MOE should give P1 registration priority to SG kids?

[alng]

In MOE’s perspectives, all schools are indeed the same. I think this is becos the resources put in by MOE to all schools are the same except for those special schools such as GEP, SAP, future schools etc.


However, schools differ due to the resources put in by the other stakeholders such as alumni, parents and partners. I have two children. My elder girl is in an elite girls’ school (my alma mater) and my younger son is in P1 this year. He spent one month in a neighbourhood primary school before transferring to another popular school. I have compared the three schools and concluded that schools are indeed not the same.

Just take chess as an example as my son is interested in chess. In the neighbourhood school that my son was in for a month, there was no exposure to chess at all. In his current school now, the school offers chess but parents have to pay for the instructor’s fees. As parents, we are willing to pay that amount for the sake of developing our son’s interests. Then why isn’t chess offered in all schools? Most likely not all parents can afford to pay the fees and when there is low demand, the school is unlikely to offer.

I recall that some years ago when my elder girl was in primary 1, there was no chess club. Some P1 girls were interested in chess and their parents were lobbying for the chess club to be set up. The parents put in the resources (time and money) to run the chess club and to hire instructors. They went round recruiting other girls for the chess club too. Today, the chess club is a formal CCA club in the school.

I hope the Education Minister is starting to recognise that some schools are more popular than others for good reasons.

[tankee]

laughingcat:

You can also ask them to provide facts and figures as in how many PR with sons actually stayed on to do NS and how many actually run away from NS. I have been asking this but they can't answer.

I personally think the public should be known.

Also on the topics of NS......why SGP still has it when other countries are doing away with it? But that is another topics totally. Just an idea to throw around. :offtopic: Mod, i know OT. Can this be another topics to discuss?

what exactly do you have in mind?

whether NS is still relevant and necessary for Singapore?

[Ichigokun]

tankee:

laughingcat:

You can also ask them to provide facts and figures as in how many PR with sons actually stayed on to do NS and how many actually run away from NS. I have been asking this but they can't answer.

I personally think the public should be known.

Also on the topics of NS......why SGP still has it when other countries are doing away with it? But that is another topics totally. Just an idea to throw around. :offtopic: Mod, i know OT. Can this be another topics to discuss?

what exactly do you have in mind?

whether NS is still relevant and necessary for Singapore?

I think NS should NOT be compulsory for all people living in Singapore. Look at those economically stable and still strong-in-their-army countries like China.

It's not like we can't survive without armies.

In China, you can choose whether you want to join NS or not. Guys have the choice, so does the ladies.

[Ichigokun]

Maybe the Singapore government can let citizens choose whether they want NS or not. And if they say yes, give them an attractive pay to keep some people for NS.

[jedamum]

Ichigokun:

Maybe the Singapore government can let citizens choose whether they want NS or not. And if they say yes, give them an attractive pay to keep some people for NS.

OT, SG govt when letting citizens choose whether to serve NS. those said yes will have 80-100% subsidies for healthcare for the rest of their lives. :rahrah: good ah!! sure high NS take up rate!

[BeContented]

OT. Against

Should keep NS as mandatory. Given a choice, afraid we will end up with mostly foreigners & our boys will be toufu cos parents here are damn protective of our children. Now no choice I'll gladly let DS serve NS, if given the choice I'm afraid even if the boy wants it, I might refuse using all sorts of reason such as he will be behind his peers who dun, why so stupid?!?! . :siam:

[laughingcat]

tankee:

laughingcat:

You can also ask them to provide facts and figures as in how many PR with sons actually stayed on to do NS and how many actually run away from NS. I have been asking this but they can't answer.

I personally think the public should be known.

Also on the topics of NS......why SGP still has it when other countries are doing away with it? But that is another topics totally. Just an idea to throw around. :offtopic: Mod, i know OT. Can this be another topics to discuss?

what exactly do you have in mind?

whether NS is still relevant and necessary for Singapore?

:evil: yeap yeap

[LOLMum]

Ichigokun:

tankee:

[


what exactly do you have in mind?

whether NS is still relevant and necessary for Singapore?

I think NS should NOT be compulsory for all people living in Singapore. Look at those economically stable and still strong-in-their-army countries like China.

It's not like we can't survive without armies.

