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Source:
www.moe.gov.sg |
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Returning Children Placement |
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Parliamentary Replies - 3 Apr 2006 |
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Question: |
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Dr Amy Khor Lean
Suan, MP for
Hong Kah GRC |
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To ask the Minister for Education |
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(a) how many children of returning
Singaporeans seek placement in primary and secondary schools each year
for the last five years; and |
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(b) whether steps are being taken to make it
easier for these Singaporeans to place their children in schools. |
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Response: |
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The number of returning Singaporean children
seeking the Ministry¡¯s assistance for placement into our schools had
remained fairly constant at about 130 cases for primary schools and
about 115 cases for secondary schools each year from 2001 to 2004. |
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Last year, more students chose to return to
Singapore and enter our schools. The number increased to about 220 cases
for primary schools and 210 cases for secondary schools in 2005. |
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Currently, MOE has in place a number of
measures to help Singaporean children who are overseas or returning home
find a suitable place in our schools. |
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For a start, we help returning Singaporean
children entering primary one the following year to participate in the
annual Primary One Registration Exercise at the same time as other local
Singaporeans. They need not be physically in Singapore. |
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The parents can either appoint a proxy to
register on their behalf or they can indicate their choices to MOE and
we will act on their behalf. |
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Once the child is registered with a school,
they can apply for Leave of Absence Scheme if they are not returning to
Singapore in time to start school the following year. |
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We will reserve the child¡¯s place in that
school until the child returns to Singapore. |
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Similarly, students who are in secondary
school but need to leave Singapore can have their places reserved
for their return under the Leave of Absence Scheme. |
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For Singaporean children who have not
participated in the Primary 1 registration or have not had a place
reserved for them, the Ministry provides a one-stop service by
helping them identify schools with vacancies near their home. |
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The child would then have to sit for and
pass the school¡¯s placement test. The test enables the school to
know if the child has the required education level to fit into the
school cohort, and also enables the school to determine the
appropriate level the child should be placed into. |
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However, this does mean that returning
Singaporean children often have to approach a few schools and to sit
for several school-based placement tests. This mechanism can be
improved. |
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Improved Mechanism |
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MOE will put in place three improvements
to make re-entry into the local education system friendlier. |
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This will give Singaporeans who work
abroad more reassurance and help encourage citizens to venture
abroad, knowing that it will not be a problem for their children to
re-enter our schools. |
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The admission of returning Singaporeans
will also enrich the school environment, and benefit all our
students. |
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First, at the primary school
level, MOE will do away with the need for placement tests for
returning Singaporean children seeking placement. |
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Instead MOE will identify a primary
school nearest to their home with vacancies and offer a place to the
child. We will implement this by the middle of this year. |
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With this system, parents will no longer
need to go around searching for a primary school place. However,
parents will still have the flexibility to seek school places for
their children on their own, if they wish. |
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Second, at the secondary school level,
MOE will also do away with the need for returning Singaporean
children to sit for multiple school-based tests. |
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Instead, MOE will develop a Centralised
Placement Test (CPT) to provide a common yardstick. MOE will conduct
a posting exercise to allocate returning Singaporean children to
schools, based on their school choices and their results in the CPT,
subject to available vacancies. |
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As with primary schools, parents and
students will have the flexibility to seek admission to any other
schools, if they are not keen on accepting the places allocated to
them by MOE. |
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In such cases, a student will be
evaluated separately by the school he approaches, based on his CPT
results as well as any other merit-based criteria set by the school. |
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Third, MOE will allow secondary schools
to admit a small number of returning Singaporean students, over and
above their planned capacity. |
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This is to recognise that Singaporean
children who are overseas are unable to seek admission at the same
time as those who are in Singapore and thus may miss out on
attending a school of their choice, even though they are
well-qualified to do so. |
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This change will not reduce the chances
for students in Singapore to get into the school of their choice as
there will be no reduction in the number of school places available
to them as a result of this change. Instead, we will allow for a few
additional places to cater to the needs of returning Singaporeans.
All students will still be admitted on merit. |
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Details of the CPT and the posting
system will be announced later. |
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With these new measures, Singaporeans
will find it easier to return and re-integrate into our schools.
Further, in addition to these improved local school admission
procedures, families who have been overseas for some time also
continue to have the option of seeking approval for admission to a
foreign school in Singapore. |
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Source:
www.moe.gov.sg News Release 3
Apr 2006 |
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Related Article: |
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- Easier for returning Singaporeans to go back to our schools |
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FrontPage Edition: Fri 7 Apr 2006
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