All About Active Community Leaders

[waterbay]

troychua79:

If AM can also get the letter of endorsement, wouldn't it open the floodgates for parents to volunteer in the GRC with good schools instead of where they reside?

Hmm... u have a point there.

From this perspective, what I understand is you cannot choose the constituency that you \"want\" serve. PA will assign the volunteer only to the area that he/she reside if the person wants to serve in the RC/NC.

AM usually applies to those who have shifted out of the estate but who wishes to continue serving in same RC/NC. So in theory, you will not be able to become an AM in the RC/NC by your own choice.

[mummylin69]

Thus the other new rule introduced in 2014 - \"In the new scheme, parents will have to be grassroots leaders for at least two years to get the benefit, double the time now. They will also get priority only in schools in the constituencies where they live, rather than in two areas now - where they live, and where they choose to serve.\"

[troychua79]

For me, I strongly discourage the practice of serving grassroots for the benefits as these members usually no interest in helping to better their neighbourhood and only active for the years that they need to get what they want and some just don’t turned up straight after they achieve their aim.


But having said that, I know of some RCs who welcome these type of members as they will be slaves to the RC for at least the years they are required to be there and the rest of the senior members can still enjoy their benefits without needing to work so hard.

[waterbay]

Had a talk with the school admin wrt Phase 2B application this year, she mention that the numbers had dropped a lot especially in this year.


2 years ago there were a slew of measures to control the number of applicants thru Phase 2B - removal/reduction of school PVs, tighter requirements for GRLs eligibility, MOE new requirement for applicants to stay in the address for 30 months from P1 registration exercise date if the address is a factor in successful registration, even churches/clans have tightened the considerations for members eligible.

[waterbay]

Personal opinion is that the next area to tighten is for Phase 2A1 and 2A2. Why are there 2 phases for people with similar eligibility? They get 2 bite at the cherry. Is it fair? May need someone in the know to help me understand this better.


Saw some comments of shifting the top schools to HDB neighbourhoods. I think a lot of people will agree that this does not really address the real issue as the properties around these "new" endowed neighbourhoods flats prices will rise beyond common folks. End of the day, these will also become one of the "elite" HDB towns (nobody can stop the "elites" to buy/rent a HDB flat from the resale market).

In the future, if the Phase 2As are still there (the alumni may get bigger year by year), there will no longer be any places left for common folks like us. Oops… ya, save for the miserable 20+20 places reserved for Phase 2B and 2C (imagine a top school with cohort of 250+ left with only 40 places for those unaffiliated) .

[grimm]

waterbay:

In the future, if the Phase 2As are still there (the alumni may get bigger year by year), .

Actually it doesn't really get much bigger because while alumni can be big, the numbers that will have children have of a school-going age will be similar. (However, if they expand the score now and shrink the score in 20 - 30 years time, I can see demand exceeding supply).

As an alumni, I am still trying to figure out why so many people insist on going to alumni schools. Alumni go for tradition, history etc. Why does everybody else want in?

The other things, I always wondered why don't have more schools with alumni support? Even the alumni schools started as just a school. Yet so many schools have no alumni to speak of. Why don't past and present students of these schools start an alumni and start building a tradition, starting contributing to growth of their schools in both reputation and quality? That way their children and grandchildren and subsequent generations can be part of the same tradition, just like the current alumni schools?

[waterbay]

To begin with, I've nothing against alumni. It did make some sense, as u had mentioned the keeping of values, traditions or even cultures. The point is we are also seeing the growing numbers of people taking up more vacancies in top schools throughout the years through alumni route, if not also through ex-students association (2 bite of the 'big' cherry?).


