SINGAPORE: The Education Ministry (MOE) is undertaking a review of the Direct Schools Admission (DSA) scheme, Acting Minister of
Education (Schools) Ng Chee Meng announced in Parliament on Friday (Apr 8).
In his speech as part of the Committee of Supply debate, Mr Ng said that the ministry wants to allow more students to benefit from the DSA scheme, and tap on the range of programmes schools offer. This will complement the announced changes to the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) system, he added.
Currently, the DSA-Sec scheme allows secondary school to select Primary 6 students for admission into Secondary 1 based on their achievements and talents, even before the PSLE results are released.
Mr Ng noted that while many students have benefitted from the scheme, there was some unevenness in how different schools select their DSA students. He added that MOE will undertake the review of the scheme with two guiding principles.
Firstly, MOE aims to provide students with more options when selecting a school that can best nurture their interests and talents. Mr Ng said it will do so by expanding opportunities in more secondary schools for students with specific aptitudes and talents to enter a school with distinctive programmes via the DSA.
Secondly, the ministry aims to sharpen the focus of the DSA to better recognise talents and achievements in specific domains, rather than general academic ability that can be demonstrated through the PSLE.
用成绩DSA可能会被取消
The Education Minister also urged students to carefully consider which secondary schools offer education pathways and opportunities that are best suited for them, based on their specific aptitudes and aspirations, and beyond the cut-off points for the school.
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