S'poreans to get priority for P1 places during balloting

[blessed777]

auntieM:

blessed777:

PR children who go to local primary schools speak with Singaporean accent, im curious for next batch pr children that now can only go to non elite primary school where there will be more PR n foreigners what will their accent be? follow their teacher accent? or most likely will be influenced by school mates accent which is mix

Most PR kids that I came across kept their old accent.. ..Sportswoman like Tao Li and the PR 'O'/ PSLE tops that spoke on TV interviews..sure don't sound like one of us.. ..

Probably they came here at upper primary already, most that i ecountered either born or raised here since toddler.

[blessed777]

Funz:

Depends on how long they have been in Singapore.


It can be kinda strange seeing a blue eyed blond haired 10yr old rattling off in Singlish.

.

umm.. yeah i second that

[absolut_vodka]

I'm sorry - at some point if you were a student of a certain school that is not govt funded, you would have been subjected to fund raising so definitely not true that old boys/gals do not contribute financially to the school. In all likelihood, those who have little 'affiliation' with their schools probably will not enroll their child(ren) in the school either (or these may be singles). Those with child(ren) and come from schools with strong alumni network will definitely continue their affiliations with the schools in whatever forms. Like someone said, try asking an ACS boy not to send their sons back to ACS, its practically impossible! I have a galfren who was from nanyang primary who just had a son - she has the choice of nanyang primary and ACS(J) - guess which school they are choosing for their son?


It comes back to the point again - why did the particular school become good or popular? It is because of her past, and thus its contributions from the old boys/gals!

wayne lai:

I agree with you. I did not challenge the priority for Alumni.

I only questioned the numbers - and I am certain that not all alumni who gets in via 2A are of the same commitment you mentioned.

In fact, I dare say that more than 50% of the alumni do not contribute financially or non-financially to their alma mater.

Freesia:

Dear Wayne,

Alumni contributes to the school. Be it financially or non financially. At many schools like RGPS, SCGS, ACS, MGS, the Alumni fund certain programmes and even plan and conduct certain extra programe for the children. They are closely bonded. They takes care of one another even they are on the street if they know they are from the same school. Thus, the contribution may not be direct. This also explains why many people wants to get in. Versus one who just lives close by; the parent has put in at least 6 years if not 10 years of their life to the school and also able to share the history of the school.

[iMeme]

Will this affect the current trend of parent volunteering?

[Nebbermind]

absolut_vodka:

I'm sorry - at some point if you were a student of a certain school that is not govt funded, you would have been subjected to fund raising so definitely not true that old boys/gals do not contribute financially to the school. In all likelihood, those who have little 'affiliation' with their schools probably will not enroll their child(ren) in the school either (or these may be singles). Those with child(ren) and come from schools with strong alumni network will definitely continue their affiliations with the schools in whatever forms. Like someone said, try asking an ACS boy not to send their sons back to ACS, its practically impossible! I have a galfren who was from nanyang primary who just had a son - she has the choice of nanyang primary and ACS(J) - guess which school they are choosing for their son?


It comes back to the point again - why did the particular school become good or popular? It is because of her past, and thus its contributions from the old boys/gals!

I know of one family, half their kids go/went to NYPS while the other went MGS!!!

[degenhard]

have done a search on this link http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/content/novena


actually there are more than enough places for everyone, be it PRs or SCs or even foreigners. it became problem when everyone rushing into Prime schools when government started meritocracy. see balastier hill primary school has only 33% TUC. compare to SJI, ACS, SCGS.

so why are we crying foul here that we do not have places for school? we should say, we have places for school but we want only TOP school. Government, please do something, we want to complaint, otherwise beware of next GE.

imaging if government do it away with the ranking system and put everyone on ballot for the school of their choice withou what phases and everyone is supposed to accept the outcome, will anyone complaint since there is no ranking? I may be wrong, but i think this could possibly satisfy everyone.

