Debated in Parliament on 15 Aug 2016.
Mr Gan Thiam Poh asked the Acting Minister for Education (Schools) whether there will be a new primary school, secondary school or junior college built in Fernvale in Sengkang and, if so, when will they be built.
The Ministry of Education (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 currently two primary schools, Sengkang Green Primary and Fernvale Primary, in Fernvale estate. MOE has plans to build a third primary school near the Kupang Light Rail Transit station to meet the needs of residents moving into this new estate. Construction of the school is expected to start soon, and we will provide more details of when the school will be opened in due course.
There are currently six secondary schools – Pei Hwa Secondary School, Nan Chiau High School, Compassvale Secondary School, CHIJ St Joseph's Convent, Seng Kang Secondary School and North Vista Secondary School – located in Sengkang. There are also other secondary schools, for example, Hougang Secondary School, Xinmin Secondary School and Monfort Secondary School, which are located near Fernvale. As there are sufficient secondary school places in this area, we have no plans to build any new secondary school in Fernvale.
There are no plans to build a new junior college in Sengkang.
PAPERCUTS