SINGAPORE — For this year's Primary One (P1) registration exercise which kicks off on June 28, computerised balloting will replace manual balloting for the first time. International students will also have to undergo a new two-step registration process.

On Friday (June 1), the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced that P1 registration for children entering school in January 2019 will take place between June 28 and Oct 31.

All children born between Jan 2, 2012 and Jan 1, 2013, must be registered at this year's P1 registration exercise, said MOE.

All primary schools will open for registration from 8am to 11am, and from 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm from Mondays to Fridays during the registration period.

As announced in March, MOE reminded parents that this exercise will see manual balloting at the individual schools will replaced by computerised balloting at its headquarters for the first time.

They will receive an SMS notification of their ballot result on the same day the registration result is announced.

Balloting takes place when the number of applications exceed the vacancies at a school.

Information on the number of applications received and the number of remaining vacancies in each school will continue to be made available on the MOE website and updated at the end of each day during the registration period.

Parents registering their children under Phases 2C or 2C Supplementary can also make use of the Primary One Internet System, which is accessible 24 hours a day, to perform online registration for the school of their choice.

If they choose not to do so online, parents can register at their school of choice in person.

Phase 2C will start from July 30, 9am, to Aug 1, 4.30pm. For Phase 2C Supplementary, the system will be available from Aug 13, 9am, to Aug 14, 4.30pm.

Separately, a new two-step registration process will be introduced starting from this exercise for international students.

All international students will have to register under Phase 3, after all Singapore citizens and permanent residents have secured a place under the earlier phases.

Parents of these students must first submit an online "indication of interest" form through the MOE's P1 website.

The ministry will then notify parents in October if their children are offered a place in a school.

After that, they must register in person at the designated school during Phase 3 of this year's registration exercise in late October.