[absolut_vodka]

I'm sorry, these pple that I am talking about were in SG since Pri school and yet, they still left eventually. Just take our closest neighbors - the malaysians. How many eventually sink their roots here? Many study here, work here and (get PR status). Once they reach retirement, they give up their PR status, take back their CPF monies and move back to Malaysia to enjoy their golden retirement with more than double the spending power (since they earned S$ all these while). Some even better - keep their PR status, keep their HDB flats and collect rental every month while living in Malaysia. So tell me, why shouldn't Singaporeans get priority?

wayne lai:

I partially agree with you.

It really depends on when these PR kids joined the school system. The later they enter (e.g. in Sec or JC), the less likely they'll stay. Those that come during Uni - forget it. SG will be used as a stepping stone.

At the early Primary level, before they start seeking out their own kind, they will not have much problem integrating. PRCs, Indian nationals, fillipinos, caucasions - they all speak with our singaporean accent when they start school early here.

My basic point is that the Alumni numbers in 2A should be capped. Why hasn't anyone discussed this? I am not against alumni having priority, I am only suggesting a limit to the number of free rides.

absolut_vodka:

You are assuming that they want to integrate - but how many really do? Even at my time, (I was from one of the top schools) where there were plenty of indonesians, they formed their own groups and didnt really hang out with us. As far as I know, none of them are still here. They have either gone home (rich indon families) or gone on to study/work/live in US. SG, was only a stepping stone for them - none of them sank roots here...
[quote=\"wayne lai\"]My humble opinion is that the Govt has gotten this wrong.

I am a born and bred Singaporean, and I am saddened that we have forgotten our roots on meritocracy and encouraging social mobility based on ability. By discouraging PRs with this move, we are doing our nation a disservice! Let's not forget we started out as an immigrant society, and we will be weaker without talent inflow. The problems we face with non-Singaporeans are due to their poor integration. The best way to integrate PRs into our society is get them into our Primary schools when they are YOUNG!

If you look at the TOTAL number of places allocated in popular primary schools, the problem with NOT enough places is that there is an unlimited allocation for alumni. >90% of alumni who get in during Phase 2A live more than 1km from the school! And alumni often make up more than 30% of the places, and their numbers are increasing yearly.

There is no social equality here, because children coming from these established homes gets a free ticket into the school. At the expense of families who live within 1 - 2km.

With this new law against PRs, only a few more places are released for SCs. If only we were to CAP the number of alumni (e.g. to maybe 25% of available places), allocate the rest based on Phase 2B criteria, proximity, etc, we will have a lot more places available for both SCs and PRs.

[/quote]

[LOLMum]

absolut_vodka:

I'm sorry, these pple that I am talking about were in SG since Pri school and yet, they still left eventually. Just take our closest neighbors - the malaysians. How many eventually sink their roots here? Many study here, work here and (get PR status). Once they reach retirement, they give up their PR status, take back their CPF monies and move back to Malaysia to enjoy their golden retirement with more than double the spending power (since they earned S$ all these while). Some even better - keep their PR status, keep their HDB flats and collect rental every month while living in Malaysia. So tell me, why shouldn't Singaporeans get priority?

yes, i didnt know there were so many malaysians (pr and non) in dd's class when she was in primary school. you cant tell them and us apart because they have been here since young (mums happily had their babies here). only when they started talking about going back for cny, holidays then i know.

[titank]

So if a Singaporean stay at 1-2km & a PR stay at 1Km does it mean that Singaporean have priority in entering or even meant for balloting? The Singaporean 2 tickets & PR 1 ticket system still they use or scrap? :rahrah:

[jtoh]

titank:

So if a Singaporean stay at 1-2km & a PR stay at 1Km does it mean that Singaporean have priority in entering or even meant for balloting? The Singaporean 2 tickets & PR 1 ticket system still they use or scrap? :rahrah:

Yes, all Singaporeans will be admitted before PRs in the event of oversubscription. With that in place, there shouldn't be a need for the 2 ticket/1 ticket ballot anymore. But if there are more Singaporeans than places available there will still be ballotting among the Singaporeans.