MOE Relooking P1 registration - Too much priority to alumni
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limlim:
PV is also stacked against the less endowed.
This.
What has church or clan connections anything to do with the child's educational interests??????!!
Should be removed totally!
PVs.. to some extend.. could be retained.. As parents who are active in the school understand the school system better.
And, as they contribute to the school (in terms of time and effort), it is fair that some priority be given.
This is meritocracy.. unlike connections.. -
limlim:
limlim, some balance please. Not all connections are evil. Undue influence or undue advantage is, getting things done because of connections is not.evil -> connections..
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limlim:
I agree partially, but not the PV part.
What has church or clan connections anything to do with the child's educational interests??????!!
Should be removed totally!
PVs.. to some extend.. could be retained.. As parents who are active in the school understand the school system better.
And, as they contribute to the school (in terms of time and effort), it is fair that some priority be given.
This is meritocracy.. unlike connections..
All pr schools shld try to be as equal and fair as possible.
Priority should only be given to a) siblings still in same sch and then b) proximity to sch of own residence, not some distant relative of convenience. Period.
We already have this freaking elitist segregation in sec sch, dont let it flow down to pr sch, kids shld enjoy learning, NOT be too overly stressed to outdo each other at such a young age. -
Am thinking out loud . Not meant to be offensive ! I am not affected by this , my children already in primary school and primary school is no longer around . but if anyone of u above is an alumni members will you still support the above comments . Guess every parents just want the best for the kiddos … To me I am staying near a good sap school , most of my neighbour sell their house to earn a profit but who are my new neighbour ? Foreign talent who takes up Singapore citizenship and poor me have to bear with noises make by them in the middle of the night . They are loud pple . They buy my neighbour house with good prices therefore lead to high cov … I benefit but for those who genuinely need a flat ESP young couple can they afford . Seem like every phase of p 1 registration will lead to problems too .
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BlueBells:
Actually, to take it a step further and to truly level the playing fields, affiliations to secondary schools and junior colleges should also be removed. This will ensure that the pupils who took PSLE are given fair and equal chances at any schools.
Agree! All affiliations should be removed, to be really fair.
Next will be Singaporeans first..then to PRs..finally the foreigners. -
Oh no! My fear was indeed unfounded........i mentioned this in the earlier part of this post! I really hope it is not happening this year as i have not made plans yet. :shock: :yikes:
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNew ... 69769.html
The Ministry of Education is understood to be studying how to improve the Primary 1 registration scheme, which has been criticised for giving too much priority to children with connections to the school.
It revealed the move in a letter to a school administration manager, who wrote to it late last year suggesting changes to the scheme.
In the ministry's letter, made public in an online teachers' forum, an official said the ministry was 'studying various options to improve the P1 registration framework'.
She also said any changes may take some time to be studied and implemented, as suggestions from various groups would have to be considered carefully.
She added that the scheme aims to allocate school places according to a set of fair and transparent criteria that are in the child's educational interests.
Asked about this on Wednesday, the ministry said it reviews the P1 registration framework regularly, taking into consideration public feedback.
A spokesman added that the system was last changed in 2010 to give Singaporean citizens priority over permanent residents. The Primary 1 registration scheme underwent a major revamp in 1999 to give greater priority to parents who are active in schools.
Former students who joined their schools' alumni associations were given priority over other old boys and girls when it came to getting their children into the school. Parent volunteers had to serve a minimum of 40 hours to qualify.
There are six phases in the registration process, with siblings of children already in a school getting top priority. Next come the children of alumni, parent volunteers or those with church or clan connections.
They are followed by all Singaporeans and permanent residents, with non-citizens last in the pecking order. If any phase is oversubscribed, priority is given to those who live nearby.
Parents have complained that the later stages often end up with more applicants than available places.
Last year, close to half of Singapore's 173 primary schools had to hold ballots and there were children who could not get into schools near their homes.
Others have complained that the scheme is unfairly weighted in favour of alumni - some of whom may not play an active role in the school - and those with church or clan connections.
Some parents want more places allocated to Phase 2C, for those without any ties to the school. Others want the ministry to stop giving priority to any group, and open all places to a ballot.
