BTW I wrote ths to ST but it never got posted:


In her letter, Mrs Agawal have hit the gist of why PR students should not be given equal chance for Primary 1 registration. She says that if her children were unable to secure a place in a good public school, why would her family to stay? A Singpore citizen will never be able to say that. We are here to stay and as such deserve the right to choose before a permanent resident.

My son, a 4th generation Singaporean, was not able to secure a place in a school of our choice which is 30m from our home of 11 years. My son, like myself, will have to go through National Service to contribute to the country's defense and not just the economy. Even now, with phase 2C supplement, my son might not be able to get into his second school of choice.

This plays out not only for me but many others of my citizen friends who find themselves out of their school of choice due to the number of PRs enrolling. Take note that this intake happens to be the year when Singapore had the lowest number of babies.

I have many permanent residents as good friends but this touches on the rights of a Singapore citizen, and in no way belittling the grand contributions done for those who have come to work here.

Tankee


She was quoting herself from her initial post.

Hi Vasari,


Just in case you didnt know, the school's website is at:

http://www.stgabrielspri.moe.edu.sg/

When I was researching te school I came across their orientation slides for 2009 intake. That showed me a lot about the school. See below for link

http://www.stgabrielspri.moe.edu.sg/attachment/Orientation2008.pdf

I hope that helps

Just to update those who applied for St Gabriel’s for Phase 2C Supp:


I called the school and they says that balloting only for those more than 2 km. Those within 2km (my block was on 2 km line!) are in.

I’m going to be talking from a disappointed parent point of view.


I live next door (30m) to CHS for 10 years and applied for the school for my son. I asked for PV but no reply. Went for 2C and was not ‘lucky’ enough to get son selected in. Now I have to send son to school further away that requires school bus. $$$ flyaway instead of for enrichment courses.

Yes there is something really wrong with the system BUT for now we cant do anything about it.

Note that this school
1. Has a lot of old boys who send their kids back here (even if they live in Bukit Timah) so the places left in 2B/2C becomes very limited. See morning traffic jams for confirmation.
2. Theres a large PR community who will also vie for 2C for this school. See playgrounds during afternoons for confirmation.

My advice to those parents who wants to try their ‘luck’ in 2C or even 2B for CHS is to consider the odds very very carefully. You might not be the lucky 28 out of 72 (who live within 1km) that applied for 2C last week.

ChiefKiasu Wrote
[quote]4. And finally, there's the question of practicability. It wouldn't make sense for a child who stay at one end of the country spend hours travelling to a school on the other end of the country. Singapore may be small, but not that small. [/quote]With the sentence above, I believe the system still needs additional tweaking. 2A/2B in my opinion should not be abolished. However, there should be a limit set for 2A. Places after Phase 1 should be apportioned too, accordingly with Phases 2B/2C. Number of years stayed at the location should also be taken into account and highlighted clearly by MOE (on their website).

I understand the need for ex-students wanting to send their kids to their old school but if you are living so far away then it would not be healthy. Yes by all means send your kid to your ex-school BUT if the school is in Bishan and you live in Bedok ...

I live next to CHS (50m away) and every morning theres a jam 1km long from all directions for parents dropping off their children to school. I intend to send my son to that school next year but with 27 places left for Phase 2C there seems to be little hope. Where's the logic in me having to send my son to another school 2km away. BTW I have been living there for 11 years, way before my son was born.

Change is a constant. The system is not the best that we have.