Parents who were hoping to clinch a spot for their children at 99 popular primary schools in Phase 2C of the Primary 1 registration exercise will have to face a ballot.

The schools include Princess Elizabeth Primary, where 226 children are vying for 38 places; Temasek Primary with 106 children trying for 28 vacancies; and West Spring Primary, where there are 45 places and 126 children registered.

Another two schools - Jurong West Primary and Paya Lebar Methodist Girls' School (Primary) - were oversubscribed in Phase 2C but will not require balloting, according to figures on the Ministry of Education (MOE) website which were updated late on Wednesday night.

Jurong West Primary has places only for Singapore citizen children, while Paya Lebar Methodist Girls' School (Primary) will admit Singapore citizen children residing within 1km of the school.

For the other oversubscribed schools, the results of the ballot will be out next Monday.

Those whose applications are unsuccessful can register in Phase 2C Supplementary, starting next Wednesday, for a place in a school with vacancies.

Last year, 87 schools were oversubscribed in Phase 2C, with 81 eventually going to a ballot.

Phase 2C is the fifth of seven phases in the registration exercise and is for children with no ties to the schools. It is considered the most competitive as it sees the most number of schools needing a ballot compared with earlier stages.

From this year, the MOE has introduced a cap on the intake of permanent resident children in selected primary schools that applies in Phase 2C and 2C Supplementary.

The cap is between 25 per cent and 30 per cent of a school's planned Primary 1 intake.

The measure is to "prevent any concentration of PR children in our primary schools, provide a more conducive environment to encourage interaction between Singapore citizen and PR children, and facilitate the integration of PR children into Singapore", the ministry has previously said.

It added that the vast majority of primary schools and PR children will not be affected by this change, as past intakes show PR admissions are "well below the cap of 25 per cent to 30 per cent".

For this year, the cap will be applied in 10 schools: Bukit Timah Primary, Bukit View Primary, Changkat Primary, Greendale Primary, Marymount Convent, North Spring Primary, Opera Estate Primary, Pioneer Primary, Tanjong Katong Primary and Xingnan Primary.

Of these 10 schools, Bukit Timah Primary and Opera Estate Primary were oversubscribed in Phase 2C.

All the Singapore citizen children who applied to both schools have been admitted, and balloting will be conducted for PR children residing near the schools. Both schools have reached the PR cap.

Tanjong Katong Primary was also oversubscribed, but has not reached the PR intake limit.

The other seven schools were not oversubscribed in this phase.

Going forward, the MOE will review and publish yearly the list of schools that will have to reflect a cap on their intake of PR children.