13th December 2023
It is well known that secondary schools offering the integrated programme (IP) would be highly sought after by parents.
Students can be admitted to IP Secondary Schools after their PSLE, or IP Junior Colleges after Secondary 4. There are 17 secondary schools offering the IP and 11 IP JCs.
Students in IP skip the O levels and move on to take the A levels at the end of six years.
Raffles Institution (RI) and Hwa Chong Institution set aside about one-third of their places for O-level students. Similarly, St Joseph’s Institution (SJI) and Eunoia JC allocate about half of their JC1 places for non-IP students.
But that being said, students in the IP or on the O-level track are supported equally by their schools and have the same opportunities to excel.
RI principal Frederick Yeo advises parents to encourage their children to focus on their strengths and optimise the learning opportunities offered in the secondary school, such as taking on student leadership roles or to be actively involved in co-curricular activities (CCA).