The Ministry of Education (MOE) has in recent years expanded the autonomy that schools have to select students who demonstrate talents and interests in diverse areas. Selected secondary schools have been given greater discretion over their student intake, besides admitting students based on their performance at the PSLE.
This widening of admission criteria supports a more holistic view of our students, encourages those with a special talent or passion in various fields, and helps broaden how success is measured in our schools and valued by students and their parents. The move toward broader admission criteria has been widely supported by parents, teachers, and students.
For admission into Sec 1 from 2006 onwards, Independent Schools and Autonomous Schools are able to select students on their own criteria for up to 20% and 10% of their Sec 1 enrolment respectively, compared to the previous limits of 10% and 5% respectively. Other mainstream secondary schools seeking to develop niche programmes are being allowed, with MOE’s approval, to take in 5% of their students based on their own criteria. MOE has approved 9 such schools this year. Further, schools offering the Integrated Programme (IP) have had full autonomy over their admissions since the IP was introduced last year.
All these schools will offer places to students through the DSA. The criteria each school uses for selection of students are based on merit. They are made transparent before the start of the DSA, through briefings by each of these schools to interested students and parents, and the web-sites of the respective schools.
However the PSLE remains the centrepiece of the system of placement into secondary schools. 97% of the Sec 1 places in 2006 will be allocated based on PSLE performance. Even among the 43 schools conducting the DSA this year, a total of at least 84% of places will be allocated based on PSLE results.
Ms Lee was concerned that schools offering IP at Sec 1 have filled most of their places through the DSA, leaving few places for those who apply after their PSLE results are out. We assure her and other parents that this is not the case.
Although the IP schools have autonomy over their admissions, 7 of the 8 IP schools intend to admit no more than 50% of their Sec 1 places through the DSA. These include Raffles Girls’ School, Raffles Institution and Hwa Chong Institution, which Ms Lee asked about. This year, the 7 schools will admit 48% of their Sec 1 students through the DSA. This means that more than 1,500 places in these schools will be available for postings after the PSLE results. Students who are currently unsure about their suitability for the IP will also have another opportunity to enter these schools, at Sec 3.
NUS High School of Mathematics and Science is the exception amongst the IP schools in that it admits most of its students under the DSA. As it provides a programme tailored to students with special talents in mathematics and science, it selects its students through a variety of methods aimed at identifying those with strong abilities and interests in these fields. NUS High School has widely publicised this since its setting up in 2004.
Mr Lee Heng questioned the rationale for not allowing a student who has accepted a school place under the DSA to change his mind after he knows his PSLE results. He was under the impression that this was different from the procedure last year, when MOE introduced the DSA. This is not the case. As with last year, MOE continues to allow a student to withdraw his/her acceptance before the PSLE.
The DSA is intended to provide a different pathway to a secondary school that a student and his parents feel will best nurture his talents and interests. Parents and students should accept an offer from the school only if they are serious about developing the talents and interests they have presented to the school, and feel that the character of the school suits them. If they hold on to the offer, only in order to find out if they can "do better" using their PSLE results, they deprive others who would like to commit to the school early, a chance to be given such an offer.
Mr Lee is right that with more pathways, there are more decisions to be made by parents and students. This is part and parcel of providing wider choices, and recognising broader measures of talent amongst our students.
In most countries, diversity in school admissions is achieved mainly through a private school system. What the Singapore system now provides is diversity in the mainstream, state-funded school system, accessible to all students on the basis of merit. We believe this is the right way to go in the education system - to preserve the central importance of examinations while providing flexibility for schools and students to carve out alternative paths to developing their talents and interests.
Lim Huay Chih (Ms)
Director, Corporate Services
Ministry of Education
Page Last Updated :
02-Jan-2008
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