Aristocare
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Straits Times 29.7.12:
A private tutor charging high fees to help children get into the Gifted Education Programme (GEP) has been warned to stop telling lies about himself.
Mr Kelvin Ong Wee Loong, 36, has longclaimed that he was admitted into the gifted programme as a child and went on to be a teacher in the programme as well.
Now the Education Ministry has refuted those claims, saying it has checked and found no record that he was ever a pupil or teacher in the programme. Nor is he even a qualified teacher…
…This is not the first time that the ministry has taken issue with Mr Ong.
In 2010, it was alerted to AristoCare’s website after it advertised the sale of the 2009 GEP Screening and Selection Test papers.
The ministry checked and found that those were not the actual papers. It subsequently alerted parents that there was a website giving the impression that it had past GEP papers for sale, but they were not genuine. -
jtoh:
Actually it is quite bold too to advertise past year papers for sale. The copyright is held by the School/Ministry, right?Straits Times 29.7.12:
A private tutor charging high fees to help children get into the Gifted Education Programme (GEP) has been warned to stop telling lies about himself.
Mr Kelvin Ong Wee Loong, 36, has longclaimed that he was admitted into the gifted programme as a child and went on to be a teacher in the programme as well.
Now the Education Ministry has refuted those claims, saying it has checked and found no record that he was ever a pupil or teacher in the programme. Nor is he even a qualified teacher....
...This is not the first time that the ministry has taken issue with Mr Ong.
In 2010, it was alerted to AristoCare's website after it advertised the sale of the 2009 GEP Screening and Selection Test papers.
The ministry checked and found that those were not the actual papers. It subsequently alerted parents that there was a website giving the impression that it had past GEP papers for sale, but they were not genuine. -
I have one of his books. I must say quite good. I think he should not need to lie.
In the book, about the author, it says:
"Mr. Kelvin Ong, the founder of Aristocare, is a NUS graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree, with a major in Double Mathematics and a Postgraduate Dip in Education. He has more than 12 years of teaching experience in a top school in Singapore. Over the years, he has groomed thousands of ‘A’ students with proven track record. He prepares students for the GEP screening and selection tests. PSLE, DSA, GAT, IB, IP, Math Olympiad, O & A level exam. He was featured on 28 Oct 07 & 25 Sep 10, Sunday Times and on 30 Sep 10, LianHe Wanbao."
He didnt mentioned if the "Postgrad Dip in Education" is from Singapore MOE.
I wonder what was featured in the papers.
If his claims are false, he should be asked to close his tuition centre! -
Go read, he even blamed his mother for causing him to be mistaken that he was in GEP.
According to the news article, he was never a qualified MOE teacher nor a relief teacher at ACS, which he subsequently changed his claim to. -
Lynn2010:
Given that he lied about being a GEP student and a GEP teacher, and lied about having GEP test papers on his website and perpetuated these lies in his media interviews, I wonder if his claims to having an BSc degree and teaching experience are true. According to the article, he is not a qualified teacher, so likely his claims to having taught in a top school in Singapore for 12 years is a lie too.I have one of his books. I must say quite good. I think he should not need to lie.
In the book, about the author, it says:
\"Mr. Kelvin Ong, the founder of Aristocare, is a NUS graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree, with a major in Double Mathematics and a Postgraduate Dip in Education. He has more than 12 years of teaching experience in a top school in Singapore. Over the years, he has groomed thousands of 'A' students with proven track record. He prepares students for the GEP screening and selection tests. PSLE, DSA, GAT, IB, IP, Math Olympiad, O & A level exam. He was featured on 28 Oct 07 & 25 Sep 10, Sunday Times and on 30 Sep 10, LianHe Wanbao.\"
He didnt mentioned if the \"Postgrad Dip in Education\" is from Singapore MOE.
I wonder what was featured in the papers.
If his claims are false, he should be asked to close his tuition centre! -
tankee:
I find this the most laughable of all. He claims his mother told him he was from GEP and so he thought he was from GEP. He must have been one blur kid.Go read, he even blamed his mother for causing him to be mistaken that he was in GEP.
