Singapore’s revised Primary 1 registration framework aims to widen access to popular primary schools from 2027, but some Members of Parliament (MPs) have questioned how the changes will affect families living near these schools and whether they will actually lead to greater social mixing.
MP Gho Sze Kee raised concerns in Parliament on Wednesday (Oct 7) about the impact of the changes on families in Mountbatten, saying she had “many upset parents” in the constituency.
She noted that Kong Hwa School, the only primary school in Mountbatten, is already “routinely oversubscribed”.
Gho said some children within the area have to consider neighbouring schools, four of which — Tanjong Katong Primary School, Tao Nan School, CHIJ (Katong) Primary School and Ngee Ann Primary School — are among the 12 schools that will come under the new two-track Phase 2C scheme.
Under this new scheme, 12 schools in areas with relatively low levels of public housing will split places equally between children living within 2km of the school and those living more than 2km away, with no further distance priority within each track.
“It is unconscionable that a child living a stone’s throw away from a school should be forced to travel to another primary school further away simply because the school next door is very popular,” Gho said.
Gho asked Education Minister Desmond Lee whether the Ministry of Education (MOE) had assessed where children who may no longer secure a place at these schools would go, as well as the distance and travel time they could face and the resulting pressure on neighbouring schools.
She also questioned whether using distance from a school was a reliable proxy for socio-economic diversity, pointing out that families living beyond 2km may not necessarily come from different socio-economic backgrounds than those living nearby.
“With this new framework, we are simply drawing a circle around a school and handicapping every child living within that circle,” Gho said.
“Worse, this framework makes the assumption that children living outside of that circle will be from different socio-economic backgrounds.”
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