Factors to Determine Number of Lactation Rooms in Institutes of Higher Learning

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Education (a) whether the number of lactation rooms in autonomous universities, polytechnics and the Institutes of Technical Education campuses are based on the size of the campuses; and (b) if so, what is the average area of the campus in square metres that is served by one lactation room.

The Minister of State for Education (Ms Gan Siow Huang) (for the Minister for Education): Mr Speaker, autonomous universities, polytechnics and the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) are equipped with multiple lactation rooms across their campuses. Beyond taking into account the size of the campus, the Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) also consider other factors when setting up the lactation rooms. These include the general age profile of their workforce and also the relative accessibility of lactation rooms from the staff workspaces.

Mr Speaker: Mr Ng.

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang (Nee Soon): Thank you, Sir. I thank Minister of State for the reply. Could I just have two clarifications? One, what is the average number of lactation rooms, in terms of per university, per polytechnic and ITE, respectively? Second, I think that there really is a time concern when it comes to the teachers because unlike other workers, they cannot pump while they are teaching. So, there is a request for more lactation rooms because they really cannot queue for these facilities.

Ms Gan Siow Huang: Mr Speaker, I thank Mr Louis Ng for showing a lot of interest and support for nursing mothers who are working in our IHLs.

As mentioned in my earlier reply, each IHL provides more than one lactation room to account for the larger campus sizes. But it is also not meaningful to compare the average campus area served by each lactation room, as different campus buildings serve different functions. For example, some of our IHL campuses have very large sporting facilities and the crux of the matter is that the proximity and accessibility of the lactation rooms to the workspaces will be more important than counting the average number of lactation rooms per campus.