Government Investment in Pre-School Sector

Mr Yee Jenn Jong asked the Minister for Education (a) what is the breakdown of the proposed $290 million investment by the Ministry in the pre-school sector over the next five years in terms of (i) investment in facilities; (ii) manpower development; and (iii) other significant areas; and (b) what is the breakdown by recipient organisations of the earlier investment of $150 million in this preschool sector over the past five years.

Mr Heng Swee Keat: The proposed investment of $290 million will be used to raise the quality, accessibility and affordability of preschool education.

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We expect about two-thirds of the investment to be in enhancing teacher quality, through support for professional upgrading and development, and the attraction and retention of qualified candidates as kindergarten teachers.

The remaining one-third will go towards enhancing preschool programme quality, including through the Pre-school Innovation Grant and the Experimental Kindergarten at Temasek Polytechnic, and raising the quality of management, particularly in helping more kindergartens attain the standards in the Singapore Preschool Accreditation Framework (SPARK).

In the past five years, the focus of MOE's funding is to support not-for-profit kindergartens, which cater to all races and attract students from the lower and middle-income groups.