But the loudest calls have been to give priority to children living closest to the school of their choice.
Two years ago, two MPs raised this suggestion in Parliament, saying that they knew of children who could not get into schools very near their homes.
At the time, the ministry said it would not change the rule as those who live within 1km of the school are already given priority. It said guaranteeing places to those who live very close by would place unnecessary constraints on the system.
Mountbatten MP Lim Biow Chuan, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Education, on Wednesday agreed that the phase prioritising alumni does not distinguish between parents who contribute to the school and those who are 'sleeping members' who merely joined the alumni association.
'That's something that the ministry should look at to make it a fairer system,' he said.
Six out of eight parents interviewed on Wednesday supported any move to review the scheme.
Business executive Zachary Teo, 40, said he moved to Serangoon North to be close to popular Rosyth School, but he was not sure that his two children would get in.
'It will be ridiculous if I can't get a place at Rosyth and have to send my son by school bus to a school in Ang Mo Kio or Hougang,' he said.
[email protected] -
Of course there will be unhappy people. Hey, if this plays out, my kids will not have nay priority for their kids too, so there is a personal impact.
But its not always about what impacts us directly, we got to understand the common space too, about what’s fair.
I have stated in another thread, why does the child of an inactive alumni deserve a place ahead of a non-alumni? There is absolutely no logic to it. It does not apply in Secondary school, it does not apply to Uni, so why P-school?
You have seen for yourself how the situation is at the end of Phase 2A in popular P-schools, how on earth is it fair or sustainable? Common sense will tell you there is something rotten in the State of Denmark. -
I don’t think there is any satisfactory way of pleasing everyone in the P1 registration system. The various permutations, pros and cons of tweaking any part of the current rules have been analysed to death esp durin P1 registration time and there is never one consensus on what is fair.
On the issue of alumni, the alumni had studied in the school and contributed to the school’s success, culture and ethos. Many continue to be active and contribute to the school in money and in kind after graduation. Such contributions should be recognised. It is only beneficial to the school and for newer schools to build up a sense of history, identity, - passing down the school traditions, culture, values from the parents to kids if alumni is encouraged to send their kids back to the alma mater.
I support a restriction on the places available for alumni (like capping the places left after Phase 1, leaving the rest for 2B and 2C) but not a total removal of priority. The conditions for qualifying for 2A should also include some condition that the alumni participates in alumni activities etc and continues to be active and contributes to the school. -
Musings:
How about secondary school and uni, where alumni involvement is arguably even more extensive?
On the issue of alumni, the alumni had studied in the school and contributed to the school's success, culture and ethos. Many continue to be active and contribute to the school in money and in kind after graduation. Such contributions should be recognised. It is only beneficial to the school and for newer schools to build up a sense of history, identity, - passing down the school traditions, culture, values from the parents to kids if alumni is encouraged to send their kids back to the alma mater. -
3Boys:
Contributions by alumni to secondary school or uni are recognised by the schools in their own ways. But priority admission cannot be given at that level simply because it undermines meritocracy. In the same vein, I dont support affiliations from primary to secondary school - at that stage of secondary school admission, it should be based solely on merit.
How about secondary school and uni, where alumni involvement is arguably even more extensive?Musings:
On the issue of alumni, the alumni had studied in the school and contributed to the school's success, culture and ethos. Many continue to be active and contribute to the school in money and in kind after graduation. Such contributions should be recognised. It is only beneficial to the school and for newer schools to build up a sense of history, identity, - passing down the school traditions, culture, values from the parents to kids if alumni is encouraged to send their kids back to the alma mater.
However at P1, the system is not one of meritocracy to begin with - we strive to be fair but there is never complete fairness unless the system administers an entrance exam to P1 - which in itself raises other concerns...
A restriction on alumni places will serve to maintain and perpetuate a school's traditions and yet level the field for others to enter to create more diversity within the school (as opposed to being dominated by alumni).
Having come from a school with strong traditions (though my kids couldnt take advantage of that priority - wrong gender!), I would hate for those traditions, sense of shared identity be eroded. I had always longed to be able to tell my kids \"mummy and friends planted that tree in school over there, your teacher was also mummy's teacher...\" but that was not meant to be.
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