This startup wants to make Singapore’s rigid, expensive education system accessible and free to everyone

For many years now, Singapore’s education system has been touted as a model for many countries – including highly developed ones such as Finland – to draw inspiration from. The island-state, together with fellow Asian nations such as South Korea and Japan, has consistently topped international rankings when it comes to educational standards despite having achieved independence just 49 years ago.

But the system doesn’t work for everyone, and it can be tough on those in society who are stuck in the lower income brackets. Education in Singapore is certainly not cheap. When compared to other countries, Singaporeans pay one of the highest university tuition fees in the world, second only to Ireland.

Anders Tan, by his own admission, was one of the many Singaporeans who fell through the cracks in the country’s education system. Tan is now the co-founder of a civic-minded startup called Edusnap. When he was in primary school, he was in the EM3 stream, which was a classification for students achieving poor grades. The streaming system was abolished later on in 2008.

The remainder of his education was equally low-prestige. “I was in the Normal Technical stream in secondary school, and went on to ITE [Institute of Technical Education], followed by polytechnic, and then army, and finally university. It was the long route!” Tan laughs. “Because I don’t come from a rich family, my parents did not have the capability to send me for additional enrichment programs. As a result – and I believe this is one of the main reasons why I wasn’t able to do better in my studies in the earlier days – I gave up studying completely. To me, studying was costly and unfavorable for people who are not rich.”

Tan figured that if you don’t have the cash, you probably shouldn’t study – that’s your destiny in life. However, as he grew older, he began to understand the value of hard work. “I realised that routes are actually created by yourself.”

Things began to come together in his university days. Tan happened to be volunteering at a few organizations at that point in time, where he was helping underprivileged students who did not have access to good education or resources – much like himself. Drawing from his own personal experience as well as those of the students he was helping out together, he decided that students should be able ask questions as and when they need to.

“I wanted to create a platform where there are good tutors who are not in it for the money, but truly want to help those who are not as privileged,” he says. With this in mind, Tan set out to create a platform that would connet willing tutors with students who didn’t have access to mentors like their well-off peers did. After a period of blood, sweat, and coding, Edusnap was born.

Edusnap is an app for iOS and Android that allows students to snap and submit pictures of questions that they do not know how to answer. Answers are then furnished by other students, or qualified tutors that have been screened by the team.

Basic education should be free for all

While Edusnap started off as a platform targeting the underprivileged, the team’s vision has expanded to encompass all students regardless of their level of income. “Our idea is this: that basic education should rightfully be free,” explains Chia Luck Yong, who is also a co-founder of Edusnap. “The simple act of asking questions should not come at a cost – students should not be denied the opportunity to ask questions, and hence be disadvantaged, just because they do not have tuition. We want to provide help and assistance in this area.”

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