4 in 10 at top primary schools live in HDB flats

That is half the national average of eight in 10 pupils for all primary schools. -ST
Goh Chin Lian

Thu, Nov 15, 2012
The Straits Times

SINGAPORE - Four in 10 pupils from several of Singapore's top primary schools live in Housing Board flats.

That is half the national average of eight in 10 pupils for all primary schools, Education Minister Heng Swee Keat revealed in a written answer to Parliament on Tuesday.

Mr Seah Kian Peng (Marine Parade GRC) had asked about the housing of pupils in six top primary schools: Raffles Girls', Methodist Girls', Henry Park, Anglo-Chinese School (Primary), Nanyang and Tao Nan.

He wanted to know how their figures compared nationally and with neighbourhood schools.

Mr Heng said their 40 per cent figure "broadly reflects the mix of residential housing in the vicinity of these schools".

The average proportion of HDB resident households in the designated planning areas where these schools are located is 35 per cent, the ministry said later.

Tao Nan is in Marine Parade, ACS (Primary) in Novena and the remaining four in Bukit Timah.

Mr Heng did not give the comparative figures for neighbourhood schools.

"MOE does not have a definition of 'neighbourhood schools'," he said.

The ministry has been advocating the notion of seeing every school as a good one, rather than encouraging such distinctions.

During a visit to Raffles Girls' Primary School and Punggol Primary School two years ago, former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew noted that what differentiated the two schools were the parents' different backgrounds rather than their facilities.

He also argued that the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) levels the playing field.

A scheme which admits students to a secondary school based on their strengths in certain niche areas, instead of PSLE results, was questioned by Nominated MP Mary Liew.

She asked if there could be a cap or scrapping of the direct school admission scheme "to ensure equal opportunities".

In a written reply, Mr Heng said autonomous schools offering the Integrated Programme (IP) where students skip the O levels admitted between 25 and 40 per cent of IP students through the scheme last year, even though they are free to admit more.

Admissions by autonomous schools offering the O-level programme are capped at 10 per cent.

He defended the scheme, saying that it has "served to broaden the definition of success and promote holistic education by reducing the emphasis on national examination results".