MOE Relooking P1 registration - Too much priority to alumni

[Laura02]

Or, as already suggested, that it that all primary schools are "equal" and just send the child to an enrichment centre with a proven track record.

[absolut_vodka]

The tracking of hours is already been done at some schoolS. Someone I know was told upfront when she signed for PV that the top PV clocked more than 500 hours and eventually her child was given a place in the school.

znzyzyzx:

like that school admin very \" boh eng\", to keep track how many hours lah , blah blah blah.

Laura02:

I think the present system of Pri 1 allocation is quite fair, but some loopholes should be removed.
For instance, I have heard of parents (both local and PR) buying uncompleted properties within 1km of \"good schools\", using that address to apply for the school, but planning (right fr day one) to rent out the property when its TOPs.
And I feel that parents who have already done volunteer work to put their child in the school should be allowed to enter the school. That said, is perhaps unavoidable that sometimes schools will miscalculate the number of vacancies it has for this phase. So perhaps schools should give places to the children of PV who have put in the most number of hours. So say, for instance, the school anticipates that there will be 40 places for PVs. It allows 40 parents to do PV work for the year before the child applies for Pri 1. The school can stipulate say 40h, but encourage PV to do more. And say if, at the application date, the school only finds 30 vacancies, then it gives these 30 vacancies to the 30 PV with the highest number of volunteer hours clocked in, while the remaining 10 PVs will have to ballot.
I think a forum like this is great to throw up different ideas - because we can all point of the pros & cons of these ideas. Some will take an personal, selfish viewpoint, while other will take an altruistic, balanced, longer term viewpoint. For the former, I say, becareful what you wish for because sometimes you get your wish - and it turns out to have quite unpleasant side-effects.

[magiccastle]

Piggylalala,

Ya. Nanyang has a good curriculum n a strong Chinese culture. But of course , the parents of the students in nanyang - most of them are middle class n above . So can afford to send the children to the various enrichment classes n push the children to maximize their academic potential. The school has it’s own the resource too.

Unlike other schools especially the neighbourhood ones, no resource n background of the students varies, a bit difficult for the principal to push. still possible but a lot of hardwork n effort from the teachers n students.

Like my girl , initially wanted her to go to a school with a rich Chinese culture, so went tho interview to become Pv at one of the sap schools with strong Chinese culture. True enough, I feel the presence of the Chinese tradition n culture once I stepped into the school. With that environment , the students will definitely build a strong foundation in Chinese. But as no guarantee of a place n i cannot commit my time, I didn’t proceed. Instead , i registered her in a nearby school which has more than 100 years of history n supposed to have a good share of chinese culture n produced a number of historical Chinese 名人.The school name often appear in Chinese local paper when discuss about Chinese history.
But sad to say, I don’t feel the Chinese culture at all. Hence, I tell myself . Cannot depend on school. I have to put in my own effort to push up her Chinese .

[nms1]

Laura02:

Ya hor! It would require more manpower to monitor PV hours put in, so ... in order to not further burden the teachers, get other volunteers to do it. Actually, to really be fair, applicants from all phases should do volunteer work in school. So, for phase 1, parents of existing pupils should do PV work in school for a stipulated number of hours for their 2nd child to gain admission under phase 1.

For phase 2a, alumni should also do a stipulated number of hours before they qualify for phase 2a. Same goes for phase 2b.
Then get a volunteer from one phase to do the administrative affairs for volunteers from another phase.

I think that's taking it a bit far. You are saying that for someone like me with 3 children, I have to volunteer 3 times! We do have jobs to do.

[magiccastle]

Ya. I agreed. With 3 children , u have done your part of national service n contributed to the birth rate of singapore. Yet cannot piggyback on the elder sibling connection to the school for school registration. It is contrary to the govt policy of encouraging families to have more children.

[cherrygal]

Some schools have already scrapped the PV scheme… yesterday’s wanbao also reported that most parents don’t want the PV scheme as it’s free labour. If they scrap the PV and alumni schemes, then there will be an avalanche of grassroots volunteers soon.

[LOLMum]

absolut_vodka:

The tracking of hours is already been done at some schoolS. Someone I know was told upfront when she signed for PV that the top PV clocked more than 500 hours and eventually her child was given a place in the school.

huh, 500 hours.......wow :shock: and many parents were unable to even complete 40 hours because of lack of opportunities.

cant help but wonder was the place given automatically to her or did this top pv need to go thru the whole balloting process (unless there was none for those within 1km and she lived within 1km).

[DesertWind]

SAHM_TAN:

But those balloted out in P2C, some also cham leh, when try all avenues but still \"fail\"


Apply PV, not selected
Apply grassroots, not successful
No $$$ to relocate closer to school of desire
Not same religion, not same dialect grp
Alma mater no more or not belong to top/branded

This group can complain or not? :evil: :siam:

No, this group definitely not \"cham\" and no need to complain. In fact, this group is the BEST! Why? Because totally rely on the good government to take care of us. Go into a good neighbourhood school, study hard, climb up the avenues provided, reach your goals and eventually be a good citizen who contributes in society!
:imcool:

I have none of the above and my mother is illiterate. Dunoo what is mission school just sent all of us siblings into a neighbourhood school. We did not turn out too badly and I have never felt disadvantaged at all throughout my life. Instead very grateful for the educational system to enable me to reach my fullest potential. Then grateful to the economy in giving me a job to provide for my family.

A Hokkien saying \"Gong Gong Jia, Gong Gong Dua!\"

[JonC]

Thought it’s "la sub jia, la sub dua"

[LOLMum]

or as the cantonese says "天生天养“。