New scheme to improve quality, reduce fees of pre-school centres

SINGAPORE — As part of the drive to keep childcare affordable, the Government will introduce a new Partner Operator (POP) scheme, which will require childcare operators on the scheme to commit to quality improvements and keep fees within reach of more households.

Details of the scheme will be revealed by Social and Family Development Minister Chan Chun Sing at the Committee of Supply debate next month, but the aim is to allow parents to benefit from lower fees than what potential partner operators currently charge, while securing higher quality care for their children.

For example, a child currently pays S$500 after subsidies if he is from a median-income household and enrolled at a centre with a median monthly fee of S$900. Should the centre join the POP scheme, the family will pay about S$100 less and can look forward to “quality improvements”.

The new scheme will complement the existing Anchor Operator (AOP) scheme, where anchor operators are given grants by the authorities to lower their operating costs. In return, they are expected to provide quality and affordable pre-school places.

“Through a combination of the AOP scheme and the new POP schemes, we aim for about 50 per cent of pre-school children to benefit from enhanced government support for more affordable and quality pre-school by 2020,” said Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who announced these changes in his Budget Statement delivered in Parliament yesterday. The changes will cost an estimated S$250 million over five years, he added.

At present, there are five anchor operators following the expansion of the AOP scheme in January last year. These are MY World Preschool, Skool4Kidz, E-bridge Pre-school, NTUC My First Skool and PAP Community Foundation (PCF). The AOP scheme accounts for a third of the pre-school sector, including both childcare and kindergartens.

Childcare operators TODAY spoke to welcomed the move to make childcare more affordable. PCF chief executive officer Tay Swee Yee felt the new scheme would be more encompassing and provide support for the smaller operators who may not have been able to meet the criteria of the AOP scheme.

“It is good because they are trying to make pre-schools affordable and I think they are holding them to some quality targets,” he added.

Asked about possible competition, Mr Tay said PCF and potential operators under the new scheme could target different income groups.

Ms Margaret Chua, the executive director of Bethel Community Services, which runs three pre-school centres here, noted there are parents who do not enrol their children into AOP-run centres even though they are less expensive, as they think the care is of lower quality. A scheme that could bring about lower fees at more centres would help parents, she said.

Dr Khoo Kim Choo, an early childhood expert and the founder of Preschool for Multiple Intelligences, said the new scheme would offer middle-income families more choices at a rate they can afford.

Founder of Nurture Education Group Julie Koh said the new scheme could help selected operators provide affordable quality education despite rising costs, and expressed interest in joining.

READ THE FULL BUDGET STATEMENT HERE

Other documents on Budget 2015 available on the Budget 2015 website.