Uploaded on 2017-05-16 by Fiona Nixon

One of the obsessions of Singaporeans with young children is schooling, where their children will go to school and how they will win admission. Websites like kiasuparents.com.sg collect and analyse all sorts of data related to school entrance opportunities, balloting for places etc. This has a spatial / urban overlay in that priority for school entrance is given to those living within 1km, then 2km (plus other factors like citizenship, membership of religions etc). If they can afford it people will choose the location of their homes to improve chances of entrance to the 'best' schools. It has a demand-side effect on the urban environment. The government maintains some data on home-school distance via onemap.sg but it doesn't show population density in the 1km and 2km rings, nor does it indicate places available per head of population, or number of eligible students by geographical area. Although this data might be captured and correlated by accessing open source government databases there may be some role for self-reporting by interested parents. a complete sample may not be requried to get the trend (Singapore does not survey everyone during the census). Capturing of real time data on the days of school registration and balloting would also be useful. Availability of education is a major factor in livability so open access to good information is critical.