Letter of undertaking to be signed by unwed parents for children's Primary 1 registration exercise

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang, Nee Soon GRC

Question

To ask the Minister for Education what is the rationale for making unwed parents sign a letter of undertaking for their child's Primary One registration exercise.

Response

1. For Primary One registration, the Ministry of Education requires both parents of every child to give consent to the school choice as both would typically have legal responsibility for the child. Where one parent is registering on behalf of both parents, the registering parent can make an online declaration that the agreement of the other parent has been obtained for the school choice. In instances where one parent has full custody, as might be the case for an unwed or divorced parent, there is no need for such a declaration or undertaking to be obtained by the registering parent.