According to the news article, he was never a qualified MOE teacher nor a relief teacher at ACS, which he subsequently changed his claim to. -
By the way, today’s article in Straits Times was written by janeng (see first post).
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tankee:
Go read, he even blamed his mother for causing him to be mistaken that he was in GEP.
According to the news article, he was never a qualified MOE teacher nor a relief teacher at ACS, which he subsequently changed his claim to.
Why blame is mother huh?? Where is the article? Good to have someone to take blame when something goes wrong! -
jtoh:
No, he is not a blur kid. He listens to his mum... Good boy :evil:
I find this the most laughable of all. He claims his mother told him he was from GEP and so he thought he was from GEP. He must have been one blur kid.tankee:
Go read, he even blamed his mother for causing him to be mistaken that he was in GEP.
According to the news article, he was never a qualified MOE teacher nor a relief teacher at ACS, which he subsequently changed his claim to. -
ST 29.1.12
A private tutor charging high fees to help children get into the Gifted Education Programme (GEP) has been warned to stop telling lies about himself.
Mr Kelvin Ong Wee Loong, 36, has longclaimed that he was admitted into the gifted programme as a child and went on to be a teacher in the programme as well.
Now the Education Ministry has refuted those claims, saying it has checked and found no record that he was ever a pupil or teacher in the programme. Nor is he even a qualified teacher.
The ministry has told him to remove the lies from the website of his AristoCare centre, and he has complied.
Mr Ong, who handpicks children for his sessions and charges $1,000 for four lessons, had previously told The Sunday Times that he was in the gifted programme at Anglo-Chinese School (Primary).
In media interviews as far back as 2007, he also said that he used to be a teacher in the programme. The ministry decided to check after Mr Ong appeared in The Sunday Times on June 3 in a story about parents sending children for costly tuition to prepare them for the gifted programme selection tests.
A ministry spokesman said: ‘Based on MOE’s records, Mr Kelvin Ong was neither a student in the GEP nor a GEP teacher. MOE has spoken to Mr Kelvin Ong on the matter, and warned him against making such false claims again.’
It also checked but could not find any record of Mr Ong’s teaching qualifications.
This is not the first time that the ministry has taken issue with Mr Ong.
In 2010, it was alerted to AristoCare’s website after it advertised the sale of the 2009 GEP Screening and Selection Test papers.
The ministry checked and found that those were not the actual papers. It subsequently alerted parents that there was a website giving the impression that it had past GEP papers for sale, but they were not genuine.
It is not known if he will face further action.
Asked what he had to say about the ministry’s latest checks, Mr Ong told The Sunday Times it was his mother who had told him that he had been in the gifted programme.
‘I’m not very sure. According to my mum, I was from GEP. When MOE called me, I tried to check but couldn’t because I don’t have records from the past,’ he said.
He said he attended Clementi Town Primary from Primary 1 to 3 before transferring to ACS (Primary) in Primary 4.
The primary gifted programme starts at Primary 4, and ACS (Primary) is one of the schools offering it.
Mr Ong said he went on to ACS (Barker Road) and Anglo-Chinese Junior College, before studying mathematics at the National University of Singapore.
As for being a teacher of gifted pupils, he now claims that he was a relief teacher for two years from 2002 to 2003 at ACS (Primary) and ‘helped out’ with the gifted classes.
But this has been disputed by the school.
After checking the school records and speaking to long-time staff, ACS (Primary) vice-principal Grace Khoo told The Sunday Times: 'Kelvin Ong was not a pupil of ACS (Primary) - GEP or otherwise. Neither has he taught in the school (GEP or non-GEP).
‘All the long-serving teachers in the school say there was never a Kelvin Ong who taught here as a relief teacher.’
The parents of at least two children have also asked him to remove from his website ‘testimonials’ purportedly coming from their children saying they had done well in the Maths Olympiad after attending his sessions, and would recommend others to join.
The parents said their children never wrote any such thing.
Mr Ong has cleaned up that bit of his website too.
He also no longer claims to have been a teacher in the gifted programme.
‘Please say that I’m a GEP trainer, not GEP teacher,’ he said.
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