Move to Ensure Students Enjoy a Vibrant Educational Experience
1. Declining birth rates, coupled with changing demographics in our housing estates, have led to falling enrolment in several of our schools, even as some areas experience rising demand for school places. To respond to these developments, MOE regularly reviews the need for school mergers or to build new schools in new housing estates. Such reviews are done to ensure that students across Singapore continue to enjoy a vibrant educational experience with a good range of educational programmes and co-curricular activities (CCAs).
2. MOE will merge four pairs of primary schools and five pairs of secondary schools between 2022 to 2024. These schools were identified based on enrolment trends, geographical proximity of the schools to be merged, suitability of merger partners and the receiving schools' infrastructure capacities. One primary school merger pair from Jurong West will also be re-located to Tengah New Town as the first primary school in that area to meet the demand for primary school places from young families there.
3. The mergers will take place in 2023, with the exception of the following two pairs of schools:
- Juying Primary School (JYPS) and Pioneer Primary School (PPS) will merge in 2022; and
- Fuchun Secondary School (FCSS) and Woodlands Ring Secondary School (WRSS) will merge in 2024.
Please refer to the Annex for the full list of schools to be merged.
Merger of Juying Primary School and Pioneer Primary School in 2022 and Relocation to Tengah tentatively in 2025
4. As JYPS and PPS are located in mature areas, enrolment in both schools have been falling consistently in recent years.
5. The schools will merge earlier in 2022 to facilitate a revised alignment of the Jurong Region Line (JRL), which will run through PPS. This will provide smoother rides for commuters and improve the JRL line operations and maintenance. For the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to proceed with this revised alignment and meet its completion timeline, the site of PPS will be handed over to LTA contractors in 2022 so that construction works for this stretch of JRL can commence promptly.
6. Additionally, to meet the upcoming demand for primary school places in Tengah, and taking into consideration the declining demand in the Jurong West area, the merged school will temporarily be at JYPS' current site but will eventually relocate to a new school site in the Plantation District of Tengah, expected to be from January 2025. The details of the new school in Tengah will be announced later.
7. The merged school will not admit new primary one cohorts at its temporary site from 2022 to 2024. Instead, it will admit its first batch of primary one students only after relocating to the new campus in Tengah in 2025. Existing students of the merged school will remain at the current JYPS campus and the last batch of primary six students will graduate in 2026. This means that from 2025 to 2026, the merged school will operate two campuses to minimise the need for their primary five and six students to commute to the new campus in Tengah.
Merger of Fuchun Secondary School and Woodlands Ring Secondary School in 2024
8. We had announced in July 20201 that WRSS' Programme for Rebuilding and Improving Existing schools (PRIME) was delayed due to the COVID-19 situation and would only be completed in 2023. WRSS and FCSS will therefore merge in 2024, to be timed with the merged school operating at WRSS' upgraded campus.
Ensuring a Smooth Transition
9. MOE will work closely with the affected schools to ensure a smooth transition to the merged school for students and staff, and in the process, forge a strong identity for the merged school. The history and heritage of both schools will be documented in a heritage space in the merged school building. As with all previous mergers, there will be no retrenchment of MOE staff. The names of the merged schools will be announced later.
10. In deciding to merge schools, our key consideration is to be responsive to changing demographics and community needs, whilst providing an optimal student experience. We will work with the school stakeholders to continue their strong support for their schools.
Footnotes
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The press release on the delays in infrastructure projects due to the COVID-19 situation can be found here: https://www.moe.gov.sg/news/press-releases/20200701-delays-in-infrastructure-projects-for-secondary-schools-and-junior-colleges-due-to-the-covid-19-situation