POSSIBILITY OF LEVERAGING ON TECHNOLOGY AND PROCESSES TO ENABLE EARLIER RELEASE OF SECONDARY ONE POSTING RESULTS
In the last week of December 2023, I was actively assisting parents who wanted to appeal against their children’s Secondary One postings. All this was done in a relative rush as the results were published on 20 Dec 2023. I therefore asked the Minister for Education if we could use technology more effectively to announce Secondary One school postings earlier than the current schedule. This change could provide families additional time to consider any appeal and allow the school principals, vice-principals and teachers much needed time to respond before the new academic year begins. My parliamentary question and the Minister’s response are set out below.
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Mr Murali Pillai asked the Minister for Education whether there can be better leverage of technology and processes to enable students to receive their Secondary One school posting results earlier than the third week of December of the particular year to allow more time for parents to pursue appeals and for the Ministry to respond in time before the start of the new academic year.
Mr Chan Chun Sing: Over the years, the Ministry of Education (MOE) has leveraged technology and enhanced information and processes for the Secondary 1 (S1) Posting Exercise to ensure that parents and students have sufficient time to make informed choices.
Typically, the Primary School Leaving Examination results are released around mid-November. Thereafter, parents and students are given seven calendar days to choose their secondary schools. The S1 Posting results are released about three weeks later. MOE uses this period to conduct the posting and to ensure accurate posting outcomes. Over 90% of students are posted to a school of their choice.
If parents wish to appeal after receiving the posting results, they can appeal directly
within that week to the relevant schools. Schools are generally able to process the appeals and inform students of the outcomes prior to the start of the academic year.
