Opinions of the Primary School Registration System
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I took a look at Phase 2A:
Phase 2A1
For a child whose parent is a former student of the school and who has joined the alumni association as a member not later than 30 Jun 2009; or whose parent is a member of the School Advisory/Management Committee.
Phase 2A2
For a child whose parent or sibling has studied in the school of choice; or whose parent is a staff member of the school of choice. -
dorisp:
Some of the children may have parents teaching in the school.I took a look at Phase 2A:
Phase 2A1
For a child whose parent is a former student of the school and who has joined the alumni association as a member not later than 30 Jun 2009; or whose parent is a member of the School Advisory/Management Committee.
Phase 2A2
For a child whose parent or sibling has studied in the school of choice; or whose parent is a staff member of the school of choice. -
Phase 2A consists of alumnis, school mgt commitees, school staff members.
Someone mentioned in earlier posts that these people contributed partly to the success of the schools hence their children are entitled a place in 2A. Correct me if I am wrong, if the no. of applicant exceeds those available, they are also subject to balloting according to distance.
If there is a an artificial cap to the no. of vacancies in this phase just to make more room for more vacancies for phase 2B and 2C, then it also doesn't sound right.
:? -
dorisp:
Yes, I heard this from someone too.Phase 2A consists of alumnis, school mgt commitees, school staff members.
Someone mentioned in earlier posts that these people contributed partly to the success of the schools hence their children are entitled a place in 2A. Correct me if I am wrong, if the no. of applicant exceeds those available, they are also subject to balloting according to distance.
Children who are offspring should enjoy Phase 2A priority bcos their parents have contributed to the schools and still serving the school in the committee. Furthermore, if their parents are teachers, the kids should enjoy Phase 2A even more. -
So it does sounds not so right that in the name of fairness, we deprive some children of these group of people (alumni etc) a chance to enrol into the school. Yes it is true that reducing the vacancies of 2A will free up more vacancies for 2B and 2C, but if one is in the shoe of these alumni or school staff, it may be your turn to feel unfair............... :lol:
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My proposal, based strictly on convenience and levelling, and doing away with multiple opaque strata;
Phase 1 - Siblings of students
Phase 2 - Everyone else, within 5km. Too many applicants? Ballot for all within 5km, and no further subdivision.
That’s it.
Rationale - 5km is still a reasonable distance to travel for schooling, and is a more logical cut-off than 2km. And by doing so (yes, I’ve checked on a map for a few popular schools), the overlaps in school catchment areas, mix of residences (public and private), and the sheer volume of residences encompassed dilutes out any effect of folk relocating to be ‘near’ good schools and makes it irrelevant.
No entrenched alumni, members of the board, sudden religious conversions.
No scrapping for PVs, RCs, and all the accompanied ‘string pulling’ and opacity of process.
No sudden spikes in property prices within 1k or 2k of popular schools. Perhaps milder, manageable increases for those 5k, as there are far more to go around, and the incentive is not too great if you think you are going to have to ballot after all.
There, now everyone is in with a shout… -
dorisp:
So it does sounds not so right that in the name of fairness, we deprive some children of these group of people (alumni etc) a chance to enrol into the school. Yes it is true that reducing the vacancies of 2A will free up more vacancies for 2B and 2C, but if one is in the shoe of these alumni or school staff, it may be your turn to feel unfair............... :lol:
Call it an inheritance tax if you will. The philosophy is such that everyone gets to start from ground zero, which promotes social mobility and prevents entrenchment of classes. -
uh...............interesting............... :scratchhead:
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What is the supposed great 'leveller' in our society? The one thing that gives social mobility, and merit based as opposed to 'connections' based?
Is it not Education?
Therefore, should policies crafted around P1 registration serve to flatten entry criteria as opposed to raising impediments for certain groups of people?
Just crank through the Phase 1 to Phase 3 P1 registration criteria. As an ordinary Joe, say you have targeted a particular popular school for which you are just outside of 2km, how many criteria do you make?
Phase 1 - Siblings in school. Your first child, so scratch.
Phase 2A1/2 - Not a teacher, board member, alumni....scratch
Phase 2B - Not Catholic, not Methodist (can convert or not?), not Hokkien (definitely cannot convert)....scratch
Only PV - Try try at school, no transparency, confusing milieu of criteria, better refer to Kiasuparents for tips!
Phase 2C/3 - Finally, a category that does not depend on some form of connection to the school. But here, for popular schools, you are now fighting for scraps, if any.
If you were ordinary Joe, it is a near impossibility to get your child into a popular school. The road to PV is your only hope, and even that is unilluminated.
That this impediment exists at the P1 registration level, frankly, is disturbing to me, and the barriers, IMO, need to be dismantled. -
Govt can only do so much. One can argue that (for example) clan members shouldn’t get priority to enter a school. But in the first place, how and why was the school set up in the past? Becos clan members got together. If one doesn’t give say, catholics a ‘better’ chance to get into a catholic school - instead it becomes inundated with ‘non-believers’, does it not dilute their original purpose? May as well rename all schools to abc govt primary then. Why keep the history if there is no intention to recall the roots?
Going to an elite school does not make one an elite - someone could well fail within that system: then what? I know the system as is is will be unfair to someone; but then levelling it may make things unfair for other pp as well. Today cut off at 5km; then those within 5.01km leh? See MP?
Honestly, to me, this talk is a bit (yes, yes, there are differences) like those where pp complain they cannot get HDB flat. But does one look inside and see what’s the root cause? Becos the person didn’t get a choice number and therefore couldn’t book a flat on a high floor with no noon sun etc etc? Previously there was some system whereby it was first come first serve - this was unfair to those who couldn’t garner so much leave. Then they change it to ballot system - and in that process, made it unfair to those ‘kiam chye mia’ (aka very unlucky) pp.
I did PV work (waking up early, taking leave etc) to get myself into 2B and was lucky to have succeeded. But failing which I was prepared to get into a not so popular school - such is life and I will take whatever comes my way with the knowledge that things will work out for the best. I will do what is best for my child - to me, this does not mean putting him in the most popular school in the land, but by helping and guiding him in his academic life.
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