SINGAPORE - The eight government junior colleges that will be merged in 2019 were selected because of the need to ensure a good spread of JCs across the island, said the Ministry of Education (MOE) at a press briefing on Thursday (Apr 20).

This is partly why even schools with high entry requirements such as Anderson Junior College (AJC) - which had an entry score of eight and nine points for the science and arts courses respectively in 2016, lower than schools such as Catholic Junior College (CJC) - will have to be merged.

AJC will take in Serangoon JC, which has also steadily climbed up the ranks since it opened in 1988. In 2016, it had an entry score of 11 points for both science and arts courses, compared to 20 when it started out. The new school will be located at AJC's Yio Chu Kang site to serve the north-east area.

In 2019, Jurong and Pioneer JCs will also be merged to form a JC in the west; Innova and Yishun JCs in the north; and Tampines and Meridian JCs in the east. These schools will be located at the latter-named sites. These sites were chosen based on the quality of infrastructure, and their accessibility to transport, said the MOE.