Priority Admission to Co-located Primary Schools for Students in MOE Kindergartens

7 Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng asked the Minister for Education (Schools) (a) what is the rationale for priority admission to co-located primary schools for students in MOE Kindergartens; and (b) what are the responses of parents and other preschools to this policy announcement.

8 Mr Zainal Sapari asked the Minister for Education (Schools) (a) what is the number of Primary schools with MOE Kindergartens; (b) how many MOE Kindergartens will be located in the popular primary schools which have balloting in the last three years for Primary 1 registration; and (c) whether the priority admission for pupils of MOE Kindergartens that are co-located with the primary schools use the procedures and rules as the Primary 1 registration exercise.

The Minister for Education (Schools) (Mr Ng Chee Meng): Mr Deputy Speaker, may I have your permission to take Question Nos 7 and 8 together?

Mr Deputy Speaker: Yes, please.

Mr Ng Chee Meng: The Ministry of Education (MOE) is committed to ensure that every child has a strong start and can access affordable and quality education. We piloted the MOE Kindergartens (MKs) with this in mind, and the take-up rate and reception of parents have been positive.

In reviewing the pilot, MOE found that there are developmental benefits to young children when they remain in a familiar physical, social and educational environment. In addition, we have received feedback from parents who said that they hoped that the number of "transitions" can be reduced. As MKs cater to Kindergarten 1 (K1) and Kindergarten 2 (K2) children, MK children typically transit twice in their early childhood: first, from nursery to MK; and second, from MK to the primary school. From the MK pilot experience, school-based MKs have greater synergies with primary schools which, in turn, better support the children's transition from K2 to Primary 1. Hence, MOE has assessed that it is timely to facilitate a smoother transition of MK children to the primary school that the MK is located within.

This is why we introduced the Phase 2A2 eligibility for MK children as a pilot scheme. This means that MK children will be eligible to register under Phase 2A2 for admission to the primary school that the MK is located within, during the Primary 1 school Registration Exercise, like other Phase 2A2 eligible children, under the same procedures and rules of the Primary 1 Registration Framework.

To serve a larger proportion of Singaporean children, MOE will increase the number of MKs to 50 by 2023. All the new MKs will be located within primary schools. The new MKs will generally be located in estates where there is a higher demand for preschool places and the schools they will be located within are likely to be Government schools. It is too early to say if these schools will ballot in which phase of future Primary 1 Registration Exercises, or whether, indeed, they will face balloting at all. Regardless, MOE ensures that there are sufficient school places on a regional basis so that no child will have to travel long distances to his or her primary school.

Many parents have welcomed MOE's plan to expand the number of MKs, as well as the introduction of the Phase 2A2 admission eligibility. At the same time, some parents have expressed concerns that the admissions eligibility for MK children may bring the stress of primary school admission upstream to the kindergarten years. We are mindful of this and have put in place measures to mitigate it.

We have deliberately calibrated the admission eligibility to be at Phase 2A2, which is below that for younger siblings of students already in the school, which is Phase 1 and children of alumni members in Phase 2A1.

The planned K1 intake for the MKs will be significantly below that of the planned Primary 1 intake of the primary school that the MK is located within, so that there will be sufficient access for children who are not from the MK at the Primary 1 Registration Exercise.

In addition, at least a minimum of 40 places will always be reserved for Phases 2B and 2C at every primary school, to ensure open access to the school.

Some preschool operators have expressed concerns that the admission eligibility for MK children would make their preschools less attractive. But given the growing demand for preschool services, the Government's foremost objective is to ensure that parents have access to quality and affordable preschools for their children, and MKs are part of this strategy, with one-third of MK places reserved for Singaporean children from households with a gross monthly income of $3,500 and below, living within one kilometre of the MK.

Nevertheless, at 50 MKs, MKs will only make up about 20% of the preschool landscape, which means that parents will still have sufficient choice and good preschools that are able to provide quality services that meet the needs and preferences of families will continue to play an important role in this sector. When selecting a preschool for their children, parents consider factors, such as the quality of the programmes and teachers, location and the service model. For example, some parents may prefer their children to be in the same child care centre from their infant years all the way till K2. Hence, we hope that all preschool operators will continue to invest in uplifting quality and to evolve their services to cater to the different needs and preferences of parents.

The introduction of Phase 2A2 admission eligibility for MK children is a pilot scheme. MOE will continually monitor demand and the needs of parents, take in feedback and assess how well the admission eligibility is working in achieving the outcomes. It will be sometime before we will have 50 MKs and we hope to draw on the experience of operating these MKs to do proper refining and review. If necessary, we will always do these refinements as part of our continuing journey to improve the education system.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Ms Denise Phua.

