Registration of children for admission to Primary One (P1) classes in 2021 will open from Wednesday, July 1, 2020.

Ahead of the 2020 registration exercise, MOE has announced that there will be some changes to this year's exercise, including a cap on Permanent Resident (PR) children in each school, and special arrangements for online registration in light of Covid-19.

Cap on Permanent Resident children

There will be a cap placed on PR children for the upcoming 2020 registration exercise, as well as future exercises.

MOE said that this is to prevent a concentration of PR children in primary schools, and to encourage interaction between PRs and Singapore Citizens in schools.

However, children who are Singapore Citizens currently have priority over PR children for admission to schools and this will not be changed with the imposition of the cap.

The cap will be about 25 to 30 per cent of each school's planned P1 intake.

MOE said that it the cap would only apply to Phases 2C and 2C Supplementary.

Only 10 schools affected by new rule in 2020 exercise

However, MOE said that the "vast majority" of primary schools have had less than 25 to 30 per cent of PR admissions and would not be affected by the imposition of the cap.

Therefore, for the 2020 exercise, the cap would take only effect in these 10 schools:

1. Bukit Timah Primary School
2. Bukit View Primary School
3. Changkat Primary School
4. Greendale Primary School
5. Marymount Convent School
6. North Spring Primary School
7. Opera Estate Primary School
8. Pioneer Primary School
9. Tanjong Katong Primary School
10. Xingnan Primary School

MOE said that it would publish the maximum number of vacancies available for PR children in each of these 10 schools, on its website here.

This will be done at the start of Phase 2C.

Future registration exercises

The list of schools affected in future registration exercises will be published by MOE as well.

This is so that parents of PR children can "make an informed choice". These parents can consider registering their child in other nearby schools, MOE said.

Online registration

MOE said that there would be no in-person registration at schools for the 2020 exercise.

This means that there will be changes to the mode of registration for certain phases of the exercise which had previously involved in-person registration.

These are Phases 2A(1), 2A(2), and 2B.

Parents will be required to complete a online application form using their SingPass.

MOE said that a link to the online form would be available on the MOE P1 Registration website during the registration periods of the respective phases.

As for the other phases, namely Phase 1, 2C and 2C Supplementary, the mode of registration "will largely remain the same".

Parents can access MOE's guide on registration here.

Assistance for online registration

MOE said that parents who would require SingPass to complete online forms should set up their SingPass 2-Step Verification (2FA) early, and ensure that their account is valid before the commencement of the exercise.

As for parents who require assistance during registration, they may contact their school of choice via email, or via telephone between 9:00am and 4:30pm on the respective registration days.

Online forms, user guides, information on the declaration process and eligibility criteria can be found on MOE's website here.

Here's an infographic from MOE about the exercise:

Top image via afterschool.com.sg