SINGAPORE — Five-year-old Cheryl started pre-school only this year in Kindergarten One as her father could not afford to enrol her in nursery. This has left odd-job labourer Tan Chih Lian, 34, worried that his daughter would not be able to catch up with her peers, who started pre-school about a year earlier.

To help kindergarten pupils, such as Cheryl, who are from low-income families, the North West Community Development Council (CDC) yesterday launched an initiative to prepare them for primary school. Targeted at children between the ages of five and seven, the initiative will provide each family with book and stationery vouchers worth a total of S$100 and a supermarket voucher worth S$50.

The district-wide scheme kicked off in Nee Soon constituency and beneficiaries from Bukit Panjang, Sembawang and Holland-Bukit Timah will also be involved in coming weeks. There are a total of 1,200 recipients in the North West District.

Law and Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, who was the guest-of-honour, applauded the move to bring the community together through donations and volunteering.

Commenting on recent calls for a poverty line to be set, Mr Shanmugam said people’s needs have to be considered.

“You need to look at what people’s needs are — some can be earning more and, still, based on specific assessment of their needs, we might give them assistance,” he said.

He also noted that the event was an example of “the many different types of help that have been given without actually drawing a line”.

Mr Shanmugam’s comments come after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong weighed in on the debate on Nov 16.

Mr Lee said the focus should be on helping different groups of people with varying needs, instead of having a precise definition of poverty, which could polarise those who end up just beyond the line.

For Mr Tan, he plans to use the bursary to stock up on books for his daughter and younger son.

“I hope to be able to buy some storybooks, so Cheryl can pick up languages and communicate better,” he said.