Q:

Tweet

Is it ok to hire an underaged tutor for my kids?

Many people employ teenagers to give their children tuition. It is part-time, informal employment which does not contravene the law. Given the world trend against child labour and exploitation, your concern may be that you’re breaking the law in some way.

In Singapore, the legal age for a child to be employable is 13. A child is a person under 15 years of age. A young person is someone 15 years of age or above but less than 16 years of age. This distinction determines the type of work that the child or young person can undertake and there are many restrictions in law for the same, which deal with the nature of the work to be undertaken.

If your child’s tutor is 17 to 20, these restrictions do not apply and there is little worry that you are exploiting the teenager since the situation is more likely an informal business arrangement. In this respect, you need to take note that the legal age for capacity to enter into a contract is 21 years. Thus, if a minor has entered into a contract, his parents or guardians can cancel it at any time. Since the teenager lacks the capacity, the contract for tuition is unenforceable. But if you try to take advantage of this, the law can step in to say that it is exploitation because the informal arrangement for tuition could be enforceable.