PRIMARY ONE REGISTRATION

PRIMARY ONE REGISTRATION:

(Priority to families with three children or more): 1.

Er Lee Bee Wah asked the Minister for Education in light of the Government's call for families to have more children, whether the Ministry will review its existing policy on Primary One registration to give priority to those with three children or more as an incentive for parents.

The Minister for Education (Dr Ng Eng Hen): Mr Speaker, Sir, up to the late

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1980s, priority admissions into schools for Primary One (P1) were used to support population policies. Following a review, the Government decided in 1992 to de-link P1 registration from population policies, even though they were an effective measure for some schools.

The reason to de-link registration into schools with population policies was guided by this principle that primary school admissions should be determined by educational goals, wherever possible. So if you look at the current criteria, proximity to home is a key criterion for admission so that a young child does not have to travel a long distance to go to school. Having siblings studying in the same school is another criterion as this is convenient for parents; allows the older sibling to help the younger child and builds school ties. We give priority to key stakeholders, such as the children of old boys or girls, members of the school advisory committees and parent volunteers as it strengthens community and parental support for the schools.

So the criteria I have listed are primarily driven to meet educational goals and the current scheme reflects a careful balance of the various factors that serve the educational interest of the child and the school.

Er Lee Bee Wah (Ang Mo Kio): Thank you, Mr Minister, for the answer. The Minister mentioned just now that it was effective for the population growth and based on the feedback from my residents, they are asking for this to be re-introduced. I hope that the Minister will consider this.

Dr Ng Eng Hen: Sir, as I have mentioned, MOE is not keen to link population policies and school admissions. I think this is a better way of doing it. We have done it before where we have linked

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it and you get different outcomes. I think our schools should serve primarily the educational goals of the child, and this is what explains our reluctance.