Student Guardian Singapore

Student guardian

A student guardian in Singapore plays a pseudo parental function, looking after the needs of the student and managing their school administrative matters, so that parents can have peace of mind on the well-being of their child without having to be physically present. Under the legal age of 18, some schools require that international students not residing with their parent, to have a guardian for the duration of their enrolment to act on behalf of the student’s parent.

Guardian responsibilities

Aside from attending to school administrative matters for the child, a responsible guardian goes beyond the legal requirements to dutifully care for the well-being of the child. This means going beyond the call of duty to send the child to the hospital even in the wee hours of the night if he/she is not feeling well, and dedicated attention if he/she is not performing well in school. Guardians act as student counsellors as well, where they regularly communicate with students to understand their well-being, and if special attention should be required. Should guardians identify any inconsistent behaviour of the child, they need to alert this to parents. Parents want to be informed and kept current also their children’s welfare. Guardians as such, has the responsibility to share, whether minor or major events with parents regularly. This will also help build trust between the parents and nominated guardian.

Guardian requirements

It is a requirement for international students to have a guardian when studying in a local mainstream school in Singapore. For international student studying in an international school who is under the age of 18 years old and not residing with a parent is required to have a guardian during the duration of their enrollment. The guardian needs to manage the student’s school-related matters, such as attending the student-teacher meet-and-greet, and other ad-hoc school matters. Aside school administrative, the guardian is the key point of contact should anything happen to the child in Singapore. The guardian is responsible to account for the child under his/her care and acts on behalf of the parents.

The student guardian is appointed and approved by the parents, and should also fulfill the following requirements:

1. A Singaporean Citizen/ Singapore Permanent Resident above 21 years of age, or
2. The parent or an adult family member of the international student if the parent/ family member is working or staying in Singapore.

Depending on the schools, some may require an older age of 25 years old in order to fulfill the guardian requirement.

The schools will require the acknowledged form of the Guardian nomination form – completed and signed by the parents of the international students. Also, a copy for the Guardian’s NRIC and passport would be required as well for validation purposes.

Guardianship services

Gohing Home provides guardianship for our international students. We are the key point of contact for schools and communication with parents. How we support: