Registration for 2019 admission to MOE Kindergartens opens next month

SINGAPORE — Registration for admission to Ministry of Education (MOE) Kindergartens in 2019 will open next month, with 24 schools participating in the registration exercise, said the ministry on Tuesday (Jan 16).

Thirteen of the kindergartens will hold the exercise on February 24 and 26, while the remaining 11 will do so on March 3 and 5. Registration is open to Singapore citizens’ and permanent residents’ children born between Jan 2, 2014 and Jan 1, 2015, inclusive of both dates.

Open houses will be held on February 24 and March 3. Interested parents will be able to tour the facilities and learn more about MOE Kindergartens.

“MOE Kindergartens are set up to provide quality and affordable pre-school education for Singaporeans, pilot teaching and learning resources, and establish good practices for sharing with the pre-school sector,” said the MOE in a media release on Tuesday.

Under a pilot programme announced in November last year, students in 12 of the 15 existing MOE Kindergartens will be given priority from this year onwards – under Phase 2A(2) – when they register for admission to the primary schools they are co-located with.

Last week, Education Minister (Schools) Ng Chee Meng told the Parliament that the MOE is “mindful” of anxieties over the move, and has designed the process such that others will still have a chance to enrol in the school of their choice.

He added that the process was “deliberately calibrated” such that children attending MOE Kindergartens will not have a better chance of gaining a place in a school, as compared with those whose siblings are already studying there or are alumni.

At least 40 spaces will continue to be reserved for children of volunteers at primary schools, or whose parents are members endorsed by the church or clan directly connected with the school, or are active community leaders.

For more information on the MOE Kindergartens, parents can visit www.moe.gov.sg/moekindergarten.

Parents can also contact the MOE or the kindergartens at contact [at] moe.gov.sg or 6872 2220 (Mondays to Fridays: 8.30am to 5.30pm, Saturdays: 8.30am to 12.30pm).