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发表于 18-7-2012 12:08:44|来自:新加坡
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Priority for citizens not effective enough
Published on Jul 18, 2012
I AM due to register my elder son for Primary 1 under Phase 2B starting tomorrow. The nearest school, Ai Tong, is a three-minute walk from our home.
After last Friday's breakdown of the remaining vacancies after Phase 2A(2), the school has only 38 vacancies left, 19 of which will be up for grabs under Phase 2B.
The vacancy crunch signals a larger issue that remains unaddressed.
Giving citizens priority over non-citizens will not help much.
Last year's balloting data for the school shows a success rate of 39.21 per cent for Phase 2B and 29.41 per cent for Phase 2C, all of which affect pupils living within 1km of the school. Some 60 per cent and 70 per cent of the pupils living within 1km who registered under phases 2B and 2C, respectively, did not obtain a place.
Clearly, children of citizens living close to the school should be given higher priority.
If last year's figures are any yardstick, this year's batch will be denied a fair chance as well.
Sending our child to a school far away is unduly stressful. When the child is old enough to take part in co-curricular activities, parents face a headache as the school buses operate only on fixed timelines, and the child is too young to travel on public transport alone.
While it is fair for the Ministry of Education to give priority to pupils with siblings studying in the school, there is no need for the other phases that follow in the current system.
Priority should be given to all pupils living within 1km of the school.
Those who live farther away should be subject to balloting for the remaining vacancies.
The ministry must adopt a more holistic approach to address the frustration over primary school registration.
Lim Swee Ling (Madam)
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