18 Primary and Secondary Schools Will Merge Due to Student Enrolment Continue to Shrink
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Recently, the student enrolment is facing some low enrollment where another 18 primary and secondary schools will be merged over the next three years to combat this falling birth rates issue. The first two schools that will be merging will be Juying Primary School (JYPS) and Pioneer Primary School which will be combined in 2022 and set up at the current JYPS site.
The merged school will be relocated to a new school site in the Plantation District of Tengah from January 2025 which will is also a plan to make way for the development of the Jurong Region Line MRT extension. This merged school will not admit new Primary 1 cohorts until moved to the new campus in Tengah. Existing pupils from the merged school will remain at the current JYPS campus.
Pioneer Primary School principal Lee Wai Ling also mention that the staff was not happy with the news but they understand the bigger picture because they have just celebrated the 25th-anniversary last year and some of the staff have been around since the school was founded.
Other than this, another 16 schools will be merged which is 14 in 2023 and another 2 in 2024 which includes the Eunos Primary School and Telok Kurau Primary School where the Telok Kurau Primary School, Chua Chu Kang Secondary School and Teck Whye Secondary School will occupy the current location of Teck Whye Secondary School. Since 2010, 68 schools have been merged including eight junior colleges in 2019 and the falling birth rate among Singapore residents play a large part in making these merging process.
source LIANHE ZAOBAO
Last year alone, only 38,705 babies were born which is the lowest figure since 2010 as in the past the number averaged about 46,000 annually. This result was mostly in mature estates where there are fewer young families and for such places merging school in these areas will be a better idea while building a new school in areas where is having a greater demand will be a better solution.
The ministry also said that merging the school will allow students to continue having a fuller school experience such as varied subject combination, co-curricular activities (CCAs) and leadership opportunities because schools with low enrolment number will have difficulties in offering a good range of programmes and CCAs.
Upcoming school mergers
2022
Schools to be merged: Juying Primary School and Pioneer Primary School
New location: Site of Juying Primary School (to be relocated to a new school site in Tengah, move tentatively set for 2025)
2023
Schools to be merged: Eunos Primary School and Telok Kurau Primary School
New location: Site of Telok Kurau Primary School
Schools to be merged: Farrer Park Primary School and Stamford Primary School
New location: Site of Farrer Park Primary School
Schools to be merged: Guangyang Primary School and Townsville Primary School
New location: Site of Townsville Primary School
Schools to be merged: Bedok Green Secondary School and Ping Yi Secondary School
New location: Site of Bedok Green Secondary School
Schools to be merged: Chua Chu Kang Secondary School and Teck Whye Secondary School
New location: Site of Teck Whye Secondary School
Schools to be merged: Fajar Secondary School and Greenridge Secondary School
New location: Site of Fajar Secondary School
Schools to be merged: New Town Secondary School and Tanglin Secondary School
New location: Site of New Town Secondary School
2024
Schools to be merged: Fuchun Secondary School and Woodlands Ring Secondary School
New location: Site of Woodlands Ring Secondary School
source ministryofeducationstraitstimesgraphics