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Several schools that are often oversubscribed in Phases 2A and 2C are also oversubscribed in Phase 2B.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For example, both Red Swastika School and Princess Elizabeth Primary School have parent volunteer schemes or church or clan affiliations, and were oversubscribed in all three phases in the 2026 exercise.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Twenty places are reserved in Phase 2B. The cap was introduced from the 2014 exercise, together with 20 reserved places for Phase 2C, to ensure more spots were available to families without alumni connections.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Assistant Professor of Sociology Jacqueline Ho from the Singapore Management University said the Primary 1 registration system is \u201cquite anomalous\u201d in the context of other admission systems in Singapore\u2019s education system.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Primary 1 system \u201cdirectly ties the child\u2019s opportunities to their <\/span>birthright privileges<\/span>\u201d, she added.<\/span><\/p>\n Each phase has its own policy goal \u2013 Phase 2A retains school culture, Phase 2B recognises volunteer contributions and Phase 2C preserves open access, she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But Singapore should question whether these goals are for the Primary 1 registration process to accomplish, she added.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For example, parents can be engaged through parent support groups for those whose children are already in the school and alumni engagement is not necessarily the only way to preserve school culture, she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Even if these goals are attached to the Primary 1 registration process, the question is whether the scheme is achieving them, said Asst Prof Ho.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Some alumni send their children to their alma mater because it is safer and more convenient to avoid balloting in the riskier Phase 2C, she added.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c\u2060For some parents, it may be about getting ahead in the system rather than preserving school culture,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The changes implemented by MOE over the years are moving towards opening up access to schools, added Asst Prof Ho.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But making more radical moves may be challenging because society is still used to the idea that if you are an alumnus of a school, your children are entitled to a place, she said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\u201cBIRTHRIGHT PRIVILEGES\u201d<\/span><\/h2>\n
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