Proportion of Kindergartens Operated by Private Providers and Autonomous Operators Offering Before and After-school Care
Ministry of Social and Family DevelopmentSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns the proportion of private and autonomous kindergartens offering before and after-school care (BASC) and whether regulatory impediments exist for such services. Minister for Social and Family Development Desmond Lee stated that kindergartens are licensed only for half-day education and must be licensed as childcare centres to provide care for pre-schoolers. He noted that pre-schools can offer BASC for children aged seven to 14 with approval, provided services use separate spaces and enrolment stays within 10% of total capacity. Currently, no kindergartens have applied to run BASC during operating hours, though some provide these services after hours or off-site. Three private operators are presently registered with the Ministry to offer BASC and administer the Student Care Fee Assistance Scheme while meeting stipulated safety and supervision standards.
Transcript
16 Mr Leon Perera asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) what is the proportion of kindergartens operated by private providers and autonomous operators offering before and after-school care; and (b) whether there are any regulatory impediments for private kindergarten operators offering before and after-school care programmes.
Mr Desmond Lee: Under the Early Childhood Development Centres Act, kindergartens are licensed to provide half-day education programmes of six hours or less per session. As the provision requirements for kindergartens are for half-day education services only, kindergartens cannot provide care services for pre-school-aged children. Nevertheless, centres that wish to provide such before or after preschool care services can do so if they are licensed as childcare centres instead.
Subject to the Early Childhood Development Agency’s (ECDA) approval, pre-schools may provide before and after school care (BASC) services during their operating hours for older children aged seven to below 14 years. This is mainly to cater to working parents who require after-school care support for their Primary-school going children, including those who may have siblings attending the pre-school where the BASC services are provided. The BASC programme must be run in a separate space from the preschool programme, and centres can enrol children only up to 10% of the centre’s accommodation capacity. The centre must adhere to stipulated safety, health, hygiene and supervision standards, to ensure the well-being of the children. To date, ECDA has not received any applications from kindergartens to run BASC services during their operating hours.
Kindergarten operators may also offer BASC services for older children after the kindergarten's operating hours or outside the kindergarten premises. There are currently three private kindergarten operators which provide such services and are registered with MSF to also administer the Student Care Fee Assistance Scheme. Such registered student care centres are required to meet stipulated standards in areas of supervision, physical environment, operating hours, safety, health and hygiene, and provide a structured daily programme.