Staff-child Ratio for Childcare and Infant Care Service Centres

Sir, the present infant-staff-child ratio is a minimum standard specified under the Child Care Centres Act. In practice, various childcare centres have adopted better staff-infant ratios and employed para-personnel to provide better supervision and support for the infant educarers. This is a more flexible approach in light of the limited supply of infant educarers. Raising the minimum licensing requirements would inevitably raise manpower costs. This, in turn, could deter centres from providing the needed infant care services, or to raise their fees.

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We will continue to ensure that good standards of care and supervision are provided for infants in childcare centres. The Ministry conducts regular visits to centres to ensure that developmentally appropriate practices and standards are in place. We would also advise centres to regularly review their staffing requirements where required. At the same time, we have embarked on initiatives to increase the supply of trained infant carers.

Sir, I thank the Acting Minister. I have two brief supplementary questions. The first one is, with a need to strengthen our childcare infrastructure to encourage family formation, would the Ministry in the medium term have plans to bring down the staff-child ratio for infant care? Number two, like what MSF has put up in its website – quite comprehensive information about the various childcare operators – would the Ministry have the bandwidth to put up at least the details of the staff-child ratio for infant care operators, so that parents can make an informed decision?

Sir, the answer to the first question is, yes, we are regularly reviewing the infant-to-staff ratios. We would make this information available as and when the various centres make it available to us.

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