Education is far more important than hamburgers. While you may abstain from hamburgers, it would be unwise to abstain from schools. However, like the hamburger story, we must note that different schools have different standards and with the increasing number of international students studying in Singapore schools, it becomes important for Singapore to ensure high standards of quality in our educational institutions.

To this task, CASE (Consumers Association of Singapore) started CaseTrust. According to CASE, “CaseTrust is an award given to businesses in Singapore that are committed towards maintaining a high-level of good business and customer practice”. It is collaboration between the following organizations:

CASE (http://www.case.org.sg)

SPRING Singapore (http://www.spring.gov.sg)

Singapore Tourism Board (http://www.stb.gov.sg)

Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (http://www.ida.gov.sg)

Economic Development Board (http://www.edb.gov.sg)

As you can clearly see from the above links, most of the organizations participating in CaseTrust have a suffix of gov.sg which simply means that they are organizations directly linked to the Singapore government. Therefore, CaseTrust is recognized by the Singapore government as an effective award for quality businesses. A school with CaseTrust can on a general level be trusted, though this does not negate the possibility of a failure to stick to the industry standards in the future.

So how are the schools you are interested to enrol affected by CaseTrust? Well, as of September 2005, it has become compulsory for all Private Education Organisations (PEOs) to possess CaseTrust before it can enrol international students. Hence, if the school you are going to enrol in does not possess CaseTrust, you can’t study in Singapore as an international student.

Secondly, CASE endorses the Student Protection Scheme which comprises of the Student Tuition Fee Account (Escrow) and the Student Tuition Fee Insurance (Please refer to Article 6 for more information). The Student Protection Scheme, as its name suggests, protects the student in the event of an unfair practice by the school. However, there are clear restrictions and conditions for this. CASE states that the Student Protection Scheme “protects the student if the PEO fails to pay penalties or return fees to the student arising from judgements made against it by the Singapore courts”.

So how does CaseTrust affect you? Well, clearly, CaseTrust attempts to protect you. This protection does not take place only through the Student Protection Scheme. With the lodge of any complaint, CASE will investigate the matter and track/confront the respective school. This minimizes a repeated offence by the school. In fact, the very fact that CASE can take away the CaseTrust award from a school sends shivers to all schools if they intend to mess around with the industry’s standards. Once CaseTrust is repealed, the school not only loses the ability to recruit international students but even the local students may not enrol in the school. So, CaseTrust is a good safety mechanism that can clearly protect you. (Note I have used the word ‘can’ instead of ‘will’).

A safety belt can protect you only if you fasten it on. Likewise, can CASE help you if you remain silent about your ordeal? This is Singapore. If you lodge a valid complaint, you will be helped by the government agencies. As a Singaporean, I will easily testify to that. So how can you lodge a complaint? Well, firstly, you can walk into CASE office to make your complaint. Secondly, you can lodge your complaint online. Thirdly, you can call them direct. However, they may advise you to make a written statement or even attend an interview at CASE. (To access CASE’s contact details, please click this link http://www.case.org.sg/contactus.htm)

So the advice for today is just this – find out more about CaseTrust by visiting www.case.org.sg and sign up with a school with CaseTrust.