Planning for Childcare Centres within a Constituency and Ensuring Adequacy of Childcare Places

Mr Don Wee asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) what are the planning parameters for building childcare centres within a constituency; (b) what measures are in place to ensure sufficient childcare places in new estates; and (c) what assistance is available to parents who are unable to enrol their children at childcare centres near their homes.

ECDA closely monitors the current and projected demand for child care across Planning Areas and housing precincts in Singapore, taking into consideration factors such as population size, demographics, enrolment trends, and existing preschool supply. To meet the child care needs of young families, ECDA then works closely with agencies such as HDB, to develop new preschools in tandem with new public housing developments; and URA, to set aside space for preschools in private housing developments through the Government Land Sales programme. Where additional capacity is required to meet demand, ECDA also facilitates the development of preschools in community and commercial premises, as well as in vacant state land.

The national supply of infant and child care places has increased significantly by almost 50% since 2015 to 180,000 places, to meet rising demand. Of the new preschool places added, many are in areas with more young families. For example, in the two newer planning areas, Punggol and Sengkang, there has been a 90% increase in the number of infant and child care places since 2015. The Government remains committed to ensuring that every child who needs a preschool place will be able to have one. ECDA will develop another 20,000 new infant and child care places by 2023, mainly in planning areas with upcoming HDB developments for new families.

To help parents find a preschool place, in 2019, ECDA launched the Preschool Search Portal (PSP) – an online self-help search portal which allows parents to search for preschools based on proximity, vacancy and quality, and indicate their interest to their preferred preschools. ECDA has also made the PSP accessible via the LifeSG app. For families who remain unable to find preschool places via these channels, they can approach ECDA which will try to facilitate placements as far as possible in centres with vacancies.