“Within 1km of ACS (Junior).” Every property agent in Singapore knows what that line is worth in a listing. On 10 September, the Ministry of Education (MOE) changed what it means. From the 2027 Primary 1 registration exercise, for children starting school in 2028, 12 popular primary schools will stop giving priority in Phase 2C to families who live within 1km. Phase 2C is the phase open to all children, including those with no sibling or alumni link to the school. Its places at these 12 schools will be split into two equal halves. One half is balloted among children living within 2km, the other among children living beyond 2km. Nobody in either half gets priority for living closer. MOE picked these 12 because public housing makes up less than 40% of the homes within 2km of each. At five of them, it is far lower than that. Within 1km of Raffles Girls’ and Singapore Chinese Girls’, there are no HDB flats at all....