Focus on preschool learning
The move to improve preschool learning in the Lion City stems from the fact that every child counts, hence the need to give them a good start.
Singapore is investing heavily in early childhood education for the benefit and development of its young learners.
YOUNG parents can expect more childcare places, more quality kindergartens and better-trained preschool teachers with the setting up of a new national institute for the profession.
About 40,000 childcare places will be added by 2022, a 30% increase from now.
Similarly, the Ministry of Education (MOE) will run 50 kindergartens by 2023, more than three times its current 15. With the increase, the ministry will have greater scale to influence the kindergarten sector and raise quality standards.
A new National Institute of Early Childhood Development will also be set up for preschool teachers.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who announced the measures at the National Day Rally two weeks ago, said preschools for children aged two months to six years are important in giving them “a good start and the best chance to succeed in life”.
“We must do this because every child counts. If we get this right, we will foster social mobility, and sustain a fair and just society,” he said.
The Government will double its annual spending on the preschool sector to S$1.7bil (RM5.35bil) in 2022 – “a heavy investment, but worthwhile and necessary”, said Lee.
He added that with this financial support, government-funded preschools would be as good as government-funded primary and secondary schools.
Rising demand
The move is taken amid rising demand for childcare places as more parents see the importance of preschool education in a child’s development and more mothers return to work.
Lee noted the shortage of preschool places is mainly for children up to four years of age.
To mitigate this, more “early years centres” will be set up by anchor operators, which get government grants and priority in securing sites but must meet fee caps and quality criteria.
These centres admit children aged up to four. Eligible Nursery Two children in the centres will be guaranteed a Kindergarten One place in a nearby MOE kindergarten. The first four centres are under construction and expected to open next year.
The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) also said that since Aug 1, it has appointed 29 more centres under a scheme for “partner operators”, which also get government grants but face requirements that are less stiff than those for anchor operators.
This brings the total number of centres in the partner operator scheme to about 200.
The quality of preschool programmes for children aged five and six will be raised.
The 15 MOE kindergartens have offered good programmes at reasonable prices, said the Prime Minister adding: “Parents know that they can trust the MOE brand.”
He said increasing the number of MOE kindergartens to 50 would allow MOE to make a wider impact beyond its own preschools and raise the quality of the whole sector, which has about 500 kindergartens.
With more preschool places provided by anchor and partner operators and MOE kindergartens, two in every three preschoolers will have a place in a government-run or government-supported preschool by 2023, a rise from about one in two.
Institute for educators
A national institute for preschool educators will be set up, in a move to improve the profession and attract good people.
The National Institute of Early
Childhood Development (NIEC) will offer the full range of diploma and certificate programmes for preschool professionals, and will be the preschool equivalent of the National Institute for Education (NIE), which trains teachers for primary and secondary schools plus junior colleges.
Lee, explaining the importance of upgrading the profession, said preschool teachers “make all the difference to our children”.
With the institute, they can go through the same rigorous training as school teachers employed by the MOE.
School teachers attend the NIE