AN EDUCATION services provider will be setting up six more student care centres in primary schools by the end of next year to meet growing demand for structured after-school programmes for children.

Cambridge Resources Singapore director Joanne Fernandez-Tang, whose company runs a centre at Sembawang Primary, said more schools and parents are seeing the benefits of having in-house centres which provide quality after-school programmes.

Pupils do not need to travel to the centre. They also get help to improve their grades as the centre's programme is aligned with the school curriculum.

Demand is so great that she plans to open such care centres in 20 primary schools over the next four years.

Most of the 342 student care centres in Singapore, a majority of which are run by private and voluntary work organisations, are housed not in schools but in HDB estates and community centres.

The idea of setting up more student care centres in schools came up at the recent primary education review focus group session for primary school principals and vice-principals at the Ministry of Education (MOE) School Clusters Centre.

Some principals said plans for all primary schools to go single-session in the future will free up physical space for schools to have student care centres on campus.