Faced with a shrinking student population, 14 schools will be folded into others by 2019 to keep school sizes feasible. For the first time, this merger exercise will include junior colleges.
Serangoon, Tampines, Innova and Jurong JCs will be absorbed by Anderson, Meridian, Yishun and Pioneer respectively, cutting the number of JCs from 23 to 19.
Seven pairs of primary schools and three pairs of secondary schools will also merge.
For some of the JCs being merged, annual intakes would have dipped to the 200-to-300 range over the next few years, compared to optimal levels of between 700 and 800, the Education Ministry (MOE) explained.
Between 1993 and 2002, births each year fell about 20 per cent from about 49,000 to 39,000. As a knock-on effect, JC intake is now expected to drop by a fifth, going from 16,000 in 2010 to 12,800 in 2019. Said Ms Liew Wei Li, director of schools at MOE: "We have thought through the various options. This is a very difficult decision. We have agonised over it. We find that we have little choice but to merge the JCs, in order that we can provide that kind of opportunities and range of choices for the students to come."
The ministry said that despite the mergers, there will be a place for every student who qualifies for JC admission. All JCs will expand to cater to more students and no teachers will lose their jobs, it added.
The four JCs which will fold into others in 2019 will not take in a fresh cohort of JC1 students next year so that students will not have to move in 2019, while the current cohorts will complete their A-level studies at the same school.
Apart from falling enrolment, schools were picked for merger based on location, to keep a good spread across the country. Hence, two JCs not offering the integrated programme were selected from each region - east, north-east, west and north - to form a merger pair.
MOE said that unless action is taken, some schools might lack the "critical mass" to offer a broader range of educational programmes and co-curricular activities.
Population demographics across various estates have also changed.
As Primary 1 demand falls in mature estates, schools have to be merged. But in newer estates, new schools may be needed. Fern Green Valley School will open next year, to meet the high demand for school places in Sengkang.
Meanwhile, dedicated spaces at the merged schools will preserve the heritage of schools that are no longer on the map.
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