Former School Sites Returned to Singapore Land Authority in Past 10 Years

Mr Ang Wei Neng asked the Minister for Education (a) in the past 10 years, how many former school sites have been returned to the Singapore Land Authority (SLA); (b) how many former school sites are still left vacant as of 2019; (c) whether the Ministry has plans to re-develop these sites; and (d) as of 2019, how many former school sites have been renovated for a different use.

MOE regularly reviews the use of former school sites under its care. If there are no plans for the sites, MOE will return them to the Singapore Land Authority (SLA).

Over the past 10 years, MOE has returned 30 former school sites to SLA. Another four sites are in the process of being returned. Of the 30 sites returned, eight have been demolished and redeveloped for a variety of uses, including public housing, while 12 have been repurposed into facilities like Special Education schools, childcare centres, foreign system schools, homes for the elderly, offices and even urban farms. For the remaining sites, SLA will continue to work with the relevant Government agencies to put them out either for adaptive reuse or for longer term redevelopment plans.

MOE currently has about 25 former school sites, with the majority of these being used or set aside to be used as interim holding sites for schools undergoing upgrading. A few of these sites are pending development plans, for example, to use for Special Education schools.