Number of Students Admitted to Secondary Schools through Annual Direct School Admission Exercises

Mr Darryl David asked the Minister for Education (a) how many students have been admitted into Secondary schools under the 2021 Direct School Admission (DSA) exercise; and (b) from 2018 to 2020, what is the number of (i) DSA applications and (ii) students admitted through DSA, respectively.

The Direct School Admission for Secondary Schools (DSA-Sec) provides an avenue, besides the PSLE, for students to gain direct entry to Secondary schools. Students are admitted via DSA-Sec based on achievements, interest and passion for their talent area, as well as their potential and personal qualities. It is part of MOE’s efforts to broaden the definition of merit, give more emphasis to holistic education and to develop diverse strengths and potential of our students.

DSA-Sec has grown in popularity as MOE has made moves over the years to make it more accessible to students. Applications rose significantly between 2018 and 2019 with the introduction of the centralised DSA portal, from 18,000 applications in 2018 to about 29,000 in 2019. This increase in applications has been sustained, with 30,500 applications in 2020 and 31,400 in 2021. Correspondingly, the number of unique applicants also rose from 9,000 in 2018 to 12,100 in 2021.

More students have been admitted via DSA-Sec, from about 7% or 3,000 students of the 2019 Secondary 1 cohort to close to 10% or 3,700 students of the 2022 Secondary 1 cohort.