Statistics on Success of Direct School Admission (Sports) Programme and Singapore Sports School

9 Mr Ganesh Rajaram asked the Minister for Education (Schools) with regard to nurturing sports excellence in schools (a) whether the Ministry can provide statistics on the success of the Direct School Admission (Sports) programme and the Singapore Sports School; and (b) how many of the students accepted into either of these programmes have represented or are representing Singapore in their chosen sporting fields after they have left school.

The Minister for Education (Schools) (Mr Ng Chee Meng): Mr Speaker, since its inception in 2004, the Singapore Sports School has produced eight Olympians, 10 World Champions and 65 Asian Games competitors. To date, about 400 Sports School students and alumni have represented Singapore at various international competitions.

For students who are admitted to mainstream schools via Direct School Admission, the Ministry of Education does not track whether they go on to represent Singapore in their chosen sporting field after they have graduated.