As Singapore moves to ease academic pressure, why are parents more stressed than ever?

Singapore is attempting to alleviate academic stress on its students, yet parents are experiencing heightened anxiety, according to a new study. Evonne Chia, a property agent and mother of a seven-year-old, initially resisted the idea of enrolling her daughter in extra classes, but after the child struggled with her schoolwork, Chia began to seek tuition and enrichment programmes, despite her reluctance.

Many other parents share her sentiment, with seven in ten respondents of the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) study indicating they would spend more on such classes, half of which attributed peer pressure as a reason for doing so. Yet, nearly nine in ten respondents agreed that Singaporean children spend excessive time on these activities.

Despite reforms that have replaced detailed PSLE scores with broader achievement bands and removed mid-year examinations, competition has evolved to encompass non-academic talents, creating a new anxiety: parents fear they might not be doing enough to prepare their children for an unpredictable future. Factors contributing to this stress include rising affluence, economic uncertainty, AI disruptions, and the pervasive influence of social media.

Some parents, like Ken Tay, fear the detrimental effects of social media on their children's mental health and exposure to online scrutiny, leading them to seek more control over their children's online activities. While the government's attempts to reduce stress have been made, many parents remain uneasy about the lower primary years not adequately preparing children for the demands of the PSLE.

This has led them to extend their children's academic pressure to new domains such as tuition, enrichment, and school choice, incurring substantial costs.