more preschool places
In addition to lowering the fee cap, ECDA will work with five anchor operators to provide an additional 22,000 full-day preschool sites, Masagos said.
The five anchor operators are PCF Sparkletots, My First Skool, MY World Preschool, Skool4Kidz, and E-Bridge Pre-school.
There are currently 331 centers operated by 29 operators under the partner operator scheme.
Of those 22,000 locations, about 2,800 will be reserved for infant care and about 4,400 for playgroups, Masagos said.
“Most will be on new estates with a high concentration of young families,” he added.
“For example, they could be in newer estates like Punggol and Sengkang or more mature ones with newer BTOs like Tampines and Ishun,” said an ECDA spokesperson.
“The nursery is being developed in parallel with the new HDB apartments, so residents have immediate access to preschool services upon moving in.”
The additional places reserved for infant care and playgroups will meet growing demand for early childhood preschool services, according to an ECDA press release.
With nine out of 10 children aged 3 to 6 in Singapore currently attending pre-primary school, an ECDA spokesperson said more families were enrolling their children in centers before they turned three. says.
About 9,700 babies are now enrolled in infant care services, compared with 4,800 in 2017, according to a spokesperson.
“Due to rising demand, preschool conditions are tight in the early years, especially in new housing developments with many young families,” a spokesperson said.
This has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with construction delays, difficulty arranging alternative childcare, and parents’ preference for kindergartens closer to home than to work, the spokesperson added.
“New preschool institutions will also take time to ramp up their infant and child care operations, including hiring the necessary staff, before reaching capacity,” said a spokeswoman.
ECDA plans to increase the number of government-supported preschools so that by 2025, 80% of preschoolers will be able to access these preschools, up from 60% today, Masagos said. said Mr.
“Together, these moves further contribute to a supportive environment for families, a place where families can access, afford and quality preschool education for their children,” he said. I got
