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Direct School Admission (DSA) is a scheme in Singapore introduced in 2004 for students who are entering secondary school or junior college. The scheme allows education institutions to select and enroll students based on both their academic and non-academic talents and achievements instead of purely academic results.
The DSA was introduced in 2004. [1] The scheme was initially opened to seven secondary schools who offered Integrated Programme to their students. [2]
The DSA scheme will be reviewed under two guiding principles, announced Acting Minister for Education (Schools) Ng Chee Meng in the Committee of Supply Debate in Parliament today (8 Apr). Ng noted that while the scheme has benefitted many students, there was some unevenness in how different schools select students. The review aims to expand opportunities for students with specific aptitudes and talents by providing more schools with distinctive programmes. This will allow students with specific domain talents and achievements to be recognised – which was its original objective – instead of general academic ability.
In 2014, Education Minister Heng Swee Keat announced that DSA will be expanded slightly, allowing secondary schools an extra selection criteria to assess and select students for the program. [3]
The first few number of students in the ranking determined by the school are given a confirmed offer. Should a Primary 6 student receive a confirmed offer from any school, he or she will receive a School Preference Form in late October after his or her Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) and will not participate in the S1 Posting Exercise. Although it is said that the student has been guaranteed a place in the Secondary School, he will lose the offer if he is not eligible for the lowest academic stream (Special, Express, Normal (Academic), Normal (Technical)) the school offers according to his PSLE results. In this case, he will have to participate in the S1 Posting Exercise
The following few students in the ranking also determined by the school will enter the waiting list. Those who are in the waiting list will fill up the vacancies after some students who receives a confirmed offer has decided to reject the offer. They will enter the school according to their order in the ranking until all vacancies for the school's DSA exercise has been filled up. The student will also receive a School Preference Form in late October after his PSLE. If he enters the school via DSA successfully, he need not participate in the S1 Posting Exercise. Like the students who received a confirmed offer, the student will lose the offer if he is not eligible for the lowest academic stream (Special, Express, Normal (Academic), Normal (Technical)) the school offers according to his PSLE results.
The students who are not ranked high enough in the school's DSA ranking will be rejected. If he does not have any other offers (including waiting list), he will not receive a School Preference Form and will have to participate in the S1 Posting Exercise.
As of 2009, there are 74 schools which allows students to enroll in their schools via DSA. [4]
Education in Singapore is managed by the Ministry of Education (MOE). It controls the development and administration of state schools receiving taxpayers' funding, but also has an advisory and supervisory role in respect of private schools. For both private and state schools, there are variations in the extent of autonomy in their curriculum, scope of taxpayers' aid and funding, tuition burden on the students, and admission policy.
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The Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) is a national examination in Singapore that is administered by the Ministry of Education and taken by all students near the end of their sixth year in primary school before they move on to secondary school. The examination test students' proficiency in the English language, their respective mother tongue languages, mathematics and science. Students have about two hours to complete each subject paper except for certain components of language subjects. Students answer multiple choice questions by shading their responses on a standardized optical answer sheet (OAS) that uses optical mark recognition to detect answers or by writing their workings and/or answers on the question booklet itself for certain sections of the paper.
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Methodist Girls' School (MGS) is an independent Methodist girls' school in Bukit Timah, Singapore, founded in 1887 by Australian missionary Sophia Blackmore. It offers a six-year primary education in its primary school section and a four-year secondary education in its secondary school section. Since 2012, it has partnered with its affiliated school Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) for a six-year Integrated Programme, which allows its secondary school students to proceed to ACS(I) for Years 5 and 6 to complete the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme.
Secondary education in Singapore is largely public, and is compulsory until a child has reached 16 years of age. At the end of public primary education, Singapore students take the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) and are placed into the different streams and secondary schools based on their results. There are three main public secondary education streams: Express (E)(Currently known as G3), Normal (Academic), and Normal (Technical), with special and private education courses also being available. The Express stream has a more stringent cut-off than the Normal (Academic) stream, which is in turn more selective than the Normal (Technical) stream. Secondary students can move between streams based on their academic performance.
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The Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education Normal Level examination is a national examination held annually in Singapore. It is taken after four years in the Normal (Academic) or Normal (Technical) stream. For subjects examined in English and foreign languages, the examining authority are the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate. For localised language subjects, the examining authority is the Ministry of Education (MOE).
