Location of Merged School at Bedok North Secondary School

5 Mr Pritam Singh asked the Acting Minister for Education (Schools) in view of the forthcoming merger of Bedok North Secondary School with Damai Secondary School in January 2018, whether the Ministry will consider locating the merged school at the premises of Bedok North Secondary School in view of better transportation links at the location of this school.

The Minister of State for Education (Dr Janil Puthucheary) (for the Acting Minister for Education (Schools)): Mdm Speaker, due to falling cohort sizes of secondary school students, there has been a corresponding decline in the overall demand for school places leading to a significant excess of Secondary school places. In March this year, the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced that 11 pairs of secondary schools will be merged in 2017 and 2018.

Bedok North Secondary School and Damai Secondary School will merge in 2018. The decision was to locate the merged school at the Damai Secondary School site for the following reasons.

Firstly, the Damai Secondary School site is bounded by Bedok Reservoir Park and Bedok Reservoir on one side and residential estates on the other. On the other hand, the Bedok North Secondary School site is located at the edge of the Kaki Bukit industrial estate.

Secondly, both school sites will be well-served by the future Downtown Line and will be within comfortable walking distance of MRT stations. In addition, the Damai Secondary School site is served by more bus services compared to the Bedok North Secondary site.

Finally, we also looked at the quality of infrastructure for the two sites. Damai Secondary School would be equipped with new facilities such as an indoor sports hall and synthetic field when the upgrading is completed by end 2018. After the upgrading, the Damai Secondary site would have better and newer facilities compared to Bedok North Secondary.

MOE will work with both schools to ensure a smooth merger and provide the best learning outcomes for its students and at the same time, forge a strong school identity for the school community.

Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied): Mdm Speaker, I have three supplementary questions for the Minister of State. Firstly, in view of the opening of the Kaki Bukit Downtown Line station in 2017 directly outside Bedok North Secondary School, would it not make the school easier to access for students and teachers, notwithstanding the larger number of bus services, which is not significant, rather than to have the school at Damai Secondary.

Secondly, does the current Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) masterplan envisage a different use of the land at Bedok North Secondary School, and if not, what plan does the Ministry have for the school compound after 2018? I understand that it is still classified as an area reserved for educational facilities.

Thirdly, how important a factor is the convenience of students and teachers, when MOE decides on the location of merged schools?

Dr Janil Puthucheary: Mdm Speaker, I thank the Member for his questions. If I can take the first and the last ones together? The transport accessibility and convenience are factors, but they are not the only factors, as I have explained in the first response. I do appreciate the difference in the walking time from the two schools to the MRT station, but it is still fairly comfortable. There are a number of considerations and distance to the MRT station is not the only one. Convenience is a factor and there are a number of components other than convenience.

With respect to the URA masterplan, MOE will have a look at site and make an assessment about the need within MOE for the site in terms of MOE initiatives and plans going forward. If MOE has no particular use for the site, the site will be returned to the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) who will then make an assessment of what happens downstream.

Mr Pritam Singh: Another supplementary question, Mdm Speaker. And I thank the Minister of State for answering the questions.

In view of the fact that upgrading is going to be carried out at Damai Secondary School, to be completed by the end of 2018, is there any prospect of a change of decision to move it back to Bedok North Secondary and what is the likelihood of that eventuality, since the Minister of State does recognise that there are advantages to have the merged school at the present location of Bedok North Secondary School?

Dr Janil Puthucheary: Mdm Speaker, I thank the Member for the question. I am not sure I said that there was an advantage to the merged school being at Bedok North Secondary. I do not quite understand – is the Member suggesting that the upgrading should not happen at Damai Secondary?

Mr Pritam Singh: I am suggesting that if the upgrading has not started, is there a prospect of locating the merged school at the Bedok North Secondary site because there is also a football field there? If I remember correctly, I believe it is an artificial turf, it is already turfed, and there is an indoor badminton hall. So, a number of facilities are already available for the community also to use. There could be savings accrued, rather than upgrading a school when the advantages are already pre-located at Bedok North Secondary School.

Dr Janil Puthucheary: Mdm Speaker, I thank the Member for the clarification. There are a number of factors that are taken into account in terms of where to locate a merged school and how the pairs should be chosen, and of the pairs, where the final location should be. Transport and convenience, we have talked about; the ability of the facilities to be upgraded, disruption to the school, and so forth. The school will be relocated to Damai Secondary School and the final merged school will have significantly better and newer facilities than are available at Bedok North Secondary.