Why parents chase gifted scheme
THE editorial ('Giving children the best gift'; last Thursday) missed a few reasons parents want their children enrolled in the Gifted Education Programme.
The main reason is that students in the programme enjoy an advantage when applying through the Direct School Admission (DSA) scheme of choice secondary schools that offer the Integrated Programme.
During the DSA application period, gifted programme students are grouped differently, either earlier in the application phase, or as virtual shoo-ins for just having good results in their primary school examinations.
The rest of the applicants must sit the general ability test or other academic tests.
Also, schools offering the Integrated Programme set aside more places for gifted scheme students during the DSA process, which offers other applicants slimmer chances.
Furthermore, the Edusave Entrance Scholarships for Independent Schools are awarded to gifted scheme students based only on the fact that these students meet the Primary 6 promotion criteria and are enrolled in an independent school regardless of their PSLE results.
Again, the rest face a cut-off to ensure eligibility, which is usually a minimum PSLE aggregate score in the 260s.
The scholarship is worth $14,400.
Khong Kiong Seng
