DEMAND FOR AND CONSTRUCTION OF NEW SCHOOLS

Dr Teo Ho Pin asked the Minister for Education (a) what are the planning guidelines for the construction of new schools; (b) what are the capacities and standard facilities provided; and (c) how data are obtained to ascertain the demand for new schools.

RAdm Teo Chee Hean: The process of planning for new schools takes into consideration HDB's building programme and the planned increase of dwelling units, both public as well as private. 6-monthly updates of the HDB building programme for the next 5 years as well as the scheduled completion dates of the new housing developments are obtained from HDB. Similar regular updates for private dwelling units are obtained from URA. From these updates, new schools are planned to be constructed in tandem with housing developments. The objective is to provide adequate school places for residents including those moving into their new homes.

To make a better estimate of the demand for school places, MOE from this year has also made an adjustment for new HDB housing estates where the population comprise mainly young families with school-going children. The demand projections are scaled upwards to reflect higher demand for school places in these new estates. Similarly for mature HDB estates, where the demand has levelled off due to a population shift towards the older generation and grown-up children, the demand projections are moderated downwards. Statistics from HDB are used to determine the scaling factors.

Schools are provided on the basis of an area covered by a Development Guide Plan (DGP). For example, the Bukit Panjang DGP will cover the whole of Bukit Panjang new town (the Bukit Panjang ward of Sembawang GRC and a part of the Chua Chu Kang Constituency). The Ministry has planned for 5 primary schools in this DGP. One of the schools, West View Primary, is currently functioning at a holding school in the adjacent DGP across the road, and is within 1 km from the permanent site of West View Primary. Overall the number of places in the schools within the DGP area will be adequate for those living within the DGP area.

The planned capacities for individual schools are 2,100 for double session primary schools and 1,260 for single-session secondary schools. These planning norms are based on 35 pupils per class but schools can operate up to a maximum of 40 pupils per class. The current primary school building specification standard provides for 36 classrooms, 4 language rooms, 1 language laboratory, 10 special rooms for arts, music, computer, science and mathematics and the rest of the administration offices, library, hall, etc. For secondary schools, there are 36 classrooms, 4 language rooms, 1 language laboratory, 18 special rooms as above including for history, geography, commerce and home economics, 4 technical workshops and the rest of the administration offices, etc.