education, direct school admission scheme

the introduction of dsa is a move towards more independence and flexibility for schools to recruit students of their choice. this is a big shift from the centralised placement scheme that places students after the psle result is out. an obviously good intention scheme, now turns out, like all singapore schemes, into a regimentation. once a student makes a choice, it is cast in stone. cannot change or very difficult to change. from inflexibility to flexibility back to inflexibility. very uniquely singapore mindset. all the parents will like to place their children in the best school possible based on their psle results. with this scheme, if their prelim results are not too good, they have to opt for a lesser school and be stucked with it even when eventually their psle result is brilliant. why can't our civil servant mentality be a little flexible and stop this high handed attitude of i give you a choice and period. you are lucky to be given a choice. you made the choice and you cannot back out of it. the future of our children must not be determined by the their prelim results which vary from schools to schools. and the real results, the psle, is now secondary. i think it could be a case of more work if they allowed students to switch schools after psle. but psle is the real benchmark. if psle is to be relegated to the sideline, then it is better to revert to the old centralised system and allow students or schools the flexibility of spplying/accepting after the psle results. the flexibility must be there and must be there to cater for those who do not want to fit into the standard mould.