Priority for Primary 1 Registration

Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar asked the Minister for Education whether the Ministry can consider creating a new Primary 1 registration priority phase for couples with two or more children who may not qualify for Phase 1 and who may live within two kilometres of a Primary school.

The current Primary 1 (P1) Registration Framework reflects a careful balance of considerations, such as convenience for the family, the school's ties with community stakeholders and school proximity.

Mrs Lina Chiam has asked about the priority of registration. Phase 2B of the P1 Registration Framework is open to children of active community leaders, that is, serving committee members of the Residents' Committee, Neighbourhood Committee, Citizen's Consultative Committee, Community Club Management Committee and the Community Development Council. In addition, Phase 2B is also open to the children of parent volunteers and endorsed members of the churches or clans that are directly connected with the school. The commitment and support from these various stakeholders help to build stronger bonds between the school and the community.

We also note Dr Intan's concern about providing support for large families in Primary school admissions. While P1 admissions were used to support population policies up to the late 1980s, the Government decided to de-link P1 registration from population policies in 1992.

As we had just reviewed the P1 Registration Framework last year to give priority to Singapore Citizens during balloting, we will monitor the effects of these changes before deciding if further refinements should be made.

In addition, the Ministry will continue to ensure sufficient school places on a regional basis so that our children will not have to travel long distances to their Primary school. In fact, for the last three P1 Registration Exercises, about 98% of the registrants were able to obtain a place in a Primary school of their choice, or a Primary school within 2 km of their residence.

We will also continue to ensure that every school is a good school, so that every pupil can receive a good quality and holistic education, regardless of the school which he or she attends.

Mdm Speaker, I thank the Senior Minister of State for answering the question. I have two questions to ask. First, who defines the criteria for the term "leadership" here, and if leadership can also be identified outside Government and politically-linked entities? Second, would the Minister for Education consider scrapping the scheme as community leadership in Government-linked entities should not be rewarded through priority over public goods and services?

Mdm Speaker, one part of the question is related to whether the priority was Government-linked. As mentioned in my answer earlier, quite apart from the grassroots organisations under the People's Association (PA), there are the Parent Volunteers and there are also those who are members endorsed by the clans or churches. Of course, there are the alumni as well, but that is a different priority phase. So, the short answer to that particular question, is it only Government-linked? The answer is "no" because there are those which parent volunteers as well as those endorsed by churches and, of course, by clan associations as well.

With respect to the specific question about those who are given priority under the grassroots organisations, perhaps I should clarify before I go on to deal with specific Government-linked aspects. Under PA, it is not all of the grassroots committees that get priority. For example, as I mentioned earlier, it is only those in the Residents' Committee, Neighbourhood Committee, Citizens' Consultative Committee and the Community Club Management Committee. There is a great number that do not get priority, such as the Youth Executive Committee (YEC), Women's Executive Committee (WEC), Community Sports Committee (CSC), Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circle (IRCC) and a large number of others under that umbrella. So, it is the ones that are residentially-linked as well as those in the community. We recognise that there are many different social groups which serve the community. But when we look at priority, we look at priority for active community leaders. And in defining active community leaders, we define eligibility based on an objective view of community service.

PA and its grassroots organisations are non-partisan organisations set up with the specific mission of connecting people to people, people to the Government, and Government to the people. Grassroots leaders (GRLs) support PA in its mission of community building in support of the government of the day and that is why, at the current time, only active GRLs from the four grassroots organisations and District Councillors from the Community Development Councils are eligible for consideration under Phase 2B. And eligibility is based on contribution and not along party lines.

I thank the Senior Minister of State for her reply. I understand that Primary 1 registration has been delinked from population policies in the past. In the light of our current population challenges, would the Ministry consider relooking the Primary 1 registration priority phase, especially for families with two or more young children, in particular, for those who would like to enrol their children in the nearest Primary school, and where this Primary school is popular and usually over-subscribed? It is really a matter of convenience and accessibility for these families.

Mdm Speaker, I thank the Member for her question. I note her concern for families who have more than one child and the desire to get into a school of their choice that is near to their place of residence. Currently, they would be able to get priority under Phase 1, if there is a sibling who is already studying at the Primary school. If the sibling has left that Primary school but was previously from that school, they would be able to get priority under Phase 2A.

With respect to whether we should increase or have more schemes with respect to priority registration, as I mentioned earlier, because we have just recently tweaked the system, we would like to study this before we take any other measures or make further changes to the system. We want to see how the current system works.

Thank you, Mdm Speaker. Earlier in her reply, the Senior Minister of State mentioned that the community leaders are important to build the bond between the schools and the community. I would like to ask if the Ministry has done any survey to see how many community leaders have actively contributed to the schools that their children are enrolled in, and if it can be a criterion for community leaders to have first made specific contributions to the schools before they are being considered for priority.

I am not aware of any survey. I do not have that information at the current time. If the Member would like to file a specific question on that, I can check. But currently, the criterion is based on contribution to the community, as opposed to contributions specifically to the school. Contributions specifically to the school would be under the parent volunteers scheme or on the Advisory Council of the school. But with respect to the community leaders' contribution, it is contribution to the community.