Enrolment in Junior Colleges

Er Dr Lee Bee Wah asked the Acting Minister for Education (Schools) (a) what has been the enrolment rate at junior colleges (JCs) over the past three years; (b) whether there are JCs with excess capacity; and (c) what is the building programme for JCs in the next two years.

The junior college (JC) enrolment figures are 30,200 in 2014, 28,300 in 2015 and 27,100 in 2016. These figures include both JC1 and JC2 students.

We currently have sufficient JC places for all eligible students who apply for a JC place. We also have enough capacity to cope with surge demand due to larger cohort sizes in particular years as well as places for returning Singaporeans. The falling cohort sizes in recent years, which we expect to generally continue to trend down over the next few years, would have implications for our JCs. We are therefore carefully studying the best option for the future JC landscape. Our priority is to ensure that our JCs continue to provide our students with a good range of educational programmes and learning experiences.

There are currently no new building plans for JCs in the next two years. Work on Eunoia JC's (EJC) interim and permanent sites is on track. The decision to establish EJC was made in 2010 when the Integrated Programme (IP) was expanded to benefit more students. EJC was also planned to provide the Year 5 and 6 programmes for the IP students from three feeder secondary schools.