The Education Ministry is introducing three new measures to make
it easier for returning Singaporean children to re-enter the local
education system.
The Ministry says this will give Singaporeans the assurance to
venture and work abroad.
From 2001 to 2004, the number of students seeking help for school
placement stayed constant at just over 100 for both primary and
secondary levels.
This went up to over 200 for both categories last year.
At primary school level, the Ministry will do away with the need
for placement tests.
Instead, from the middle of this year, the Ministry will identify a
school nearest to a child's home that has vacancies and offer this
to the child.
At secondary school level, Singaporean children will no longer have
to sit for multiple school-based tests.
Instead, the Ministry will develop a Centralised Placement Test and
then conduct a posting exercise based on this test result and
school choices.
Both primary and secondary school students will have the
flexibility to seek admission to other schools if they are not keen
on the places allocated to them by the Ministry.
Thirdly, the Ministry will allow secondary schools to admit a small
number of returning Singaporean students over and above their
planned capacity. - CNA/ir