Some are rich, some are very rich and some aren't rich at all.

Many of them are there because the company they work for sponsors it as a perk of a job. Many of them do get hefty discounts on the fees because they are employees of the company that owns the school.

There are also some of these schools that around 5% of the student population are there on full scholarships.

Worth the money?? Absolutely considering what kind of rubbish the SK, SRK, SJKC etc have become.

Myself, I started out life in a Catholic church supported kindergarten then went to what was once a very good SJKC in PJ that I finished Std 5, then I went on to a State of Vermont school and then to a state supported public uni in the State of Texas. I will give it to the SJKC, many of the good work ethics I now have has its origins from my time there, absolutely thankful for the good foundations in Mandarin I was given considering these days though working for an Anglo-American company 70% of my income comes from China and Taiwan. We had a very varied background of students but one background that was missing was you could hardly find anyone whose parents were the upper middle classes, why?? The answer is very simple, in 1983 most preferred SRKs that were closest to their homes, they did not want their children to go through that Remove year when they went on to a SMK and finally very few ever dreamed in 1983 that China would open up and be what it is today.

My wife, she attended a certain kindergarten, SJKC and then a Chinese independent school, after that she went to a private college for UoL LLB and only then she went on to LSE for her Masters. She has enviable academic results but sadly one of the things she cannot do is think or analyse or constructive criticism very well, probably a good thing I suppose else she won't be with someone like me

Our children, my daughter who is now 12, we never sent her to any playschool or kindergarten till she was 5, only thing we did was when she was 3 we hired a Filipina maid who has a university degree to watch over and read as well as play with her during the day and in the evenings the mummy would take on a tutor role. Weekends I taught her all the important life skills in the world which meant at 6, she knew how to change all kinds of light bulbs, she knew how to use basic handtools, she also knew how to drill holes using a power drill and with some help, she could even assemble an IKEA furniture. In her early years she had very few toys, I only bought her Lego blocks, a Mecano set and some stuff toys, pencils, pens and paint, never allowed any TV, phones, computer etc. When she was 4 I bought her a bicycle. Writing on the wall with a pen? Scribbling using pencils on furniture? Using her fingers to paint on the wall? We never once reprimanded her for it, instead we encouraged her to use papers. When she was 4, she developed the obsession to clean up all her drawings and writings on the wall. I taught her how to repaint walls instead. When her little brother was born when she was 5, each time he tried to use a pen and pencil where he wasn't supposed to she would bring papers for him.

She wasn't sent to any special kindergarten, just one that was selected simply because it was closest to our then home. After that she was sent to the nearest SRJK[C] as we were rather tight on money at that time and felt the financial risks involved wasn't something I could stomach especially as the wife had big plans that she wanted a family sized that would make a Vellfire a necessity. She attended it till 11 years old, when I pulled her out to join an international school. Only when she was 9 I started sending her for some extra English classes as her pronunciation was rather poor and I felt she didn't speak sufficiently in English which is every bit as if not more important than speaking Mandarin.

It wasn't necessarily an easy decision to move her to an international school, I thought very long and hard over it, in the end the decision largely centered upon 3 main criteria, firstly I did not like the way SRJKs had a tendency to mould and standardize, just about everyone that comes out of there are mostly the same. The next was I felt the entire schooling system had too much politics and it had simply become a political football, heck even the PIBG had political camps and factions in it and finally it still felt very archaic and more in tune for the 90s rather than 2030, positions of influence simply couldn't be touched as the old farts continued to dominate and squat there and the world is moving on, jobs are more and more being automated and plenty of people rushing for the fewer and fewer jobs, there won't be room for 90s era thinking and systems in as little as 2025 let alone 2035. In the end I decided I had to act in her best interest rather than traditions and cultures.

Am I happy with the decision?

A semester has passed. My daughter enjoys her school and the new friends she has made. I see a big improvement in terms of her confidence levels, ability to reason and interestingly her level of Mandarin is every bit if not better as at the international school though Mandarin is taught just as a language subject it is taught by far better teachers than those in a SJKC, the school does not take anyone as teachers unless he or she has 5 years post qualifying experience in either China or Taiwan. I wish that Taiwanese woman is teaching me Mandarin as well The kind of extra curricular activities available are simply second to none. The biggest difference between the 2 schools?? That would be the ability to allow the pupil to learn or do something because the pupil enjoys it rather than need to because have to pass exam.

I am happy if she is happy.

Is the mummy happy? She wasn't at first but she is warming up to it.