Priority for MOE kindergarten kids to enrol in co-located school

From next year, children who attend a Ministry of Education (MOE) kindergarten will be given priority to register for the primary school their kindergarten is co-located with.

This is part of a pilot scheme to ease the children's transition to Primary 1, MOE said yesterday. Under this pilot, MOE kindergarten children can join the 2018 P1 Registration Exercise under Phase 2A2, which currently extends only to:

• children whose parent or siblings have studied in the same primary school but are not in the alumni association, and
• children whose parent works in the same school.

It will not come at the cost of the places reserved in Phase 2B, which caters to children whose parents have church or clan links or are school volunteers, and Phase 2C, which is for children who have yet to secure a place in a school, said MOE.

Parents can also be assured that there are enough spots on a regional basis to ensure that no child will need to travel long distances to school, MOE added.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Minister for Education (Schools) Ng Chee Meng said the pilot was designed to facilitate a child's learning in a more familiar environment.

"We hope to enable the children to... learn in an environment where they get taken care of by seniors in the earlier years.

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"We hope to enable the children to... learn in an environment where they get taken care of by seniors in the earlier years."Minister for Education (Schools) Ng Chee Meng

"And when they become older, they too take care of the younger ones," he said.

The close kindergarten-primary school partnership will also familiarise the latter with the children's needs, and ensure they have the necessary support when they enter Primary 1, said MOE.

INCREASE

The pilot comes on the heels of the government's plans to increase the number of MOE kindergartens to about 50 by 2023.

These kindergartens will only be set up in areas where there is demand and will not include any government-aided primary schools.

In the existing 12 school-based MOE kindergartens, 40 per cent to 60 per cent of the children go on to the co-located primary schools. Each kindergarten takes in about 60 to 120 children every year.

A typical Primary 1 intake ranges from 210 to 240 pupils. In younger estates, the number can go up to 300.

While there is no cap to the number of places for MOE kindergarten children under Phase 2A2, the ministry assured that they will not form the entire Primary 1 intake. At least 40 places will continue to be reserved for children eligible for Phases 2B and 2C.

Mr Ng disagreed with concerns of this pilot adding on stress to parents, pointing out that the overall supply and demand of places will largely remain the same.

"It is now a matter of managing stages of demand and supply," he said.

There are also no plans to extend the pilot to private kindergartens.

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