The Ministry of Education (MOE) recently reported that 1,483 children did not register for Primary 1 this year as required under the Compulsory Education Act (CE) enacted six years ago, by the given deadline.
After sending out reminders, the parents of all but 152 kids subsequently signed up. The 152 children do not include the 57 home-schoolers and 353 madrasah students who applied to be exempted from the Compulsory Education Act. Of the 152, 150 were found to be living overseas, leaving just two unregistered children.
According to the Compulsory Education Act, all children born after 1996 need to have at least six years of schooling. Anyone who fails to ensure that his child attends school may face a maximum fine of $5,000 or one year in jail, or both. So far, no parent has been charged in court for not sending their child to school.
Anyone who knows of children who should be but are not attending primary school may e-mail MOE’s Compulsory Education Unit at moe_ce@moe.edu.sg