Students interested in applying for Direct School Admission (DSA) to secondary schools and Junior Colleges (JCs) for admission in 2018 may do so from Monday, stated the Singapore's Ministry of Education.
However, applications for early admission to polytechnics and the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) will start in June 2017.
About 128 schools will be taking part in the Direct School Admission-Secondary Exercise and 18 junior colleges are involved in the Direct School Admission-JC Exercise.
These admission exercises allow students to be selected for secondary schools or junior colleges even before their Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) or GCE O-Level examination results are released.
However, students will still be required to take their PSLE or GCE O-Level examinations respectively and cannot transfer to another school once the results are out.
The DSA exercises allow students with talents and achievements beyond what is recognised at the PSLE and the GCE O-Level examinations, seek admission to secondary schools and JCs that can develop their talent further.
In the press release, the Ministry of Education stated, “Students are encouraged to check the MOE DSA-Sec website and the MOE DSA-JC website for important dates and timelines, and for information on how the exercises will be conducted. The MOE DSA-Sec website also contains the full list of DSA categories that are offered for the 2017 exercise, and the secondary schools offering them.
It has also instructed the interested students to visit the individual school websites for more information on their open houses, application periods and procedures, plus selection criteria, which may differ from school to school.
Students participating in the DSA-Sec or DSA-JC exercise are still required to take the PSLE or GCE O-Level examination respectively. Students will be informed of the outcome of their DSA application, and have to decide whether to take up the offer, before their examination results are released.
The release also stated, “Students who take up a DSA-Sec confirmed offer are guaranteed a place in that secondary school, provided their PSLE results meet the minimum requirement for a course (Express / Normal (Academic) / Normal (Technical)) offered by the school. Similarly, for students who take up a DSA-JC offer, their GCE O-Level results must meet the eligibility criteria of a gross aggregate L1R5 score of 20 points or better for admission to a JC.”