SINGAPORE - Parents 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 126 children registered and 45 places.

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 updated late on Wednesday night (Aug 12).

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

For the other oversubscribed schools, the ballot results will be out on Aug 17.

Those whose applications are unsuccessful can register in Phase 2C Supplementary - starting on Aug 19 - 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 to the earlier stages.

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

The cap is between 25 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 said previously.

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

For this year, the cap will be applied in these 10 schools:

1. Bukit Timah Primary School

2. Bukit View Primary School

3. Changkat Primary School

4. Greendale Primary School

5. Marymount Convent School

6. North Spring Primary School

7. Opera Estate Primary School

8. Pioneer Primary School

9. Tanjong Katong Primary School

10. Xingnan Primary School

Of these 10 schools, Bukit Timah Primary and Opera Estate Primary were oversubscribed in Phase 2C. All Singapore citizen children have been admitted to both schools, with balloting conducted for PR children residing near the school. With this, the two schools have reached the PR cap.

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

The other seven schools on the list were not oversubscribed in this phase.

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