Under current regulations, stipulated in the Ministry of Education and Training’s (MOET) Circular No 17 of 2012, teachers must get permission from school leadership to organize afterschool classes on school premises.

More onerously, if teachers want to conduct private tutoring lessons outside the schools, they must ask permission from local authorities or appropriate agencies.

On education forums, parents complained that students nowadays don’t have time to play and relax because they are forced to go to extra classes after school hours. The classes are run by the teachers at the schools the children attend.

According to the parents, the extra classes are run just to help teachers earn extra money. They do not, the parents claim, help the students improve their knowledge.