Correlation between Higher Phase 2A Take-up Rates in Primary 1 Registration Exercise and Socio-economic Clustering in Schools

54 Mr David Hoe asked the Minister for Education (a) whether the higher Phase 2A take-up rates in Primary 1 registration have been found to be contributing to socio-economic clustering in some schools; (b) whether the Phase 2A priority have been assessed to impact perceptions of fairness in access to schools; and (c) whether the Ministry will consider further refinements to Primary 1 registration in this regard.

Mr Desmond Lee: Our schools provide common spaces for students of different backgrounds to interact with one another, learn together and forge shared formative experiences. These help to undergird the foundations of a "we first" society in Singapore.

While the majority of primary schools have a good distribution of students from different backgrounds, some schools may have a larger proportion of students from similar backgrounds. For some, this could be due to the neighbourhood where the school is located. For others, it might be due to alumni priority of parents under Phase 2A. As a result, children in these schools may have fewer opportunities to interact and learn with children from other backgrounds.

To this end, the Ministry of Education (MOE) has been studying ways to support social mixing among students across schools. In a 14 January Parliamentary reply, MOE had shared how we have introduced cluster-based co-curricular activities to bring together students from different schools to pursue common interests. We are also reviewing the Primary 1 Registration Framework to enhance access to our primary schools for students of different backgrounds.