Singapore's Ministry of Education (MOE) announced on Tuesday that the manual balloting, which is at present conducted in schools during the Primary 1 registration exercise, will be replaced by computerised balloting conducted centrally at the ministry headquarters.
In a press release, MOE said that the change will take effect from this year's P1 registration exercise.
When the number of applications exceeds the vacancies at a school during a particular registration phase and the home-school distance category, the P1 places are allocated with the help of ballot. Currently, the balloting process is done manually at individual schools.
According to MOE, computerised balloting will also ensure an equal chance of admission for applicants exactly like manual balloting.
"This helps to streamline the P1 registration processes and makes (it) more convenient for parents, since they no longer need to make arrangements to physically attend the balloting in schools," the press release stated.
The latest technological process of computerised balloting is currently used the Secondary 1 posting and Joint Admissions Exercise.
On the day the registration result is announced, the parents will be notified of the ballot outcome via SMS. The will also receive a letter at the end of each phase of the registration exercise.
The registration of children for admission to P1 classes next year will start on Jun 28, 2018 and end on Oct 31, 2018. Parents can visit the official website (http://www.moe.gov.sg/admissions/primary-one-registration/) for more details about the procedures and documents required for P1 registration.
MOE said that the foreign students, who will be applying for a P1 place will have to undergo a two-step process starting this year. The ministry also added that this is because of the increasing number of applications and the increased time needed to process these applications
At first, these students will have to submit an "indication of interest" form at the MOE P1 website between Jun 5 and 11. Selected students will be notified in October and then they must register in-person at designated schools during Phase 3 of the registration exercise.
International students who will not submit the 'indication of interest' form to MOE by 11 June 2018 will not be able to register during Phase 3 of the P1 registration exercise.
For more information regarding the details and dates for the different phases of registration for the P1 registration exercise, students can check in the Annex and at the following website: https://www.moe.gov.sg/admissions/primary-one-registration/phases.
