S'poreans to get priority for P1 places during balloting
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SINGAPORE:
The more popular primary schools may have fewer Permanent Resident (PR) children from now on, said observers.
They said this is one possible outcome, following the government's move to tighten the Primary One (P1) registration exercise.
Under the change announced on Sunday, PRs will remain eligible for the same phases of the P1 registration exercise as citizens. However, when balloting is necessary in a specific phase of the registration exercise, citizens will be given absolute priority over PRs, even before home-to-school distance is considered.
The change will take place from the P1 registration exercise this July.
Last year, nearly half of all primary schools held ballots for the P1 registration exercise.
With the latest change, some popular schools told Channel NewsAsia they are expecting a much smaller intake of PR children.
Competition for the popular schools is already fierce, even among Singaporeans, and one MP said it would make sense for PRs to avoid \"brand name schools\" - where balloting will most likely take place.
Mr Lim Biow Chuan, chairman of Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Education, said: \"If they think that they want their child to go to a certain school, they have to consider whether that school would require balloting or not. If it does, quite honestly, they should put their efforts in volunteering in a school where balloting may not take place.\"
Property analysts also expect a slowdown in PRs going after HDB resale flats near popular schools.
Mr Eugene Lim, ERA Realty Network's key executive officer, said: \"The premium that buyers have been known to pay for being located near good schools is as much as 10, sometimes even 15 per cent.
\"So, if there are less buyers competing for these units near these good schools, technically the premium would go down. But it's still early days. It's very hard to say at this point if the prices will be affected, because for the gap that is vacated by the PRs, the locals will come in and fill it, as locals still have to compete for the 1km rule if there are more locals applying for the limited places available in each school.\"
Mr Lim added that buying a residential property with the intention of being near \"good schools\" is more prevalent among Singaporeans than PRs. He said HDB flats near \"good schools\" would likely be in greater demand than private properties.
According to Mr Lim, PRs currently make up about 20 percent of the HDB resale market and 13 percent of the private property resale market.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1191373/1/.html -
phtthp:
it's definitely not easy for govt to decide which phase to cut without getting shot...the decision to give priority to Singaporeans may hit S'pore to some extent. But looking after needs of SC is most important at this point.
One suggestion was to give more priority to children living nearby, but that 'favours the rich who can afford to buy or rent', he said. Alumni would also be up in arms if the phase that allows their children to get in was scrapped.
'I don't think you can solve all the issues. Popular schools will still have more Singaporeans who want to go there than places,' said Mr Lim. 'It's really not easy to decide which phase to cut.Something's got to give.' -
janet_lee88:
it's definitely not easy for govt to decide which phase to cut without getting shot...the decision to give priority to Singaporeans may hit S'pore to some extent. But looking after needs of SC is most important at this point.
Well said.
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Why so many think that this will trigger a wave of PRs applying for citizenship for their kids? ( well, this is the kiasu forum, maybe that's why :)) . I think it may result in in PRs being forced to enroll into less popular schools. So some will become 'citizen' schools, and other will become 'PR and foreigner' schools. Wonder if MOE thought about this segregation happening.
I'm a PR, but my kids are citizens. Anyway was planning to send the kids to aschool next door (no history of balloting), so this does not affect me in any way. -
Chikadilly:
Why so many think that this will trigger a wave of PRs applying for citizenship for their kids? ( well, this is the kiasu forum, maybe that's why :)) . I think it may result in in PRs being forced to enroll into less popular schools. So some will become 'citizen' schools, and other will become 'PR and foreigner' schools. Wonder if MOE thought about this segregation happening.
And what if down the road, those 'PR and foreigner' school scores better? *gasps* :siam: -
Then the dynamics will shift every 6 years, maybe, and then it will be truly all schools are good schools. No?
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SandS:
And what if down the road, those 'PR and foreigner' school scores better? *gasps* :siam:
in future, if \"PR and foreigner\" schools score better, then it helps to work towards meeting the long term objective that \"All schools are good.\" I believe there are a number of bright PR kids from China, India, Malaysia, Hongkong, Philippines, Indonesia, etc. MOE will be glad to witness this.
Then more SG parents will flock back to such schools to enrol their P1 children, relieve the traffic jam at \"branded\", popular schools. Healthy sign! -
SandS:
That's good. Then all schools in Singapore will be equally good. Isn't that what MOE says? :evil:Chikadilly:
Why so many think that this will trigger a wave of PRs applying for citizenship for their kids? ( well, this is the kiasu forum, maybe that's why :)) . I think it may result in in PRs being forced to enroll into less popular schools. So some will become 'citizen' schools, and other will become 'PR and foreigner' schools. Wonder if MOE thought about this segregation happening.
And what if down the road, those 'PR and foreigner' school scores better? *gasps* :siam: -
PRC woman upset with new Primary One registration rules ‘favoring’ Singaporeans over PRs
http://temasektimes.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/prc-woman-upset-with-new-primary-one-registration-rules-favoring-singaporeans-over-prs/ -
SandS:
then you either love to hate them, or hate to love them :rotflmao: :rotflmao: :evil: :evil: :evil:Chikadilly:
Why so many think that this will trigger a wave of PRs applying for citizenship for their kids? ( well, this is the kiasu forum, maybe that's why :)) . I think it may result in in PRs being forced to enroll into less popular schools. So some will become 'citizen' schools, and other will become 'PR and foreigner' schools. Wonder if MOE thought about this segregation happening.
And what if down the road, those 'PR and foreigner' school scores better? *gasps* :siam:
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