But the thing is, to be honest in this small red dot, we don't see this passing down of cultures much. Sad to say. Maybe it's also bcos I'm not in some alumni or clans (same village), so I don't understand :imdrowning:

However, the issue is that I heard from my friends wrt parents joining clans/alumni just to get a pass for their children into a top school does not goes well with people outside the 'village'. A lot of times, these association can be 'bought' thru money or relationship, which happened with my friend's good friend getting the letter/priority bcos his father is so and so in the clan. This banding of people see the elders in the 'village' take care of their own 'village' people :siam:

[grimm]

With regards phase 2A1 and phase 2A2, It's not really a 2nd bite of the cherry if in Phase 2A1, all the vacancies are wiped out there is nothing left for Phase 2A2. This is unlike Phase 2B and Phase 2C where there are always vacancies for both phases so you can get a \"2nd bite\" of cherry if you are a PV etc so you qualify for 2B and you get a shot again at Phase 2C (because everyone gets a shot at Phase 2C based on distance)


I share your sentiments about not passing down culture here which is why it is important to me that my son attends the same school that I and many of our family members did and I hope that his children can do the same.

Which is why I hope to see establishment of more alumni in our current schools that currently do not have an alumni. We can and should see beyond today to invest in institutions that will last generations. It doesn't have to be just the missionary schools, Buddhists schools, clans etc. A neighborhood school can be same. These schools will not closed and merged willy and nilly because the strong and vocal alumni will send their children back there so there is always a demand for places and to maintain the school's identity.

I can't speak for the clans but trust me, the money to join most alumni is relatively small. We are talking about a few hundred dollars to be a lifetime member so no one is really buying their way in, at least not anymore.

I understand those who missed out will feel it is unfair which brings me back to my original question: why do you want to put your children into these schools, knowing full well that the chances are low because of priority to the alumni? Is it because it is perceived to be a \"top\" school and it is based on perception since no one can objectively measure one school vs another?

I have probably gone off topic so I will stop now.

[waterbay]

:goodpost:


I hope everyone will have the same thoughts. Passing down our culture or good values for our future generation.

[waterbay]

grimm:

With regards phase 2A1 and phase 2A2, It's not really a 2nd bite of the cherry if in Phase 2A1, all the vacancies are wiped out there is nothing left for Phase 2A2. This is unlike Phase 2B and Phase 2C where there are always vacancies for both phases so you can get a \"2nd bite\" of cherry if you are a PV etc so you qualify for 2B and you get a shot again at Phase 2C (because everyone gets a shot at Phase 2C based on distance)

Hmm... I don't really know how to put it so as not to sound like a broken record. So I got this from the MOE website.

\"The Registration Exercise is divided into 7 distinct phases: Phase 1, Phase 2A(1), Phase 2A(2), Phase 2B, Phase 2C, Phase 2C(Supplementary), Phase 3.

The intent of the Phases is to assign priority to students who are already affiliated to the schools in some way because of their parents or siblings.

The Phases are mutually exclusive and sequential - there are no overlaps. This means that while parents can participate in 1 or more of the Phases.\"

So for everyone to understand clearly - Phase 2A1 is for children whose parents are alumni association members - 1st bite of cherry. If they live near the school, they can also try in Phase 2C for their 2nd bite of cherry :scratchhead:

Usually the last scenario is unlikely as they would have secured their place in the 2A phases (maybe 95%). For this year hot school Henry Park Primary in 2A1 has 102 and 2A2 has 20 (122 places 41% of cohort) is definitely much more than 40 places (13% of cohort) reserved for 2B and 2C. In these 2 phases are ultimately where most of the Singaporeans and then PRs can have a chance to choose their school for their children :siao:

It just doesn't seems fair to have this vastly disproportional distribution of places in our Primary schools to a certain 'privileged' group. I think it's a right way forward that the MOE are implementing measures to limit the access to Phase 2B only for those who have truly contributed. And for Phase 2As, the MOE should set similar criteria to qualify the privilege to deserving alumni only and set aside a number for Phase 2As places to protect the interest of the alumni.

Haha... this is much easier said than done. Maybe must participate more dialogue and feedback sessions to understand more about the underlying issues and history :?