SINGAPORE - Students who wish to apply for direct admission to secondary schools and junior colleges (JCs) may do so from Thursday.

Students who wish to apply for early admission to the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) can start doing so from May 24. Applications for early admission to polytechnics start on June 5.

The Ministry of Education said on Wednesday that the Direct School Admission (DSA) exercise allows students to gain direct entry to secondary schools and junior colleges based on their talents and potential, beyond their performance at the national examinations.

A total of 142 secondary schools and 20 JCs are participating in the 2023 DSA exercise, the ministry said.

Students who take part in the exercise will still be required to take the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) or O levels.

If their DSA applications are successful, they will need to decide whether to take up the offer before their exam results are released, said MOE.

Students who accept their DSA offers will be guaranteed a place in the specific secondary school or junior college they applied to, provided their PSLE or O-level results meet the minimum requirements for admission.

Primary school pupils and their parents may submit DSA applications via www.moe.gov.sg/dsa-sec from 11am on May 4 to 3pm on May 31.

Students applying for DSA to JCs can go to www.moe.gov.sg/dsa-jc for more information.

Under the Polytechnic Early Admissions Exercise for graduating O-level and ITE students, those who are successful in their applications will receive conditional offers before the release of their exam results.

For the conditional offer to be confirmed, their results must meet the minimum entry requirements for the offered polytechnic course.

The same process applies to graduating O-level and N-level students who apply for early admission to the ITE Nitec and Higher Nitec courses.