Admission into Private Schools

Private schools conduct their own admission/enrolment exercises. These schools normally make announcements in the media or brochures on the courses they offer and the enrolment dates. Admission/enrolment enquiries are to be made with the school(s) concerned directly. Before enrolment/payment for a course, prospective students ought to check and be satisfied that:

• the school is registered with MOE. (View a sample of the Registration Certificate (32kb .pdf)
• the school has permission to offer the course
• the teacher(s) is / are permitted to teach the course(s)
• the eligibility or entry requirements (if any) specified for the course or examinations are met
• the regulations, terms and conditions stipulated by the school are agreeable

Prospective students could request to view the registration certificate, and the letters of permission for the course(s) and teacher(s) issued by MOE to the school(s).

As there is a wide variety of programmes offered by private schools, it is more practical for these programmes and their quality to be subject to the test of the market. The various efforts by the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE), SPRING Singapore and the industry will also ensure better standards as well as to protect the interests of students.

CaseTrust for Education Scheme

The CaseTrust for Education scheme has been customised specifically by CASE to enhance the confidence of foreign students and their parents in ensuring that there are protection of student fees, transparency in transactions and fair contractual terms in our private schools in Singapore. CASE’s website contains a list of CaseTrusted Private Education Organizations (PEOs)

Singapore Quality Class (SQC) for PEO Scheme

There is also the Singapore Quality Class (SQC) for PEO scheme to recognise PEO that have attained a commendable level of business excellence based on the Singapore Quality Award (SQA) framework and requirements in the private education sector. The scheme is administered by SPRING Singapore. For the list of PEOs who are SQC-certified, please visit SPRING Singapore's website.

Age-limit for enrolment in private schools

Individual private schools have their own regulations on age limit for enrolment into courses of study. Please check with schools concerned for details.

National service deferment

Enquiries on national service deferment and related issues are to be made with the Central Manpower Base, Ministry of Defence. Information is also available on Mindef's website.

Private schools running GCE classes

Presently, there are 2 private academic schools [San Yu Adventist School & St Francis Methodist School (Private)] conducting classes leading to Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education (GCE). These two private schools function very much like the mainstream schools in that they follow the academic year, schooling hours, etc. Their contact information is available in the list of private regular schools (24kb .doc).

Certain commercial schools and the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) also run part-time GCE classes at several centres mainly in the evenings and on weekends. Enquiries on ITE“s GCE classes can be made to:

Registering for the Singapore-Cambridge GCE Examinations

Persons wishing to register as candidates in the Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education (GCE) examinations [GCE ‘N’, ‘O’ & ‘A’ Levels] may seek more information with the Singapore Examinations & Assessment Board. You may also contact MOE’s Customer Service Centre at 6872 2220.