By Geraldine Haruka Ling

More foreign schools are being urged to set up campuses in Singapore.

In a move by the Government to alleviate the space crunch faced by expatriate students,  public buildings and vacant land are being made available for new international schools.

The new schools will be located at Bukit Batok, Hougang, Yishun and Upper Serangoon, reported The Straits Times.

At full capacity, the four permanent sites will be able to take in more than 8,000 students by 2015.

According to the english daily, this number is about three times more than the current student enrolment at the United World College of South East Asia (UWC), one of the biggest international schools in Singapore.

This announcement from the Government should come as a relief for expatriates and the present international schools.

Singapore's 40-odd international schools are struggling to cope with rising demand, reported a local television network.

The shortage is allegedly so bad that some overseas companies have delayed sending their top executives to Singapore.

Already, foreigners currently in Singapore have started sending their children to government schools.

For instance, 14 per cent of the students at Tanjong Katong Primary School are not local.

A spokesperson from the Ministry of Education told The Straits Times last week that that four per cent - or over 20,000 - of the 521,000 students in primary, secondary, junior colleges and centralised institutes now are foreigners. 

Potential schools to submit tenders

In order to secure a school space, interested schools will first need to submit a proposal to a multi-agency committee headed by the Economic Development Board (EDB), said a local television network.

In addition to being assessed on factors like the quality of the project and investment commitments, schools also have to demonstrate the ability to start classes by 2009, continued the report.

One school eager to submit its tender to the government committee is the Global Indian International School.

The school already has three campuses set up in Singapore in the Queenstown, East Coast and Balestier areas.