Additional 1,700 childcare places to be offered by 3Q 2014

SINGAPORE — From Jurong West to Punggol and Woodlands, 17 childcare-crunch estates will now see new preschools operated by anchor operators.

Announced by the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) today (April 4), this will offer an additional 1,700 childcare places by the third quarter of this year.

Existing anchor operators, PCF and NTUC First Campus, will have four more sites each. New anchor operators, MY World Preschool, Skool4Kidz and E-Bridge Pre-School will have 3 sites each. MY World will also have 11 of their existing centres converted to anchor operator centres.

ECDA said that the sites allocation are based on proximity to existing operations of the anchor operators to allow synergies with nearby centres and to help kick start operations more quickly. The three new anchor operators will also be allocated more sites based on their performance and plans.

In total, the anchor operators are expected to provide 16,000 more childcare places by 2017.

For more information on registration, the public can call the operators: My First Skool at 6509-7887, PAP Community Foundation at 6244-4780, MY World Preschool at 6839-8348, Skool4Kidz at 6342-5600, E-Bridge Pre-school at 6336-3322