SIMEI ESTATE (Construction of second primary school)

Mr Teo Chong Tee asked the Minister for Education whether a second primary school will be constructed in Simei Estate.

The Minister for Education (Mr Lee Yock Suan): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Ministry has no immediate plans to construct a second primary school in Simei Estate. In the Primary One registration exercise this year, there are still 24 vacancies in Changkat Primary School which is situated in Simei Estate. For the Simei/ Tampines area as a whole, there will be a new primary school, Tampines North Primary in Tampines Estate, which will be completed by the end of this year. With the completion of this school, there will be 11 primary schools in the Simei/Tampines area. These schools are well distributed and have sufficient places to serve the population in the region. If the need arises in future for another primary school in Simei Estate, the Ministry will certainly consider it.

Mr Teo Chong Tee (Changi): May I ask the Minister whether he has figures to show the number of children from Changi, in particular, from Simei Estate, who have registered for primary schools in the neighbouring Tampines Estate for 1995.

Mr Lee Yock Suan: Sir, my Ministry is still analyzing the figures. But for the information of the House, there are four other primary schools within one kilometre of Changkat Primary School. These four schools are Griffiths Primary School, which still has 103 vacancies; Qiaonan Primary School which has 94 vacancies, Yumin Primary School which has 3 vacancies, and Chongzheng Primary School which is full.