Reasons Why Some Precincts Are Faced With Insufficient Supply of Preschools
Ministry of Social and Family DevelopmentSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns Dr Tan Wu Meng’s inquiry into the reasons for preschool shortages in specific precincts and the government's efforts to assist affected parents. Minister for Social and Family Development Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M stated that while national supply is sufficient, localized demand occasionally exceeds supply in a small number of districts. To mitigate this, the Early Childhood Development Agency works with the Housing and Development Board to activate void decks and communal spaces for new centers. The Ministry also redeploys manpower to high-demand areas and advises parents to consider preschools near their workplaces, grandparents' homes, or in adjacent neighborhoods. Additionally, a new preschool search tool on LifeSG has been introduced to help parents identify available vacancies and contact centers directly for enrollment.
Transcript
23 Dr Tan Wu Meng asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) whether the Ministry has studied the reasons why some precincts face an insufficient supply of preschools especially when a preschool was planned for the precinct earlier during the Housing and Development Board Build-to-Order (HDB BTO) construction phase; and (b) how are Government agencies helping parents in such situations.
Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) plans for preschool places to meet projected demand, based on the demographics, projected resident birth cohort, enrolment trends and existing supply in each Planning Area. From 2018 to 2023, we have added more than 40,000 full-day preschool places, or about a 25% increase. Today, there are over 200,000 full-day preschool places, which is more than sufficient to meet demand at both the national and Planning Area levels.
Nevertheless, demand can exceed supply at the district level due to varying parent preferences. This occurs only in a very small number of districts. In such areas, ECDA works with the Housing and Development Board (HDB) and existing operators to activate available void deck and communal spaces for centre additions and extensions, where feasible. ECDA also works with operators to redeploy manpower to preschools in these areas.
Where parents have an urgent need for preschool, we encourage them to broaden their choice of preschools where possible, such as by considering preschools with available vacancies in adjacent neighbourhoods, near parents' workplaces or in the vicinity of grandparents' homes. To support parents in their search, ECDA has designed a new preschool search on LifeSG, which allows parents to look for centres with available vacancies and contact preschools directly on enrolment.