SINGAPORE - Sixteen student hopefuls mistakenly received acceptance letters to Republic Polytechnic (RP), with the school withdrawing the letters and apologising for the error.

One of them, who gave her name only as Ms Hou, told Lianhe Wanbao in a report on Sunday (April 22) that she was surprised to receive her letter of acceptance.

However, on her first day at school, she was told that her grades did not make the cut, and her placement was therefore withdrawn.

RP's registrar, Mr Shanmugasundar W, told The Straits Times on Monday that they apologised to Ms Hou for "the mistake we made in evaluating her application to Republic Polytechnic (RP), which resulted in her placement in the polytechnic being withdrawn on her first day of school".

He said the school has worked with Ms Hou to secure her a place in the Institute of Technical Education (ITE).

"She has since matriculated into ITE College West's Higher Nitec in Accounting course," he said. "We wish her all the best in her studies."

RP added that it "also discovered some discrepancies in the submitted and actual examination or CCA grades of 15 other students during verification checks before the semester started".

"After confirming that these students did not meet the admission criteria for RP's courses as their net aggregate score (ELR2B2) exceeded 26 points, we rescinded their places, out of fairness to other unsuccessful applicants," said Mr Shamugasundar.

He said that all 16 affected students have been considered for alternative placements either to ITE or the other polytechnics.

"At this time, we understand that nine students have accepted their alternative placements, whilst the rest are pending acceptance or they plan to retake their O-Levels," he said.

"We apologise for the inconvenience caused to the students, and we will improve our processes to ensure that similar errors would not recur."

The school also said it would refund the enrolment fees paid by the affected students.