Education before and after NS

Deferment for full-time pre-university studies at local schools

Your son or ward will be granted deferment for full-time studies at local schools for:

• GCE ‘O’ Level, ’N’ Level and ‘A’ Level
• Polytechnic diploma
• International Baccalaureate (IB)
• NITEC or Higher NITEC
• An equivalent pre-university qualification

He must not have already attained such qualifications.

Deferment for studies at privately-funded or overseas schools

Your son or ward may be granted deferment for pre-university qualifications at privately-funded or overseas schools (such as IB Diploma). However, there is a cut-off age for such deferment.

On 1 January of the year that your son or ward starts the pre-university course, he should be younger than:

• 19 years old if he's currently a Secondary 4 student, or
• 20 years old if he's currently a Secondary 5, NITEC, or Higher NITEC student.

Applying for deferment

Your son or ward can apply for deferment:

• when registering for NS (from 16.5 years old)
• via the “Apply for deferment” eService on the OneNS web portal, if he has already registered for NS

He may be asked to provide additional information, such as:

• Official letter from the school (with school logo or stamp) certifying his enrolment
• Course of study
• Course commencement and completion dates

If your son or ward is repeating his studies

Your son or ward can apply for further deferment if he failed his pre-university studies and would like to repeat his studies on a full-time basis. 

Any such deferment will be granted on a case-by-case basis.

Cancelling deferment

If your son or ward is no longer studying and needs to cancel his deferment and start the pre-enlistment process, contact the NS Call Centre at 1800 367 6767 or contact@ns.gov.sg.

If your son or ward intends to pursue a university qualification, he can only do so after he has completed his full-time National Service (NS). He will not be granted deferment for any university course, even if he has already started the course.

University applications

Your son or ward will be able to apply for university admission even before enlisting in NS.

• If he's applying to a local autonomous university (such as the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Management University, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore Institute of Technology), he can apply before or during NS. If he is accepted, the university may reserve a place for him until he has completed NS.
• If he's applying to an overseas university, he will have to check with the university if they are able to reserve a place for him until he has completed NS. If not, he will have to submit his university application at a later date, such as while he is serving NS.
• He should check on his Operationally Ready Date (ORD) or eligibility for disruption from NS, where necessary, before confirming his matriculation date with the university.

Time will be set aside in NSFs’ training schedule to enable them to attend local university admission and scholarship interviews and tests. Local universities, ministries and scholarship boards schedule their interviews and tests during this allocated time period or on weekends throughout the year. If your son or ward needs to attend interviews or tests outside of these periods, he can request time-off or apply for leave to do so, based on his training schedule.

Disruption for university studies

Your son or ward may apply for disruption from NS to start university if he enlisted for NS later than his peers in the same academic cohort. This means he can stop serving NS temporarily to start studying at the same time as his peers.

Your son or ward can complete his remaining full-time NS liability:

• during his school holidays, or
• after graduating from university.

However, he must complete the remaining duration of his NS in 1 continuous period.

Applying for disruption

Your son or ward can apply for disruption via the “Manage Disruption” eService on the OneNS web portal if he is enlisted into the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). If your son or ward is enlisted into the Home Team, he can submit his application for disruption to the Human Resource Services Centre of the Ministry of Home Affairs via MHA_HRSC-NSSB@mha.gov.sg. He should do this at least 3 months before the date of disruption.

If your son or ward has been accepted into NUS or NTU medical school or has been awarded a Public Service Commission (PSC) scholarship, he may also be eligible for disruption. No application is needed as shortlisted NSFs will be informed by their units.

Visit the Central Manpower Base (CMPB) website for more information on disruption for further studies.