3 new anchor operators set to provide 8,000 more childcare places

SINGAPORE — Three new anchor operators were appointed yesterday by the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA), including two private industry players which will be operating a for-profit model.

This marks the first time the Government will subsidise commercial operators under the Anchor Operator Scheme that was started in 2009.

The three — MY World Preschool operated by voluntary welfare organisation Metropolitan YMCA, Skool4Kidz which will be run by a consortium led by Kinderland, and EtonHouse International’s E-bridge Pre-school — are expected to provide at least 8,000 more childcare places over the next few years. The Government has pledged to add 20,000 childcare places by 2017. Among these, the existing anchor operators — NTUC My First Skool and PAP Community Foundation — are expected to provide about 8,000 more places, while the remainder will be provided by non-anchor operators.

The new anchor operators — which were appointed for a five-year term — were selected out of 16 applicants, following a call for proposals that was issued in June last year.

With more anchor operators on board, the Government can better serve the needs of our children and families, said Minister for Social and Family Development Chan Chun Sing. “The fees will be affordable to parents as the anchor operators must keep to programme fee caps. The operators have also committed to help children from lower income or disadvantaged backgrounds through corporate social responsibility programmes.”

The operators were selected based on their ability to provide quality, affordable and accessible early childhood programmes.

Speaking at a press conference, Mr Chan added that the operators’ commitment to develop pre-school teachers and adopt a higher social mission to cater to children from disadvantaged families were also considered during the evaluation process.

“If (for-profit operators) can provide such services to Singaporean and Singapore families, then I think we should not rule them out. We also look forward to having innovative ideas from a diverse set of operators,” said Mr Chan.

Noting that commercial operators would have to set up separate accounts to manage the pre-schools under the Anchor Operator Scheme, Mr Chan reiterated that strict financial regulations are in place to govern the anchor operators. ECDA can access the operators’ financial records. The agency will also monitor the operators’ transactions, said ECDA chief executive Lee Tung Jean.

On how they will operate a for-profit model while charging lower fees, the two new commercial anchor operators did not go into details of their business models.

Nevertheless, Skool4Kidz Director Jane Ching-Kwan said the chain plans to tap funds from Kinderland during its first three years of operations. Thereafter, she hoped that the business will be self-sustainable as the number of centres increase.

EtonHouse Group Managing Director Ng Gim Choo said her new chain will operate a sustainable business model, while noting that the Government subsidies and grants would help offset operational costs.

Since the anchor operator scheme was started, a total of S$69 million has been disbursed to the two existing anchor operators to offset their operating costs. In return for the Government grants, the anchor operators must provide affordable pre-school places, with school fees capped at S$720 for a full-day childcare programme and S$160 for kindergartens.

Last year, the Government pledged to invest another S$3 billion in the pre-school sector. It then announced that it was increasing the number of anchor operators and revised the eligibility criteria to allow commercial and locally-owned religious organisations to apply for the scheme.

Under its call for proposals, the Government did not stipulate the number of new anchor operators that it would select.

Those selected to become anchor operators will have to fulfil key performance indicators. At the end of their five-year term, the ECDA may decide to endorse these operators’ leases for another three years.

Mr Chan said the Government hopes that some of the anchor operators’ best practices can be shared across the sector. For example, the new anchor operators will pilot innovative manpower practices such as calling on parents to provide part-time assistance, he noted.

Correction: The original article stated that one of the AOPs is My World Preschool operated by voluntary welfare organisation Metropolitan YMCA. This is incorrect. It should be MY World Preschool operated by voluntary welfare organisation Metropolitan YMCA. We apologise for the error. This article was edited at 9.40am on Jan 28, 2014.