Opening of New Primary School at Designated Education Site Next to Teban Vista

Ms Foo Mee Har asked the Minister for Education (Schools) under what circumstances will the Ministry consider opening a new Primary school at the designated education site next to Teban Vista to meet the needs of residents staying at Ayer Rajah and West Coast constituencies.

MOE regularly reviews the demand and supply trends at the national and regional levels to ensure that there are sufficient school places for school-going children. Our school planning takes into account the current and projected population and planned housing development programmes to ensure that there are sufficient school places to meet the needs of each residential area.

While MOE tries to ensure that every child of school-going age in Singapore has a place in a school reasonably near his or her home, it will not always be possible to do so. Every new school needs to have a sufficient catchment of students, over a sustained period of time, to enable it to mount a range of activities for the benefit of the students and to be run efficiently.

There are six Primary schools – Fuhua Primary School, Clementi Primary School, Nan Hua Primary School, Pei Tong Primary School, Qifa Primary School and Fairfield Methodist School – within two kilometres of the residents living in Ayer Rajah and West Coast estates. As there are sufficient Primary school places in these estates, we have no plans to build a new Primary school at the school site next to Teban Vista.