Presidential Election: Teachers' Day school holiday pushed back due to Polling Day; N-Level exams rescheduled

SINGAPORE: The Teachers' Day school holiday this year has been rescheduled from Sep 1 to Sep 11 following the announcement of key dates for the upcoming Presidential Election.

Polling Day will be on Sep 1, a Friday, if more than one candidate qualifies to run for President.

As the Teachers' Day school holiday has been pushed back, the GCE N-Level examinations scheduled for Sep 11 will also be postponed.

Announcing the changes on Friday (Aug 11), the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) noted that the ministry typically marks Teachers' Day on the last Friday of Term 3 before the one-week September school holiday. 

It will now be moved to Sep 11, the first Monday after the one-week September school holidays.

"This is to provide certainty for schools and students in making their plans. Monday, Sep 11, 2023, will now be designated a school holiday," said MOE and SEAB.

The N-Level exams that had been scheduled to take place on Sep 11 will instead be held on Sep 12 and Sep 20.

"This is to provide certainty for candidates preparing for their examinations," MOE and SEAB said.

"Our schools and SEAB will reach out to inform all affected examination candidates."

The date for Polling Day, which will be a public holiday, was announced by the Elections Department on Friday when it said that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has issued the writ of election.

Singaporeans will know if they get to cast their vote after Nomination Day proceedings, which will be on Aug 22.

There are so far four presidential hopefuls.

Former Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam was the first to throw his hat into the ring when he announced his bid on Jun 8, followed by businessman George Goh and former GIC chief investment officer Ng Kok Song. Former presidential candidate Tan Kin Lian officially launched his campaign on Aug 11.