Reduction in Cut-off Points for Affiliated Primary School Students to be Admitted to Secondary Schools

Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim asked the Minister for Education (a) what is the rationale for secondary schools with affiliated primary schools to receive reductions in Secondary 1 entry scores; (b) whether the Ministry exercises oversight over the magnitude of the reductions in entry scores applied by each school; and (c) how effective have these secondary schools been in ensuring that the high-scoring students do not fall behind relative to their peers that entered with lower scores.

In Singapore, our goals in education are to spark the joy of learning in students, help them realise their potential and build the foundations for them to be active, contributing members of society. This is why we have a variegated education landscape that offers our students a range of school options catering to their diverse interests, needs and strengths. Affiliated schools contribute to one part of this landscape, with their long history and distinctive school culture.

In achieving this balance, we acknowledge that there are competing policy tensions.

First, we want to right-site our students based on their individual strengths and interests. Now, with Full-Subject Based Banding across our secondary school system, including affiliated schools, we are better able to achieve this today than before.

Second, we recognise that there are some educational merits to school affiliation. For example, the affiliation policy provides schools with a long history and distinctive culture with the opportunity to consistently imbue their school values, ethos and culture into their students over a longer period.

Third, we want to ensure that our society remains open and cohesive; not closed and fractured. This starts in our schools. Even as we support the building of school culture, values and tradition, this must not come at the expense of social cohesion and what we stand for as a nation.

This is why we have evolved our education system over time, as our society matures and faces greater risk of becoming more stratified. One example was when the Ministry of Education (MOE) required affiliated secondary schools to reserve 20% of places for non-affiliated students, when there was none before, from the 2019 Secondary 1 Posting Exercise. With MOE's encouragement, some affiliated schools have also tightened the Affiliate Minimum Requirements that affiliates must meet to be eligible for priority to the school, facilitating greater access for non-affiliated students.

For each year since the 2021 Secondary 1 Posting Exercise, about half of the Secondary 1 cohort of the affiliated secondary schools are from non-affiliated primary schools, with the remaining half from their respective affiliated primary schools. The difference in cut-off points between affiliates and non-affiliates varies depending on the Posting Group. For Posting Group 3, the average difference is about seven points. For Posting Groups 2 and 1, the average difference is smaller, at two and one point respectively, as the ranges of cut-off points in these posting groups are narrower than for Posting Group 3. The median mirrors the average for all three Posting Groups.

While this may be the current balance that we have established for now, we will continue to adjust and make further refinements, as time goes by and circumstances change, so that we can achieve the right balance for the future.