reporter2
08-04-14, 16:46
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/archive/saturday/premium/singapore/17-new-sites-pre-school-anchor-operators-20140405
Published April 05, 2014
17 new sites for pre-school anchor operators
By kara quek [email protected]
A TOTAL of 17 new sites have been allocated to the five pre-school operators under the Early Childhood Development Agency's (ECDA's) Anchor Operator Scheme.
The new sites will provide 1,700 more places for pre-schoolers, ECDA announced yesterday.
PAP Community Foundation (PCF) and NTUC First Campus' My First Skool have each been allocated four new sites, while the three operators appointed in January this year - Metropolitan YMCA's MY World Preschool, Etonhouse International's E-Bridge Pre-school, and Kinderland Consortium's Skool4Kidz - have three new sites each.
The sites are largely located in Punggol, Woodlands, Sengkang and Tampines. Other locations include Yishun, Pasir Ris and Boon Lay.
The locations were selected by identifying areas of high demand, through examining residents' demographics and gathering feedback from the ground. After discussions between ECDA and the anchor operators, the sites were allocated accordingly.
The new sites are expected to start operations in the third quarter of this year.
For the new anchor operators, the sites have been allocated near existing centres from the same operator, enabling them to begin operations more quickly.
"One (of the benefits of having centre clusters together) is . . . the cross-deployment of teachers for training or for personal development," said Minister for Family and Social Development Chan Chun Sing. "This is very important. When an operator is very small, they generally have less flexibility to redeploy or cross-deploy teachers to other centres for development or to go for training courses. So in the long term, I think this will be one benefit of having . . . clusters of centres that can share resources."
Phyllis Tan, CEO and executive director of MY World Preschool, said that they would definitely be stepping up recruitment efforts in response to the opening of new centres.
"Currently, we have about 170+ qualified educators, so we are ramping up to get enough to cover all the new centres that come up. Essentially, at least six to eight qualified educators for each one," she said.
The Anchor Operator Scheme was introduced in 2009, and opened to for-profit organisations for the first time last year. It was established to increase access to affordable, good-quality early childhood care and education. Schools under the scheme are required to keep their monthly fees below $720, in return for subsidised rent and a government grant that can be used for various purposes, such as hiring better-trained teachers.
To meet rising demand, anchor operators are expected to provide around 16,000 additional places for pre-school students between 2013 and 2017.
Published April 05, 2014
17 new sites for pre-school anchor operators
By kara quek [email protected]
A TOTAL of 17 new sites have been allocated to the five pre-school operators under the Early Childhood Development Agency's (ECDA's) Anchor Operator Scheme.
The new sites will provide 1,700 more places for pre-schoolers, ECDA announced yesterday.
PAP Community Foundation (PCF) and NTUC First Campus' My First Skool have each been allocated four new sites, while the three operators appointed in January this year - Metropolitan YMCA's MY World Preschool, Etonhouse International's E-Bridge Pre-school, and Kinderland Consortium's Skool4Kidz - have three new sites each.
The sites are largely located in Punggol, Woodlands, Sengkang and Tampines. Other locations include Yishun, Pasir Ris and Boon Lay.
The locations were selected by identifying areas of high demand, through examining residents' demographics and gathering feedback from the ground. After discussions between ECDA and the anchor operators, the sites were allocated accordingly.
The new sites are expected to start operations in the third quarter of this year.
For the new anchor operators, the sites have been allocated near existing centres from the same operator, enabling them to begin operations more quickly.
"One (of the benefits of having centre clusters together) is . . . the cross-deployment of teachers for training or for personal development," said Minister for Family and Social Development Chan Chun Sing. "This is very important. When an operator is very small, they generally have less flexibility to redeploy or cross-deploy teachers to other centres for development or to go for training courses. So in the long term, I think this will be one benefit of having . . . clusters of centres that can share resources."
Phyllis Tan, CEO and executive director of MY World Preschool, said that they would definitely be stepping up recruitment efforts in response to the opening of new centres.
"Currently, we have about 170+ qualified educators, so we are ramping up to get enough to cover all the new centres that come up. Essentially, at least six to eight qualified educators for each one," she said.
The Anchor Operator Scheme was introduced in 2009, and opened to for-profit organisations for the first time last year. It was established to increase access to affordable, good-quality early childhood care and education. Schools under the scheme are required to keep their monthly fees below $720, in return for subsidised rent and a government grant that can be used for various purposes, such as hiring better-trained teachers.
To meet rising demand, anchor operators are expected to provide around 16,000 additional places for pre-school students between 2013 and 2017.