In-person interviews, selection to resume for Direct School Admission exercise

SINGAPORE: Students planning to apply to study at secondary schools and junior colleges (JCs) next year through the Direct School Admission (DSA) exercise will be able to submit their applications from Thursday (May 5).

In-person interviews and selection will also be allowed to resume for the latest DSA exercise, which allows students to gain direct entry to secondary schools or JCs based on their talents and achievements.

"Given the high vaccination rates of students and staff in schools, MOE (Ministry of Education) will allow the resumption of in-person interviews and selection for the 2022 DSA exercise," said the ministry in a press release on Wednesday.

"This enables students to better demonstrate their talents and potential, especially for trials or group tasks where coordination between candidates is important (eg team sports, group performance)."

HIGHER DSA INTAKE

There are 142 secondary schools and 20 JCs participating in DSA this year.

Since 2018, secondary schools can take up to 20 per cent of their non-Integrated Programme Secondary 1 intake via the DSA exercise.

Starting from this year's exercise, MOE will increase DSA places for Government and Government-aided (GGA) JCs to 20 per cent of their non-Integrated Programme JC1 intake, up from 10 per cent currently.

These JCs include: Anderson Serangoon, Anglo-Chinese, Catholic, Eunoia, Jurong Pioneer, National, Nanyang, St Andrew’s, Tampines Meridian, Temasek, Victoria and Yishun Innova.

"More students can now seek admission to a JC based on their talents and achievements that may not be demonstrated at the O-Levels," said MOE.

Students participating in the DSA exercise are still required to take the PSLE or GCE O-Level examination.

If a DSA offer is made, students will need to make a decision to take up the offer by the deadline, which will be before the release of the national examination results.

Students applying to a secondary school via DSA may do so through an online portal from 11am on May 5 to 3pm on Jun 1.

A parent’s Singpass login will be needed for application through the online portal.

For those applying to JCs, MOE urged applicants to check the DSA-JC website for important dates and timelines.

"Interested students should visit the respective JCs’ websites as application periods, procedures and selection criteria may differ," said the ministry.

EARLY ADMISSION TO ITE, POLYTECHNICS

MOE also said that applications for early admission to Institutes of Technical Education (ITE) and polytechnics based on course-specific aptitude and interests will start on May 26 and Jun 6 respectively.

The Early Admissions Exercise (EAE) provides a pathway for graduating ITE, N-Level and O-Level students, as well as working adults, to apply for and receive conditional offers for admission to ITE and the polytechnics.

Beyond academic grades, EAE applicants are considered on the basis of demonstrated aptitude and interest in a specific course. Applicants may be required to submit portfolios, undergo interviews and take aptitude tests as part of the selection process.

Selections in the last two years were conducted largely via virtual means for most courses. The modality of the selection this year will vary depending on course requirements, and could be virtual or in-person.