Students who are Successful in the Annual Direct School Admission Scheme

Ms Janice Koh asked the Minister for Education since 2004 (a) what is the total number of students who apply for Direct School Admission (DSA) into Secondary schools each year; (b) what percentage of these applicants are successfully admitted through DSA each year; (c) what percentage of successful students are from the Gifted Education Programme; (d) what percentage of successful students are admitted based on their artistic achievements; and (e) what percentage of successful students are admitted based on their sporting abilities.

Mr Heng Swee Keat: On average, about 15,000 Direct School Admission (DSA) applications are received by our Secondary schools per year. This number includes students who may have applied to more than one Secondary school, so it does not represent the number of unique students who applied under DSA.

The number of students eventually admitted via DSA to Secondary schools is around 2,800 per year.

Around 15% of the students admitted to Secondary schools via DSA were from the Gifted Education Programme (GEP). They were selected on the basis of their strengths and achievements in academic or non-academic domains, like sports and arts, rather than simply because they were in the GEP.

Overall, the proportions of students admitted via DSA based on their strengths, abilities and achievements in arts and sports were around 15% and 35% respectively.