Majority of primary schools to start cutting P1 intake as student cohorts shrink: MOE

SINGAPORE: The Primary 1 intake for the majority of primary schools will be cut over the next few years, starting with the upcoming P1 registration exercise, which begins on Jun 30, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said on Wednesday (Apr 29).

MOE also said that the upcoming exercise will not be affected by the ongoing review of the Primary 1 registration framework.

"In response to changing demographics and new housing developments, MOE regularly adjusts the intakes of selected schools,” the ministry said in a media release.

"In view of the significant falling student cohort sizes in 2027 and the coming years, MOE will gradually reduce the P1 intake for the majority of primary schools over the next few years, starting from the 2026 P1 registration exercise.

"This will minimise the need for school mergers or relocations, and maintain a good geographical spread of primary schools for students across Singapore."

MOE said that it will continue to review the demand for Primary 1 places based on birth cohort sizes as well as planned future housing developments, and will ensure that there are enough school places for every child at the national and regional levels.

KEY INFORMATION FOR EXERCISE

The registration exercise for children entering Primary 1 in 2027 will begin on Jun 30 and run until Oct 30, MOE said.

Parents can register their children through the Primary 1 registration portal, which will also contain information on the various registration phases and the schools that their child is eligible to register in.

It is compulsory for Singaporeans born between Jan 2, 2020, and Jan 1, 2021, to participate in this year’s exercise or enrol in the Junior 1 or Primary 1 programme of a government-funded Special Education school.

Parents will require a valid Singpass with two-factor authentication to log in to the registration portal. Only one parent is required to submit the registration.

Those who require assistance can contact the school of their choice via email or telephone between 9am and 4.30pm during the registration period, said MOE.

To support parents in their selection of primary schools, MOE publishes information on school vacancies on its website.

Before the start of registration, parents can refer to the list of primary schools and their total number of available vacancies for the registration exercise.

Parents can also view last year's vacancies and balloting data for each school for reference.

The number of available vacancies and applicants will be updated during each phase of the registration process.

"Parents should note that these numbers are not final and may change when applicants withdraw or make changes to their registration," MOE said.

After each registration phase, parents will be able to see the finalised information on schools which have sufficient vacancies to admit all applicants without the need for balloting.

"We encourage parents to consider a range of schools and explore how these schools' programmes can best meet their child’s learning needs, interests and strengths," MOE added.

"Parents should also consider schools reasonably close to home to reduce commuting time and ensure better transport options.

"Parents can visit MOE’s SchoolFinder at www.moe.gov.sg/schoolfinder for more details, and view the list of schools within 2km of their residential address."

REVIEW OF P1 REGISTRATION FRAMEWORK

Minister for Education Desmond Lee said in January that MOE is studying the Primary 1 registration framework to enhance access to primary schools for students of different backgrounds.

Schools will continue to embrace diversity, but sometimes the nature of the neighbourhood where the school is located can affect this diversity, he added.

"We then deprive our children, particularly younger children in primary school, the opportunity to mix and mingle with children from families across the whole spectrum of society," Mr Lee said during a media interview.

"We are looking at how to better support social mixing in our schools using a whole variety of levers."

The current Primary 1 registration framework reflects "a whole range" of considerations, including practicality and proximity.

"We want to study this carefully to see whether it is feasible to make any adjustments to our Primary 1 admissions framework to further strengthen the diversity in our schools."

During the Committee of Supply debates for Budget 2026, Mr Lee said that MOE is reviewing the Primary 1 registration framework so that primary schools "remain open to students from different backgrounds".

MOE on Wednesday said it would announce the details of the review when ready.