Waiting time and support for students applying to Special Education Schools requiring alternative placement

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Mr Cai Yinzhou, Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC

Question

To ask the Minister for Education (a) what is the average time to final placement for special education (SPED) school applications referred for alternative placement; (b) whether the Ministry will consider processing applications to a parent's three preferred schools concurrently rather than sequentially; and (c) whether it will provide parents with live application status updates and reasons for unsuccessful applications.

Response

1. MOE guides parents to identify schools that will best support their child's special educational needs. Parents may also have other considerations when indicating their choices of SPED schools at the point of application.

2. A child’s suitability for placement in a special education (SPED) school is based on a comprehensive assessment of the child’s overall developmental profile, conducted by the first-choice school. The first-choice school's assessment is sufficient to determine placement suitability, without the need for repeated assessment in second- or third-choice schools. It takes an average of six months to confirm placement in the first-choice school from application submission.

3. When there is no vacancy in the first-choice SPED school or the support required by the child is not available in a school profile-type, an average of three additional months is needed for alternative placements. In these cases, MOE makes a school recommendation based on the child's needs and home-school proximity, without requiring further assessments. The parent’s second- and third-choice schools will automatically be considered if they are of the appropriate profile-type and there are vacancies. Factors leading to additional processing time may include consideration of appeals for review submitted to the first-choice school and time taken by parents to deliberate on the placement offer, considering their preferences for specific SPED schools.

4. As announced at this year’s Committee of Supply Debate, MOE is working with Social Service Agencies (SSAs) to expand SPED school capacity to meet demand and shorten waiting times for placement confirmation. From the second half of 2026 to the early 2030s, the overall capacity of SPED schools will increase from 9,000 to 12,000.

5. MOE and SPED schools work together to keep parents informed of their child’s application status and outcome. MOE will continue to review how it can provide parents with more timely updates throughout the application process so that they are kept informed of the progress.