I WISH to highlight the perennial problem of parents failing to enrol their children in schools close to their homes during the Primary 1 registration exercise.

My friend failed to enrol his child in a school located opposite the block where he lives. Instead, his child was given a place in a school two bus stops away.

My friend and his wife work full time and must rely on a 60-year-old grandparent to take the child to school, as well as care for their older special-needs child.

The principal of the school their child was denied entry to has put my friend's child high on the waiting list, but should that be the case?

Perhaps the Primary 1 registration exercise could be tweaked to include a phase that guarantees places to pupils living within a 500m radius of the school.

How then do we free up more places to accommodate this phase?

Abolish the parent volunteer system, which does not genuinely inculcate a spirit of volunteerism, but is a convenient channel for parents to win their children places in their target schools.

At the very least, parents in the same situation as my friend will get their child into a school near their homes.

Wee Hien Seng

This article was first published in The Straits Times.