Press Releases
Direct School Admission Exercise Goes Online
Parents of Primary 6 students will have an additional channel of submitting their child’s school preference choices for the Direct School Admission (Secondary) (DSA-Sec) exercise this year. The Ministry of Education (MOE) will be introducing a new Internet system to make it more convenient for the submission of school preference choices.
Details of this additional channel are at Annex A.
This year, 66 schools, 10 more than last year, will be participating in the DSA-Sec Exercise for admission to Secondary One in 2009. Direct School Admission promotes holistic education by giving participating schools greater flexibility in selecting students while holding to the key principles of transparency and meritocracy. For students, DSA provides them the opportunity to demonstrate a more diverse range of achievements and talents in seeking admission to secondary schools.
A list of the 66 schools participating in the DSA-Sec Exercise this year is at Annex B.
New DSA Secondary Schools
Integrated Programme (IP) School
National Junior College (NJC), an existing IP School, will be extending its 4-year IP to a 6-year programme with effect from January 2009. NJC will start admitting its Sec 1 students via the DSA-Sec Exercise for 2009 admissions onwards.
Niche Programme Schools
In addition, another nine schools have been approved by MOE to offer discretionary places via the DSA-Sec Exercise for 2009 admissions onwards. The niche programmes for these schools are as follows:
| School | Niche |
|---|---|
| Ang Mo Kio Secondary | Symphonic Band |
| Anglo-Chinese School (Barker) | Drama, Water Polo |
| Bowen Secondary | Band |
| Manjusri Secondary | Wushu |
| Pasir Ris Secondary | Chinese Orchestra |
| Riverside Secondary | Dance |
| Springfield Secondary | Rock Climbing |
| Woodlands Ring Secondary | Robotics |
| Zhenghua Secondary | Uniformed Groups |
A list of the 28 niche programme schools is at Annex C. MOE will continue to invite applications from schools interested to establish niche programmes in subsequent years.
Student Selection for DSA Places
Each school has its own merit-based criteria for selection (academic and/or non-academic criteria), based on the students’ personal qualities and areas of focus (such as science, music, sports) that the school would like to emphasise. Information on the schools participating in the DSA-Sec Exercise, their selection criteria and their application and selection processes can be found on their respective websites.
DSA-Sec Exercise
The exercise will be conducted in 3 stages as follows:
| Stage No. | Stage Name | Description | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Selection | Schools will conduct their own selection exercises, and inform students of the results (Confirmed Offer, placed on Waiting List or Rejected). | 23 Jun 08 to 29 Aug 08 |
| 2 | Exercise School Preference | Students may indicate their school preferences during this stage, based on the Confirmed Offers they have received and schools which have placed them on the Waiting List. Offers not taken up will be considered as lapsed. They can indicate their preferences online or at their primary schools. | 23 Oct 08 to 30 Oct 08 |
| 3 | Results Release | The results of the DSA-Sec Exercise will be released together with the PSLE results. | Late Nov 08 |
Students who take up Confirmed Offers or Waiting List offers by schools during the DSA-Sec Exercise are still required to take the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE). Those who take up Confirmed Offers are guaranteed a place in the school that has extended them an offer, provided that their PSLE results meet the minimum requirement for a course [Express/ Normal (Academic)/ Normal (Technical)] offered by the school.
Similar to previous years, students who have been admitted through the DSA-Sec Exercise will not be able to participate in the centralised Secondary One Posting Exercise.
For Further Information
Students who are interested in participating in the DSA-Sec Exercise should approach any of the participating Secondary Schools or visit their websites for more details regarding the selection exercises.
Students/parents can also call MOE Customer Service Centre at 6872 2220 for further clarifications or refer to the DSA-Sec website for more information regarding the DSA-Sec Exercise.
Background
MOE has been giving schools, polytechnics and universities greater flexibility in their admission of students to allow a more diverse range of student achievements and talents to be recognised.
Since 2004, MOE has introduced a phased plan to provide greater flexibility in the secondary and junior college (JC) school admission system. The plan includes:
- allowing schools with the Integrated Programme (IP), NUS High School and School of the Arts full discretion in admissions;
- enhancing the autonomy of Autonomous Schools (AS) and Independent Schools (IS) by:
- increasing their level of discretionary places to 10% and 20% respectively, and
- allowing them to adopt their own merit-based admission criteria for these places;
- extending discretion on admissions, of up to 5% of intake, to mainstream secondary schools that are able to develop strong niche programmes; and
- giving discretion on admissions to all JCs.