The Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ) is aiming to accelerate the process of its Central Registration for first-time kindergarten students to avoid causing parents anxiety and uncertainty.
In the past, parents and guardians have queued in the streets for long hours in an attempt to deliver the application form to their preferred school institutions. But for the academic year 2021/2022, the DSEJ has organized a new schedule based on the Central Registration platform. This allows parents to decide and submit applications earlier and also obtain a final result from the application months before the academic year starts, the DSEJ informed yesterday during a press conference on the topic.
The online enrolment platform will be available for registrations between January 6 and 20, with parents able to opt between doing it online on the DSEJ website or at DSEJ counters, said DSEJ’s Kindergarten and Primary Education Division Chief Ng Mei Kei during the presentation on the system.
The official noted that for the upcoming academic year, the bureau expects that the number of students enrolling for the first time will be around 5,300, while the total number of vacancies in local kindergarten institutions will be over 6,300.
Ng also mentioned that one of the big differences that will also enter into force with the new system is that with the Central Registration system there will be no registration order and no limits on the number of applications to be received by each school. The official reaffirmed that unlike previous years, there will be no need to rush or queue up on the first day to get the application considered within the quota previously defined by the schools.
As a measure to prevent crowding, the DSEJ also said that the period for the school interviews was also anticipated to start on February 27 until March 28, lasting for over a month.
Applications for up to six schools allowed
The Central Registration system allows parents or guardians to apply to up to six different schools. To complete the procedure, they must fill in the personal data according to the instructions and submit a passport style photograph of the student.
After, schools will release the dates and times of the interviews, with DSEJ noting that special attention will be paid to the process so that the interview schedules do not clash with each other.
On April 9, the schools will release the lists of the admitted students at the same time. Parents have until April 12 to confirm their acceptance of the vacancy through the DSEJ website.
Two days after this deadline, schools will also release the list of the admitted students that were included in the waitlist from April 14. This will kick-off the final stage of the process in which parents must finalize the student registration in person at the school, which will take place from April 15 to 17.
From April 19, the parents of waitlisted students that were admitted will have until April 30 to complete the registration with the schools.
Enrolment for students to fill the remaining vacancies will also be open from April 19. This phase is also open to students that were not admitted in any of the schools they applied for or students that missed the initial Central Registration period. In these cases, parents should approach the schools directly to complete the registration process.
90-day visa validity required for non-residents
The DSEJ remarked that to register through the Central Registration system, all non-resident students must possess a stay or residence permit with a validity of over 90 days, otherwise, the system will not allow the enrolment.
To enroll in kindergarten for the academic year 2021/2022, all applicants must also be 3 years old by December 31, 2021.
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