Singapore: Perennial P1 Registration Problem

Volunteers in school activities to help out the school have top priority for the registration of their children for primary one. However, they still have to go through balloting like all the rest.

Recently, some volunteers (probably PR foreigners with the entitlement mentality) insisted that the Ministry for Education should "guarantee" their children a place in the school they have volunteered to help out.

However, some netizens feel that it would be unfair to all the other children, especially those from poor families. They said that the more well-to-do families are able to commit time to volunteer in school as they can depend on a single-income stream, especially people such as the wives of PRs who robbed Singaporeans of their high-paying jobs.

Wealthier families may also have extra perks such as having a helper/maid or more flexible working hours.

Conversely, lower-income families may not have such luxuries and advantages. Also, for the “top schools” located in wealthier neighbourhoods, lower-income families do not have the option of moving nearer to these schools.

Actually, such Primary One Registration problem has been continuing to plague the Singapore’s education system (Is there a system? Or rather a System Of No System?) for many years, despite assurances by Million Dollars Salary
Ministers of “Every school, a good school.”

In reality, I believe that anyone who spouts "any school is a good school" is either deliberately lying or is mentally sick. No fingers are of equal length. This is commonsense knowledge. So how can every school be the same?

Nevertheless, it depends on your interpretation of "good" school.

Fair is foul, foul is fair. Good is bad, bad is good.

P/S: MOE can also mean Ministry Of Experiments, or Ministers Of Expediency.


SSO