Lower-income's Access to Schools in Higher-income Estates After Change in Primary 1 Distance-based Allotment

13 Dr Shahira Abdullah asked the Minister for Education with the new distance-based allotment process for Primary 1 registration, how is the Ministry ensuring that popular schools in higher-income residential areas remain accessible to families from lower-income and social brackets.

The Minister for Education (Mr Chan Chun Sing): Mr Speaker, Sir, changes to the Primary 1 (P1) Registration Framework was introduced this year to enable more children to enrol in a school near where they live, even if they have no prior connection to the school. The changes benefit children living in all parts of Singapore, including those from lower-income and social brackets.

If there are more registrants than vacancies in any phase, children will be admitted based on citizenship and home-school distance. This is in recognition of the convenience for a child to study in a nearby school as it reduces travelling time, allowing the child and family to spend time more meaningfully.

We will continue to monitor the developments and review the need to change our P1 Registration Framework in the future.

Mr Speaker: Dr Shahira Abdullah.

Dr Shahira Abdullah (Nominated Member): Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I thank the Minister for the response.

Recently, there is a study from Harvard University that published the fact that social capital was the strongest predictor of upward income mobility; basically, that those with friends of higher socioeconomic status (SES) actually have better income mobility.

So, I am also aware that there are a lot of measures that MOE has which allow a lot more social interactions between those of lower- and higher-SES. But I am also concerned that for these social interactions, there must be a focus that the students internalise that the low SES ties are also valuable, as compared to only thinking that high SES ties are valuable. So, I was wondering whether there is a focus on those social interactions, whether it is curated for them to learn that particular lesson.

Mr Chan Chun Sing: Sorry, Mr Speaker, can I have Dr Shahira Abdullah to repeat the last three sentences?

Dr Shahira Abdullah: Okay. Basically, there are a lot of measures. I am aware that MOE has to ensure that there is social mixing between students of different backgrounds – high SES, low SES and many other different backgrounds. But I think the mindset may be that if you form ties with those in higher SES, you actually have better social capital, you move up better.

So, I just want to know whether in these interactions that are curated, there is a focus to ensure that they understand that these ties even with people from different backgrounds that are of lower SES are actually valuable to them, as compared to just having friends in higher places.

Mr Chan Chun Sing: I thank Dr Shahira. Yes, indeed, MOE agrees with what Dr Shahira says. We do encourage all our students to interact meaningfully across different backgrounds and, perhaps, especially across different backgrounds. That is what makes Singapore special – not just in terms of family backgrounds, occupations, where they stay, what race, language or religion they come from. That is part of our social fabric.

Indeed, we also acknowledge the challenge that has been highlighted, not just in Singapore but across many societies, that, over time, there is always the danger that society will stratify by different backgrounds, different socioeconomic backgrounds, different race, language or religion. And it is always a work-in-progress that we have to consciously make sure that our children have the opportunities to interact with people beyond their own background and we do have some good efforts by some communities and we hope to see more.

For example, there is one particularly popular school that has decided to have a combined sports team with another school that is not from the same background. And I thought it was a beautiful effort by the alumni of this school to reach out; not so much to benefit the students from this less popular school, but I think the students from this so-called more popular school also benefited by having the chance to interact with people from different backgrounds, understanding the challenges, the perspectives of people who are different from them.

That is important when, ultimately, they come out to work, to be able to appreciate that the workforce, the people they work with are all very diverse. And the more we appreciate one another, the more we appreciate each other's strengths and weaknesses, the more we can bring out the best in the team. So, we will continue that effort.