Number of Students Placed in Secondary Schools under DSA Scheme and Talent Areas Covered under Scheme
Ministry of EducationSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns the Direct School Admission (DSA) scheme, specifically the number of students admitted, popular talent categories, and potential expansion of places as raised by Mr Darryl David. Minister for Education Chan Chun Sing stated that admissions rose from about 3,500 in 2019 to 4,400 in 2023, representing 11% of the Primary 6 cohort. He noted that current capacity caters to about 20% of each cohort, or 8,000 places, and there is no current need to increase this total. The Minister highlighted that one-third of applications are for Sports and Games, one-quarter for STEM, with others distributed across arts, leadership, and humanities. Finally, he affirmed that the Ministry of Education will continue working with schools to ensure talent categories remain varied and selection processes recognize diverse strengths.
Transcript
53 Mr Darryl David asked the Minister for Education (a) what is the number of students who have been admitted into secondary schools under the Direct School Admission (DSA) scheme in the last five years; (b) whether there are DSA talent areas that are more popular than others; (c) whether the Ministry will consider increasing the total number of places under the DSA scheme in secondary schools; and (d) whether the DSA talent areas can be expanded to allow more diversity in DSA admissions.
Mr Chan Chun Sing: The number of students admitted via the Direct School Admission (DSA) for secondary schools scheme has increased from about 3,500 students in 2019 to about 4,400 students in 2023. As a proportion of the Primary 6 cohort, the number of students admitted via DSA has increased from around 9% to around 11% respectively.
There are sufficient DSA places for eligible students to enrol across the school landscape. Currently, we cater DSA places for about 20% of each cohort, or about 8,000 places in 2023. There is no need to expand the number of DSA places at this point.
Around one-third of applications are under the Sports and Games talent category, and a quarter are for the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) category. The remaining applications are spread across Leadership and Uniformed Groups, Performing Arts, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Languages and Humanities, and Visual Arts, Design and Media.
Over the years, schools have expanded their DSA selection processes to recognise diverse strengths, and take into consideration potential, interest, character, resilience and drive. The Ministry of Education will continue to work with schools to ensure that the DSA talent categories are sufficiently varied, to cater to the diverse interests, talents and strengths of our students.