Supply and Demand for After-school Care Facilities and Quality Yardstick to Assess Student Care Centre Operators
Ministry of Social and Family DevelopmentSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns the capacity, affordability, and quality standards of Student Care Centres (SCCs), as raised by Mr Ang Hin Kee. Minister Desmond Lee responded that current capacity exceeds demand, with 42,000 places available across more than 400 registered centres. He shared that most parental feedback involves centre-specific issues like hygiene, while concerns over affordability and capacity account for only 5% and 6% of feedback respectively. The Ministry of Social and Family Development prescribes training guidelines for SCC staff and recommends specific courses to ensure safe, developmentally appropriate environments. Registered SCCs must meet stipulated operational standards and undergo Ministry audits, including surprise checks, at least once every two years to ensure compliance.
Transcript
41 Mr Ang Hin Kee asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) whether the current capacity of after-school care facilities is able to meet the demand; (b) what are the common reasons for appeal cases and feedback received from parents; (c) what is the breakdown in numbers regarding parents' feedback on affordability, capacity and services offered by Student Care Centres (SCCs); (d) whether the Ministry prescribes skill sets required of SCC personnel; and (e) whether there is a quality yardstick used to assess SCC operators.
Mr Desmond Lee: There are more than 400 Student Care Centres (SCCs) registered with the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) to administer the Student Care Fee Assistance (SCFA) scheme under ComCare. These registered SCCs provide around 42,000 student care places, with some 32,000 children enrolled in them. While actual demand varies across areas, enrolment is below capacity in all towns. Besides these registered SCCs, there are also other centres providing student care services that are not registered as SCFA administrators.
Of the appeals and feedback received from parents relating to SCC, about half (43%) concern particular SCC specific issues, such as hygiene and child management. About 5% of feedback relates to affordability and 6% relates to capacity. The remaining feedback covers a range of issues from the enrolment process to the requirements imposed on registered SCCs.
MSF provides guidelines to registered SCCs on recommended educational qualifications and training for their supervisors and staff. For example, MSF recommends the Workforce Skills Qualifications Introductory Student Care Centre Course, conducted by Ngee Ann Polytechnic, for new SCC staff. This course trains SCC staff to provide a safe, challenging, positive and developmentally appropriate physical environment for SCC students.
All registered SCCs are required to meet stipulated standards in the areas of supervision, physical environment, operating hours, safety, health and hygiene, and provide a structured daily programme. MSF conducts audits on registered SCCs, which may include surprise checks, at least once every two years to ensure compliance. More frequent checks may be conducted as needed, for example, to look into feedback and complaints received, and where the SCC has weaknesses identified in previous audits.