The ‘DSA academies’ offering ‘10-year series’ and intense training camps to help kids into top schools

SINGAPORE: For decades, parents in Singapore have propped up a lucrative private tuition industry in a bid to give their kids a headstart in academics.
Now, enter commercial academies promising coaching to bolster a child’s chances of securing a spot at a top school – but via extracurricular pathways.
The Direct School Admission (DSA) scheme lets students use talents in areas such as sports, music and leadership to get into secondary schools or junior colleges (JCs), before sitting for examinations.
Nearly 40 per cent of last year’s Primary 6 cohort applied to the DSA, of which only about one-third or just over 4,000 students succeeded.
To meet that demand – and to feed that competition – DSA-focused camps and courses have popped up in the likes of basketball, football, volleyball, dance, theatre and even selection interviews.
There are no official figures on sector-wide growth, but five academies that CNA spoke to said DSA-related business has been booming, citing up to a threefold increase in sign-ups and course intakes over the years.
These courses can range in cost from a S$309 (US$234) four-day basketball camp to a S$750 three-day programme to sharpen interview skills.
Yet the popularity of these DSA-centric programmes raises issues of fairness – not unlike questions that emerged when it was revealed in July that a basketball coach had allegedly accepted bribes to get students into secondary schools via the DSA route.  
The DSA has gained favour in part due to how it has added disciplines and interests over the two decades since its inception, academies said.
Co-founder of Paideia Learning Academy Jacqueline Chua said that when she opened nine years ago, parents believed the DSA was restricted to the sports or arts.
“Now you’ve got things like uniformed groups, journalism, photography, you even have things like environmental science, forensics … You’ve really got quite a bit of diversity going on, which is really nice.”
The scheme has also broadened its selection criteria over the years. 
In 2014, then-Education Minister Heng Swee Keat announced that all schools should also consider personal qualities such as character, leadership and drive.
Co-founder of Speech Academy Asia Kelvin Tan said this push to promote “life skills” has prompted parents to send kids his way.
These are children already talented in a certain sport or art, whose parents hope his academy can take care of that final missing piece: Speaking well. 
“They’re very afraid that their kids … during the interview, they can’t answer the interviewer, so that’s the part where they panic,” said Mr Tan.
Some parents have come to him knowing exactly which school they want their child to enter via the DSA, and in search of a personalised plan to ace the interview. 
“They’re very specific (in their demands) now, and the parents are very knowledgeable about the DSA schemes.” 
The academies acknowledged that the DSA has, in essence, become another competitive pathway for parents to train their children up in.
Those specialising in sports run camps to put students through an intense preparation process ahead of DSA selection trials.
JRT Volleyball Academy, for instance, runs one in June spanning four days with 2.5 hours of training daily, drilling the students in skillsets and setting about resolving weaknesses in their game.
The timing also ensures that after National School Games end in March, players stay active.
The academy also helps parents devise a list of schools to consider having their children trial at.
“All this information, you can actually find it online, but because we are already in the industry, so usually we just give them,” said JRT director Jerry Teo. 
The Goalkick Football Academy additionally fields students in tournaments to give them exposure and experience – and to put this in their DSA application portfolios, said co-founder Keith Lee.
The coaches running the DSA preparation courses at his academy are either current or former trainers at schools with a DSA football selection programme. They can thus advise students on “some of the things the schools look out for”. 
Speech Academy Asia’s coaching sessions meanwhile typically lasts an hour, but some parents have requested up to three-hour programmes when DSA interviews near. 
Co-founder Mr Tan’s approach is to treat these just like job interviews. Tips from human resources experts on how to answer questions and make an impression on bosses are taught to students in “kid sized” syllabi.
Some of his staff with experience in HR roles also came up with a list of over 80 questions that a school could possibly ask a student at a selection interview.
“It is kind of an exam kind of question, so at least we prepare the kids well,” said Mr Tan. “It’s like a 10-year series.”
For these academies who see themselves as putting in the work to improve their students’ skills and chances of getting on the DSA, the alleged bribery case involving the basketball coach has left a bad taste.
He allegedly charged parents up to S$50,000 to put their children in schools of their choice. 
The Ministry of Education (MOE) said the coach has been deregistered since April and is no longer working in any MOE school, while the Sport Singapore statutory board said his National Registry of Coaches membership has been suspended. 
Ms Chua of Paideia Learning Academy said she was “disgusted” by the bribery allegations. “Because for me, as an educator, it’s always about merit.”
At the JRT Volleyball Academy, some coaches – including Mr Teo himself – are also employed by schools. Should a student at the academy apply to these schools via DSA, the coaches will declare a conflict of interest.
“We have nothing to hide,” said Mr Teo.
“From a school coach perspective, we also have a certain skill competency matrix, to ensure that when the kids are being selected (through DSA), it is based on skills, and has nothing to do with whether I know the kids or not.” 
Earlier in August, Education Minister Chan Chun Sing said in response to a parliamentary question that school leadership teams have to be involved in the final decision over DSA applications. 
“However, no system is perfect and the DSA selection process ultimately depends on the integrity and professionalism of individuals involved.” 
The academies CNA spoke to said they have encountered parents with the sole intention of sending their child to a top school, rather than helping them develop an interest in sport or art. 
In this vein, Ms Chua’s job also involves managing parents’ expectations.
“Being in a particular sport or domain area, (parents) always assume that if (their child) is good in that (area), that the school should take (their child). 
“But sometimes, they have to understand that there are lots and lots of other people as well, and it’s not just (their child),” she said. 
Founder of the Scholar Basketball Academy Wong Wei Long said that for his DSA preparation course, he has had to “bluntly” speak out against parents who insist on seeing the sport as a means to a DSA end.
To the ex-national basketball player, passion is more important.
“As long as their children enjoy it, why not give it a try?” said Mr Wong. “Because if (children) want it and have a goal or dream, we should push for it.” 
Educational adviser and founder of the Findings tuition centre Alistair Chew said the DSA working as it should means that students enter schools on the requisite merit and achieve according to their potential. 
“In the long term … that’s a win for the system,” he said. “If they are … pressured into that situation, or fail to reach their potential, that’s in some way a loss.”
Dr Chew said parents need to cope with their feelings of anxiety, insufficiency or uncertainty – “so that as many children as possible end up with outcomes they can be satisfied with, and find joy in”.
The key to achieving this? Constant communication between parents and children to understand their evolving interests, he added. 
Then there is the larger matter of fairness and equity, with some academies noting that the DSA selection process has become one that can be “studied” for. 
“Intense DSA-oriented efforts by better-resourced parents can make the uneven playing field even more so,” said Dr Chew.
“For the less-resourced parents … It’s not easy for (them) to find the time, energy or information to find the best path for their children.” 
Mr Lee from Goalkick Football Academy concurred, saying training for DSA selection has become akin to attending tuition classes.
“Those with more resources can have more tuition compared to someone who has less resources, and it translates over here as well,” he said. 
“Those who have more, go for more.”