PSBA offers free tuition for underprivileged N, O level students

He will never forget the pride he felt when he was selected to tutor underprivileged youth taking their N- and O-level exams this year, as part of private education institution PSB Academy's (PSBA) newly launched Future Together Initiative 2021.

The initiative is a partnership between PSBA and social service organisations Yayasan Mendaki, Impart Singapore and Society of Starfish Singapore that provides free group classes for their beneficiaries.

Honoured to be assigned the role, Mr Bryan Lee, who is in his 30s and is an associate lecturer at PSBA with more than eight years of teaching experience, told The New Paper: "I have been teaching young people throughout my career, and there has always been an inclination to extend a helping hand in whatever way possible to those less privileged.

"This programme is important as a lot is at stake here for this specific group of students. And while it is hard to predict the results before meeting the students, I hope for the best."

STARTING THIS WEEK

Accepting as many students as safe management measures will allow, the initiative welcomes those who need support in their preparations for the N and O levels - which start next month and in mid-October respectively.

They have to sign up for the free classes held at PSBA's City Campus at Marina Square. The classes will be held every Saturday for five weeks, starting this week.

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These three-hour intensive revision sessions will be conducted by lecturers from PSBA's School of Foundation Studies and School of Life and Physical Sciences, who have experience teaching International General Certificate of Secondary Education courses at PSBA since 2019.

The sessions will cover four subjects - English, elementary mathematics, biology and chemistry.

Interested parties can visit www.psb-academy.edu.sg/future-together-tuition to find out more.

Mr Derrick Chang, chief executive officer of PSBA, said: "We realise we should look more upstream since we have the expertise, and many colleagues are passionate about (helping the students).

"We hope to give the children a boost in their 'last stretch' before the exams, which we believe will help many clear the exams."

Mr Jay Ong, director of operations at Impart Singapore, told TNP that while the non-profit organisation has experience in tutoring students for exams on a one-to-one basis, the PSBA initiative will offer the opportunity to participate in group-based, seminar-style sessions, which could challenge some of them beyond their comfort zones.

He added: "While formal academic systems have been unable to healthily support Impart youth, this initiative gives our youth an opportunity to experience formal academic support in a safe setting."