Returning Singaporeans - Boarding Awards Scheme
Overview
The Boarding Awards Scheme aims to provide young Singaporeans, at Secondary level or Pre-University level (Junior Colleges and Millennia Institute), with the benefits of a Singapore education while living in hostels in Singapore. This scheme applies only to Singaporean children whose parents are working or residing overseas.
Education in Singapore is highly valued and Singaporean parents desire to give their children an edge in life through education. Our Singapore education system provides children with a balanced and all-round education, developing them to their full potential and nurturing them to become good citizens, conscious of their responsibilities to family, society and country. A person’s outlook on life and his aspirations spring from the values he upholds. Our system with its emphasis on bilingualism ensures that our children learn about their own cultural heritage and the values inherent in it. It also equips them with the knowledge and skills to keep pace with change, innovations and technological advances.
But often, Singaporeans who are overseas are in a dilemma. While they want their children to get a good Singapore education, circumstances may not allow them to provide a suitable environment to meet the needs of their children. With a new generation of hostels in Singapore, they can be assured that their children will be well taken care of while they are away.
The hostel will provide boarders with a safe and familiar environment where they can experience the comforts and security of a home away from home. Like parents, the housemasters take care of the welfare of the boarders and their intellectual and emotional needs. No effort will be spared to create and foster a stimulating environment for the boarders’ all-round development.
To help students relax after a day at school, most hostels are equipped with recreational facilities such as a TV room, a multi-purpose room for games and music, tennis courts, as well as quiet reading rooms and computer rooms.
As boarders learn to manage their own time, take care of their personal needs and make independent decisions, they grow in maturity and become self-disciplined, independent and responsible. Living in an extended community encourages tolerance, teamwork and cooperation. Boarders learn to care for one another and to place the concerns of others before their own. The hostel will also be a place where networking begins and lasting friendships form.
Through communal living in the hostel, each boarder will emerge as an independent individual, having learnt to balance his own wants and rights with the needs of the community and the world around him.
Eligibility
To be eligible for the Boarding Awards Scheme:
- the child as well as one parent must be a Singapore citizen
- the child must be at Secondary or Pre-University level (Junior Colleges and Millennia Institute)
- both parents must reside overseas [Neither parent of the child must be in Singapore for more than 90 days in a calendar year]
Details of Award
- 50% of boarding fees for all students who are studying in Singapore Secondary Schools or Junior Colleges or Millennia Institute;
- 100% of boarding fees for those who are recipients of the Edusave Entrance Scholarships for Independent Schools (EESIS) or Edusave Scholarships for Integrated Programme Schools (ESIP);
- Award is only tenable at the following hostels:
- ACS (Independent) Boarding School (Boys only)
- ACS Oldham Hall (Mixed)
- Anglican House (Mixed)
- Catholic Junior College Hostel (Mixed)
- Dunman High School Hostel (Mixed)
- Hwa Chong Institution Boarding School (Mixed)
- Nanyang Girls’ High Boarding School (Girls only)
- NUS High School Residence (Mixed)
- Raffles Institution Boarding School (Mixed)
- Victoria Hall (Mixed)
Application for the Boarding Award
To apply for the Boarding Award, please fill in the online application form.
Frequently Asked Questions
For more information on the award, please read the Frequently Asked Questions.

