAY/yb
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