In China, you can choose whether you want to join NS or not. Guys have the choice, so does the ladies.

aiyoh, china ah? the population there is so huge, why do they need an enforcement? many people join the army cos' of the money (even if it is little, it is still better than being out of work, no $$$). also easy way to make $$$ (dont think i need to say what the colour the $$$ is) is to join the army, police force etc.

yes, other countries might not attack us but what if there are some itchy backsides on theis island who decide to bomb here and there, and we end up like sri lanka (for example). can our police protect us?

[znzyzyzx]

vicki:

znzyzyzx:

My ex-colleague, denounced his spore PR when it was time for him to do NS (which he said was applied for him by his father and he did not study in spore, so did not enjoy any benefit, so why should he serve NS ?). But few years later, he came to work in spore. And we welcome him and give him a work pass, no question asked.

I doubt it's no qn asked. I personally know of a ex-Singaporean who is on workpass now. He's in a high level position in a 'branded' company. N I heat that generally his permit is only renewed after 3 appeals n lots of reference, n he has a nagging fear that it might be revoked anytime.

This side Of the story u will never hear from the applicant. I mean it's not something that u can boast abt rite? The ' boasting' part is what one will usually tell pple - ie, easily obtain the pass although ex SG or PR.

Well , as u can see, ur friend is a ex-sporean, so he faced more difficulty. For my colleague , Ex-PR only, so really no question asked. Except that it took longer for him to get aproval at that time. But in the end, he still got it , and at that time i almost about to introduce my nephew to take the job as he couldnt find a job after graduating more than 2 years from NUS. But in the end , his permit was approved and he got the job, and thus deprived a sporean who did his NS , a job.

[absolut_vodka]

If the ministers want to convince us that all schools are the same, then they should prove to us by putting their own children/grandchildren into neighbourhood schools that are not popular.


I was formerly from one of the top all gals school and to be honest, though I love my school and all that it has provided for me, I am half-hearted to send my dd there due to the distance. Obviously, there will be some willing to trade places with me since it’s definitely not an easy school to get into. I spent a good 11years (coz there used to be pre-primary available for enrollment) waking up at 5am to go to school and on some days only get home after the sun sets due to CCA or extra lessons and I can’t imagine putting my dd through the whole agony. However, the schools around the vicinity of where I stay are all popular schools which are impossible to get in if I don’t do something. The nearest one is even outside of 1km.

And to make matters worse, my hb’s primary school has already closed down and that means for my ds (the younger one), I eventually will have to do something.

I realized after reading through the couple of related threads that there will be no pleasing everyone. Every current scheme has its pros and cons but it’s not fair to one group or another.

So I asked dh what is his ideal registration process would look like, given that he has no links that he can use to get our kids into school and this is what he suggested:

1) to combat the low birth rate, local families (meaning citizens) with three or more kids get to select the school of their choice first. Given that education is a concern for many parents, this may well be one way to ‘push’ couples to have more than 1. This practice was used previously by the Govt. when they were pushing ‘stop at two’. Women who were willing to undergo ligation procedures to stop at two were given priority in school selection. I remember one minister saying that education paves the way out of poverty for low income families. If there needs to be a cap on the numbers then maybe 5 km radius from their existing residence since that would ‘enlarge’ the pool of schools available for selection.

2) next phase would be for local families with two or more kids as above.

3) followed up balloting for SG citizens with one child. If there is a need to further differentiate locally born and bred citizens from new citizens, then one more ballot should be given to those whose fathers have served NS as a further recognition of the sacrifice made. Once the citizens have been admitted, the remaining spaces can be opened up to PRs and foreigners for balloting.

This is essentially a ‘Singaporeans First’ policy. Remember that we do not have a choice. We were borned here and so are our kids and so they must have first priority. PRs as we can see in many instances, do not regard themselves as Locals. Many use SG as a stepping stone to go elsewhere and they can give up their PR status anytime the situation looks less favorable to them. And they have the option to enrol into international schools - an option not available to locals. Same with the foreigners. Many opt for our local schools due to the cost concern.

This registration will even out the playing field. No more alumni/old boy/old gal priority, no issues of property prices escalating further around popular schools, no more exploiting poor parents precious time doing PV. The only downside I can think of, would be couples who have trouble conceiving. For those, it’s off-topic here but govt can do more to fund fertility treatment since these are people who are willing to have children but are unable to. Unfortunately, for these individuals, I have to say that there has to be a cut-off age to qualify since it is medically proven that egg quality deteriorates as the women age.

I think this system will incentivize more to carry on having more than 1 child, more so than the measly $4k baby bonus that we get now, or the dollar for dollar matching in CDA (since many poor families aren’t able to come out with the monies to put into the CDA a/c to begin with).