SINGAPORE: Parents of current Kranji Primary School students are getting worried over which school their younger children will go to following the announcement of its relocation on Tuesday (Jan 16).
The school will move from Choa Chu Kang to Tengah in 2028, said The Ministry of Education (MOE) earlier on Tuesday in a news release.
From 2025, it will stop accepting Primary 1 students but will continue to operate at its current site until all its existing students graduate by end-2029.
The relocation plans, which will also see Outram Secondary School move to a new campus in Sengkang in 2026, aim to “better cater to changing demand for school and preschool places”, said the Education Ministry.
But they have also left some parents concerned.
Speaking to CNA at the school gate shortly after the announcement was made, Ms Ameera Hanim, whose oldest son is in Primary 1, shared that she had just moved to the HDB block next to Kranji Primary in October.
She had intended to send her two other sons to the school when they grow older.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen, it’s really a stressful situation,” she added.
Her 3-year-old son now attends preschool elsewhere, but she was planning to move him to the MOE Kindergarten at Kranji Primary in the next one to two years, because unlike his current school, it offers Malay language. Her youngest son is a newborn.
“After that, he could have gradually moved to Primary 1. But now we’re really in shock. I don’t know if there’s any more MOE Kindergartens in this area,” said Ms Ameera, adding that it would be inconvenient if her sons ended up in different schools while they were both still in primary school.
As the primary school will stop accepting Primary 1 students from 2025, siblings of existing students, like Ms Ameera’s sons, will not be able to register for Kranji Primary School.
“However, there are sufficient Primary 1 places in Choa Chu Kang for eligible Primary 1 students to be admitted into,” said MOE.
According to Ms Ameera, the principal of the school will speak to parents to address their concerns on Feb 2.
“I’m very worried. We shifted here because of the school, it’s very near … If we have to move to the other side, it’ll be very sad,” she added.
Other parents have raised similar concerns in a group chat for parents of the school’s Primary 1 students, she shared, noting that several of them also moved here to enrol their children in the kindergarten alongside their siblings in Kranji Primary.
She also knows of another neighbour who moved her children from the MOE kindergarten in Tengah to the one in Kranji, only for this to happen.
SURPLUS OF SCHOOL PLACES IN THE AREA
According to MOE, there is a surplus of school places in the north of Choa Chu Kang, where Kranji Primary is currently located. There are three other primary schools in the area – Yew Tee, De La Salle and Unity.
All three of these primary schools had vacancies in Phase 2C of last year’s registration exercise and none of them proceeded to a ballot. Earlier phases were for students whose family members have connections with their primary school of choice.
Kranji Primary School will begin operations at its Tengah campus in 2028. Parents who wish to enrol their children in Primary 1 at the school in 2028 can register in the 2027 registration exercise.
The kindergarten at Kranji will be moving to the new campus – the same site as Kranji Primary School – in Tengah in 2028.
MOE also said there are sufficient government-supported preschool options for families in the north of Choa Chu Kang.
The kindergarten will stop accepting Kindergarten 1 students from 2025 and will continue to operate until end-2025, when all of its Kindergarten 2 children move to Primary 1.
Operations will begin at the new Tengah campus in 2028, and parents who want to enrol their children at the new campus can register in the 2027 kindergarten registration exercise.
Another parent who only wanted to be known as Linda was worried about getting her daughter a spot in Primary 1 next year. Her initial plan was for her daughter to join her son, who is a Primary 2 student in Kranji Primary.
Her daughter would have originally been eligible to apply for a spot under Phase 1 of the Primary 1 registration exercise, which is open to children with siblings currently studying in the same school.
But now, as she is not Singaporean, she will have to apply for a spot in another primary school for her daughter in Phase 3.
“I suppose we’ll have to apply to another school for her when the time comes. We’re not Singaporean so we’ll have to go through the application process again,” she added.
Another parent, June, who goes by one name, said that she’s not affected since she has just one daughter, who is in Primary 4.
“Luckily my kid has no siblings,” the 37-year-old continued.
“Those who have younger kids probably will have more problems. The kindergarten is also moving, and after 2025 cannot register here, only can register at the other side after 2028.”
Her friend, who only wanted to be known as May, was relieved that her daughter, who is in Primary 1, would be relatively unaffected by the move.
May, who has only one daughter, shared that she wouldn’t mind if the plan was actually for remaining students to move with the school to the new campus in 2028.
“It would actually be nearer for me.”