SHE believes her school is in the best interest of students who are up for home-schooling.

That is why Mrs Jan Boey, 54, is trying to register Victory Life Christian School with the Ministry of Education (MOE).

But there is a problem.

The MOE is quite clear on what it considers 'home-schooling', and Mrs Boey's school programme does not fall within its definition.

The Ministry said that home-schooling refers to 'the provision of primary education by a parent to his child in a place other than a school, that is, in a home environment'.

In other words, children exempted from compulsory mainstream education can be taught only within the home by parents with sufficient time, resources and educational qualifications.

They cannot be taught by a non-parent or an establishment such as Victory Life Christian School.

Parents who want to home-school their children who are below or within primary-school-going age have to apply to the MOE to be exempted from the Compulsory Education Act.

A Singaporean child born after 1 Jan 1996, aged between 6 and 15 and living in Singapore, must attend a national primary school unless exempted from compulsory education.

An MOE spokesman said that Victory Life Christian School 'has not completed its registration with MOE'.

But if registration is approved, it will 'fall within the definition of a school' and so, it will not be permitted to enrol children exempted from the Compulsory Education Act because 'attending the school is not considered as home-schooling'.

Victory Life Christian School, at Upper Aljunied Road, offers a curriculum called School of Tomorrow, otherwise known as Accelerated Christian Education.

Mrs Boey said that this curriculum is recognised by the MOE.

It offers individualised programmes tailored to students - according to their abilities - and they will study subjects such as mathematics, science and English, among others.

Mrs Boey, the director and founder of Victory Life, has been offering the curriculum here for eight years.

When Mrs Boey was told that the MOE may not allow her to register her school programme as a 'home-school curriculum', she said: 'I am getting myself ready for struggle because I believe in this curriculum and want to get it established here.'

WARNED

She said that MOE had cautioned her to stop taking in students exempted from the Compulsory Education Act - there are 20 such students in her school - until the registration is completed.

She said that most of these students turned to her school because they were unable to cope with national school education.

However, the MOE has assured all parents that 'our schools endeavour to help every child learn to the best of his/her ability'.

This was not enough for Mrs Boey.

She said: 'This is similar to what a school like ours faced in New Zealand and Australia. But now, the government in New Zealand is using the school as a model. I am prepared to do whatever it takes.'

Mrs Boey started the school at her own home at Ellington Square in Ang Mo Kio in 2000 with just one student - her daughter, Medaline Boey, now 17, who will be studying at a Canadian university on a scholarship come August.

Her daughter was home-schooled for seven years from the time she was 10 years old.

Mrs Boey claimed that, initially, when she wanted to register the school with MOE, she was told it was too small to be registered because there were only a handful of students.

Then, in 2003, she tried again but was turned down because her school did not conduct classroom teaching.

Mrs Boey said that in September 2007, another MOE official said that she would have to register as a private school, since Victory Life was functioning as one, its students wore uniforms, and there were almost 80students at the time.

So she proceeded to register it as a private school facilitating the School of Tomorrow curriculum, and MOE is looking into the application.

She has 92 students now, and they are aged 6 to 21.

The New Paper visited her school and found that students there typically 'self-study' while staff members supervise and facilitate their learning instead of teaching them.

Students of different ages and abilities study together in the same room.

SETTING GOALS

The students have their own workbooks and each book is divided into 12 'paces' and every 12 'paces' is one level. Students set goals for what they want to complete, but can only move on to the next pace or level after completing the one at hand.

There are no examinations, but students have to complete tests at the end of each pace. The test results will be recorded in the student's transcripts.

Mrs Boey said: 'Education is for everyone, not just those who can excel in the mainstream schools. We are providing an alternative for parents and students.

'We are not against the MOE, we are for the Ministry in providing for the community'.

Mr David Ong, 50, a marketing manager, has an 8-year-old daughter in Victory Life Christian School. He hopes to send his other daughters, aged 6 and 1, there as well when the time comes.

Mr Ong, a lawyer by training, said he was 'alarmed' at MOE's reply because he felt that if 'parents with children in state schools' could enrol them in enrichment and tuition classes, parents should also be able to 'outsource' education to a school like Mrs Boey's.

He added: 'I respect the public school system... but ultimately, it is our child and our right as parents to choose their education'.

On why he did not home-school his children on his own, he said he was worried that they would miss out on socialising with other children.

The New Paper spoke to other parents with children in Victory Life, including a former school teacher from a mainstream school, and all said that they preferred enrolling their children in a school rather than doing the job themselves.

The main reason cited was similar to Mr Ong's: home-schooling could not offer interaction and leadership opportunities as effectively as a school environment could.

Shila Naidu, newsroom intern

This article was first published in The New Paper on July 30, 2008.