Number of Infant and Childcare Places and Number of Citizens Born in Last Five Years
Ministry of Social and Family DevelopmentSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns Ms He Ting Ru’s inquiry regarding the number of infant and childcare places and citizen births over the last five years across URA planning areas. Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli B M M reported that national supply has grown 50% since 2015 to 180,000 places, comprising 10,200 infant and 169,800 childcare spots. While approximately 165,000 citizens were born in this period, national capacity remains sufficient with enrollment rates at 73% for childcare and 66% for infant care. Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli B M M noted that localized waitlists persist due to location preferences despite major supply increases in areas like Punggol and Sengkang. To ensure continued access, the Early Childhood Development Agency will add 20,000 more places by 2023, primarily in planning areas with upcoming housing developments.
Transcript
40 Ms He Ting Ru asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) what is the number of infant and childcare places currently available in Singapore, broken down by URA planning areas; and (b) how many Singapore citizens were born in Singapore over the last five years, broken down by URA planning areas.
Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: To meet the preschool needs of young families, Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) regularly projects demand across regions in Singapore, taking into consideration factors such as population size, demographics and enrolment trends. Families’ decisions on where to live, which affect projections, can also change over time and need to be continually reviewed. ECDA then works closely with agencies such as HDB, to develop new preschools in tandem with new housing developments, and URA, to set aside space for preschools through the Government Land Sales programme.
Nationally, the supply of infant and childcare places has increased significantly by almost 50% since 2015 to 180,000 places, to meet rising demand. Of this, 10,200 are infant care and 169,800 are childcare places. Of the new preschool places added, many are in areas with more young families. For example, in the two newer planning areas, Punggol and Sengkang, there has been a 90% increase in the number of infant and childcare places since 2015.
Over the past five years, there was an average of about 33,000 Singaporean citizen births annually. Even if we assumed that every one of these 165,000 children born over the past five years attends a full-day preschool, there is sufficient capacity nationally to meet their needs. Surveys have shown that most parents still prefer for their infants to be cared for at home by family, rather than opt for infant care services. Nationally, about 73% of childcare places have been taken up by enrolled children. The enrolment rate for infant care places is lower at 66% of available supply. Even for the newer planning areas such as Punggol and Sengkang, the infant care enrolment rate is about 61%.
While the overall situation shows ample supply, there remain pockets with waitlists. This could be due to several factors. Examples include, location mismatches and parents increasingly wanting preschool places closer to their homes. While we are building new preschool places closer to families, it is not always possible for all families to have a preschool at the same block or within a few blocks of their homes, due to space constraints.
The Government remains committed to ensuring that every child who needs a preschool place will be able to have one. ECDA will develop another 20,000 new infant and childcare places by 2023, mainly in planning areas with upcoming HDB developments for new families.