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng (Jalan Besar): I would like to thank the Minister for his comprehensive answer. I would like to seek clarity from the Minister on the vision of MOE's role in the early childhood education sector. MOE has initially entered this space with these MKs as a pilot to uplift the quality and raise the bar of preschool education in Singapore. I would like to ask if MOE is still doing a pilot with 50 kindergartens or is it now one of the key operators in this space. If so, how does it intend to level the playing field, especially for the preferred operators it has appointed, with MOE having a structural advantage, for example, in being able to implement policies of priority admission of children into co-located primary schools. So, I would like to ask what the vision is.

Secondly, coming back to the original objective of these pilot MKs, as a subject matter expert in this space, how does MOE intend to, and how has it so far been helping the other preschools in uplifting the quality of preschool education so that every child, indeed, whether in MKs or non-MKs, has access to quality education and quality preschool options?

Mr Ng Chee Meng: The MKs are going to be expanded to 50. So, we are finished very much with the initial piloting of the 15 MKs. The areas where we have developed appropriate teaching or learning resources, we have started to share with the general early childhood sector. Since 2016, we have made available some of the resources that we have found to be very useful in the children's learning. For example, the "Big Books". When we come to the teaching of languages, we use big books to tell stories to the children to captivate their interest and facilitate their learning both in English and the Mother Tongues.

We have also put into the Nurturing Early Learners Portal some of the best practices in the MKs to make them available online for the early childhood educators' community. Furthermore, MOE participates in various conferences that are organised by the Early Childhood Development Agency or other agencies to share the best practices in early childhood education.

For the question on a level playing field, MK and the Early Years Centre collaboration is a pilot scheme. So, we have finished with the MK pilot, but now we are looking into providing an added option for parents, where they may be looking for a MK education for their children. So, we are looking to partner with some Anchor Operator Preschools (AOPs) to develop this partnering of childcare services from the early years. It may be two to four years old at the AOP childcare, and then to MK. This is an added option in the market.

Having said that, in totality, as I have said earlier, even when we are finished with the 50 MKs, it will be only 20% of the market. So, there is ample space for different operators to participate in this very important pre-school education sector.

But more importantly, from MOE's perspective, the level playing field is for the child. That is why, in all the different programmes that we put forward, as I have mentioned earlier, we ensure that it is affordable and easily accessible for children from lower-income families. Children who are from lower-income families have a reserved one-third of any MK slots. This promotes better social mobility and social mixing in our schools and this is very much the central objective in why we set up MKs as well.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Mr Zainal Sapari.

Mr Zainal Sapari (Pasir Ris-Punggol): I just need a clarification or assurance from the Minister that every MK child will be able to secure a place where the MK is located in.

Mr Ng Chee Meng: Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the Member for his question. It is too early to give such guarantees and probably impossible to give such guarantees. But what I can say is that, in the framing of the whole scheme, we have ensured that the number of places in Primary 1 is significantly more than the MK.

From data, we also see that parents do exercise choices other than progressing their children from the MK to the primary school.

So, with a combination of such factors, we think that the likelihood of an MK child progressing through Primary 1 of the same locality will be quite high, but I do not think that I can give a guarantee at this stage.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Mr Ang Wei Neng.

Mr Ang Wei Neng (Jurong): Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, we really welcome the introduction of MKs in Singapore. Are there primary schools that are co-located with MKs that have become more popular because of MKs? This is my first question.

The second question is: what is the timeframe to realise the 50 MKs in Singapore?

My third supplementary question is: if one or a few MKs become so popular that the demand outstrips the supply, then what will be the admission criteria for such popular MKs?

Mr Ng Chee Meng: Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the Member for his question, but from the acoustics, I could only make up some parts of it. Could the Member please repeat the earlier two questions?

Mr Ang Wei Neng: The first question is: are there primary schools with MKs that have become more popular because of MKs? If such primary schools become more popular because of MK, it is a good impact.

The second question is: what is the timeframe to realise the 50 MKs? MOE is increasing the number from 15 to 50, right? So, what is the timeframe to do so?

The third question is: when certain MKs become so popular where the demand outstrips supply, then what will be the admission criteria for such popular MKs?

Mr Ng Chee Meng: I thank the Member for his questions. We do not have the data because we just introduced the MK concept only a few years ago, and we did not monitor whether the primary schools have become more popular because of the MKs. There is a variety of factors, so I do not have the definitive answer to the first question.

On the second question, it will take us up to 2023 to realise the 50 MKs.

On the last question, there is already an MK admission framework that is published on the MOE website. The priorities are clearly listed. Should there be greater demand than supply, a fair and transparent balloting system will take place.