P1 Registration: MOE Rejects application

[Wd40]

I have heard plenty of cases where children or 2nd child rejected for PR. No apparent rhyme or reason other than the fact that the parents got PR when things were very liberal. Similarly spouse rejected for PR too, husband got PR when things were liberal and he was single.

[bro75]

Your children were rejected as PR??? Seriously? I've heard of the reverse happening...adults been rejected when they leave the boys off the application. But this is the first for that.

There could always be a back-story I suppose (ie, you've been here ten years and them 1 month). But seriously!

After 2009, approval of dependent PRs were tightened for certain nationalities (pinoys and others). My wife just made it (Applied 2009) but my daughter did not get through (born and applied 2010). Most children ( those i know mostly pinoys) who applied for dependent PR after 2009 got rejected. I applied for my daughter and got rejected 3 times already. (she is 4 now and born here but now on LTVP).

[sundaymorningstaple]

This appear to be an underhanded method of thinning out the ranks of PMET's of the middle ranks that Singaporeans want (whether qualified for or not is a different story). As the parents have already been given PR under more liberal times, the only way that the government can reverse this is by not giving the children PR but only ltvps, thereby forcing them to attend International Schools at costs that are prohibitively expensive for the average PMET earning 4.5 to 6.5K/mo. Therefore the parents either have to bite the bullet and spend the money or up and leave, giving up their PR. This saves the gahmen from being the bad guys and recinding PRs.

OR,

It's a way to keep the potential upcoming male NS enrollees numbers more accurate as they will not be worrying about the male dependent PRs doing a runner before NS.

"Denying a child the right to go to school because they're a "foreigner" is in pretty bad form."

They are not denying them the right to go to school, just denying them the right to subsidized schooling reserved for the local citizenry. They are welcome to home school, or partake of the many International Schools at their disposal. As expatriates, the ball is always in our park as to whether we want to accept contract here or not. It they ball field, their ball and their rules. If we want to play we have to abide by them or go elsewhere.

[PNGMK]

I'm friends with the XXX schools admittance officer - the stories are terrible.... a LOT of people bailing and also frankly simply caught out by the lack of notice.

The XXX school is looking at quickly adding buildings to increase their enrollment to help out.

My advice would be to home school until you can cancel your contracts...

[zzm9980]

They are not denying them the right to go to school, just denying them the right to subsidized schooling reserved for the local citizenry.

Actually, someone in that Local Schools Facebook group was able to pull together publicly available numbers. The fees charges to foreign students in public schools is pretty much "at cost", meaning it isn't subsidized at all. Never mind that the parents are also paying income tax which goes towards the school budget anyway.

[PNGMK]

They are not denying them the right to go to school, just denying them the right to subsidized schooling reserved for the local citizenry.

Actually, someone in that Local Schools Facebook group was able to pull together publicly available numbers. The fees charges to foreign students in public schools is pretty much "at cost", meaning it isn't subsidized at all. Never mind that the parents are also paying income tax which goes towards the school budget anyway.

I agree with this analysis. Double dipping is pretty SOP here anyways.

[ecureilx]

If this is true and this trend goes on, many expats will get a rude surprise when they, upon coming here without expat packages which includes International School fee allowance, find themselves unable to send their children to primary school. Some PRs like me whose children have been rejected for PR ( counts as foreigner) could have this same problem in the near future. But hopefully, this will be fixed.

Sarcasm on ..

Not so ...

Your kids should be in international school, as your pay is 'expat' pay

Sarcasm off ...

[PNGMK]

If this is true and this trend goes on, many expats will get a rude surprise when they, upon coming here without expat packages which includes International School fee allowance, find themselves unable to send their children to primary school. Some PRs like me whose children have been rejected for PR ( counts as foreigner) could have this same problem in the near future. But hopefully, this will be fixed.

Sarcasm on ..

Not so ...

Your kids should be in international school, as your pay is 'expat' pay

Sarcasm off ...

There are real reasons why someone might want to put their kids in a local school... but yes I see your sarcasm tags.

[movingtospore]

"Denying a child the right to go to school because they're a "foreigner" is in pretty bad form."

They are not denying them the right to go to school, just denying them the right to subsidized schooling reserved for the local citizenry. They are welcome to home school, or partake of the many International Schools at their disposal. As expatriates, the ball is always in our park as to whether we want to accept contract here or not. It they ball field, their ball and their rules. If we want to play we have to abide by them or go elsewhere.

Yes, but these are PRs, not EP holders. This is not me we're talking about...whitie from a first-world country who is not likely to ever take up citizenship here. These are people who contribute a lot to Singapore. They are not making scads of money and can't pay for International Schools. Honestly, I think it's rubbish and discriminatory. I do agree it's their system and it is what it is but it doesn't make it any less of any abuse.

Can you imagine if permanent residents in any other "developed" country were denied access to schooling? Or their children were denied PR status?

[Wd40]

M2S, may be you have missed something. From what I know, all PRs who applied, were allocated "some" school, its the dp holders and ltvp holders who got rejected.

[zzm9980]

M2S, may be you have missed something. From what I know, all PRs who applied, were allocated "some" school, its the dp holders and ltvp holders who got rejected.

And even then, it looks like ~2/3rds of the DP and Student Pass holders (ltvp can't attend school) still got local spots.

[Wd40]

Yupp, I know ltvp holders can't attend schools. But the procedure is ltvp holders need to apply for school and only if they get admission, they can then apply for student pass.

[movingtospore]

Yes, maybe so. Sounds like a way they're getting round that, though, is to reject PR applications for children.

[sunnyc]

I'm an Indian considering relocating to Singapore from Taiwan. My children can speak both Mandarin Chinese & English like a local. I like to know if it is possible to get admission in the Public schools (i have already read the procedures) in the middle of a school year. Here the school year begins in September and ends in June. Also like to know if my child is currently doing her grade 4 here and will graduate to the next class after summer. If she takes the test for admission for grade 5 she will be a few days short of the required age limit. Does it really matter or the ministry overlooks this criteria. Will be happy with any leads.
P.S - My kids can speak Tamil but are not very fluent.

[sundaymorningstaple]

If you are talking about entry into the local school system, you can forget it. International Schools are always possible, space available, but it will be hard as most use the calendar years for school year. If you children speak English like a local, they will have a lot of problems in the International Schools where they mostly speak proper English.