Additional primary school within the new Brickland constituency

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Mr Don Wee, Chua Chu Kang GRC

Question

To ask the Minister for Education as South View Primary School, Chua Chu Kang Primary School and Unity Primary School are oversubscribed by many times during the Phase 2C of the Primary 1 admission exercise, whether an additional primary school can be built within the new Brickland constituency, which is a BTO precinct with many young families, to cope with the increased demand for Primary 1 places.

Response

1. MOE builds new primary schools based on localised demand projections and planned housing developments to ensure that there are sufficient school places for all Singaporean children in each residential area. However, individual primary schools in the same residential area could experience different levels of subscription for places based on many factors, including parental choice.

2. There are five primary schools within 1km and another nine primary schools within 1 – 2km of Brickland constituency. We are aware that there are several recently completed and upcoming housing developments in Brickland constituency and have made appropriate adjustments to the Primary 1 intake to cater to higher demand. Five out of the 14 schools had a total of about 430 remaining vacancies at the end of Phase 2C (Supplementary) in this year’s P1 Registration Exercise.

3. Although places in South View Primary School and Chua Chu Kang Primary School were taken up by the end of Phase 2C this year, nearby Teck Whye Primary School had 88 remaining vacancies at the end of Phase 2C (Supplementary). Unity Primary School did not ballot at Phase 2C and still had 57 remaining vacancies at the end of Phase 2C (Supplementary).

4. As the existing schools in the vicinity of Brickland constituency have sufficient places to serve residents, we have no plans to build a new primary school within the constituency. Nonetheless, MOE will continue to carefully review the demand and supply trends for the coming years and if necessary, adjust the intake for some schools in advance to meet projected demand.