Primary school places in Bukit Batok

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Mr Murali Pillai, Bukit Batok SMC

Question

To ask the Minister for Education with regard to the persistently high levels of oversubscription for Primary 1 places at Princess Elizabeth Primary School after new housing developments in the area were completed leading to children of families within walking distance being balloted out, whether the Ministry will build an additional primary school in the vicinity soon.

Response

1. MOE studies the local demand and supply trends for primary school places carefully, taking into account current and projected changes in local demography, for example when significant new housing developments are added to existing estates. We are mindful not to create new schools too quickly, as they may end up cannibalising existing schools. Neither do we plan new schools on the basis of one or two existing schools with high levels of oversubscription, as school places have to be planned on a regional basis.

2. For Bukit Batok specifically, there were about 200 Primary 1 (P1) places remaining in Lianhua Primary and Bukit View Primary (around 14% of total planned P1 places in Bukit Batok) at the end of Phase 2C (Supplementary) in this year's P1 Registration Exercise, which is slightly higher than the 130 P1 places (or 10%) remaining in last year's P1 Registration Exercise. Both schools are about 1.5km away from Princess Elizabeth Primary. There are hence sufficient primary school places in the region for now.

3. Nonetheless, we would like to assure Mr Murali that we have been closely monitoring the trends, including the significant projected demand for P1 places from the planned housing developments in the coming years. We have factored this into our on-going planning process, and are close to finalising our plans and will provide details once ready.