Sengkang among 5 areas chosen for mega childcare centres

SINGAPORE — Five locations have been identified for the new mega child care centres — which can take 300 to 500 children each — that the Government is building to address the Republic’s child care woes. 

The sites are in Jurong West, Punggol, Sengkang, Woodlands and Yishun, which have a large number of young families. Four of these centres will be ready by the middle of next year while the fifth will be ready by the end of the year. 

The centres come on top of the 20,000 child care spaces the Government plans to provide by 2017 and will be run by Anchor Operators (AOPs) appointed by the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA).

Announcing this during a visit to the NTUC My First Skool centre at Jurong Point today (May 28), Minister for Social and Family Development Tan Chuan-Jin said these centres not only address the shortage of child care places Singaporean families are facing, but also present the Government with an opportunity to assess the feasibility of large-scale child care centres here.

“If this becomes quite successful and provides a different dimension to the childcare sector, I think we will be quite keen to explore how this large childcare centres can be more permanent in the future,” said Mr Tan.

The minister also pointed out how the children can benefit from larger centres. “It allows us to look at pooling facilities together, pooling expertise together, and when you have a larger facility, you also have varied corners where children can play and learn at the same time,” said Mr Tan.  

For example, a larger centre requires more teachers and these teachers might be trained in different languages and skills, which exposes the children to more skills, he said.

The monthly fees for these centres are capped at S$720 (before GST).

Beyond these centres, the Government will continue to look at alternative sites, such as the roofs of multi-story car parks. Already, one centre is opening next year at a HDB multi-storey carpark at Block 119 Edgefield Plains in Punggol.

There are currently five AOPs: NTUC My First Skool, PAP Community Foundation, MY World Preschool operated by voluntary welfare organisation Metropolitan YMCA, Skool4Kidz run by a consortium led by Kinderland, and EtonHouse International’s E-bridge Pre-school. When contacted, they expressed confidence that they were up to the task of managing these mega centres.

EtonHouse International Education Group Managing Director, Mrs Ng Gim Choo said: “The EtonHouse Group has experience running centres of similar scale in Singapore and China and have the necessary standard operating procedures in place,” said Mrs Ng. 

Should the group be appointed to run one of the centres, it will aim to attract passionate and qualified early childhood educators by offering a highly competitive remuneration package and a strong professional development programme. 

NTUC My First Skool general manager Adeline Tan said: “Bringing in good teachers has always been the biggest challenge. But over these years, we have been able to not only do so, but also put also put in the necessary training and mentorship to ensure that they can perform to a high standard.”

Mrs Irene Sng, the mother of two-and-a-half-year-old twins, welcomed the idea of larger centres as it could mean less competition when it comes to securing a placing for her children. 

“I was quite worried about finding them centres near my area (for them to go to). I heard of stories from my relatives, how hard it was for them to get their children into child cares,” said Mrs Sng, 31, who lives near Marsiling MRT station.