SINGAPORE - The new national institute for pre-school educators, the National Institute of Early Childhood Development (NIEC), will accept its first intake of students in 2019, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said on Wednesday (Aug 23).

It will be placed under the ambit of the National Institute of Education and will be led by Mrs Loke-Yeo Teck Yong, 50, who is currently MOE's divisional director of education services.

MOE said all NIEC courses will continue to be conducted at the Institute of Technical Education, Ngee Ann and Temasek polytechnics, and the Seed Institute.

These four training institutes will be grouped under the NIEC.

But students from the different locations will be brought together regularly, and the NIEC's greater scale will strengthen training in niche areas such as special education needs and mother tongue languages, said MOE.

NIEC will offer certificate and diploma-level training courses for post-secondary students. It will also offer continuing education and training courses for mid-career switchers and pre-school educators.

Professional development will also be enhanced by strengthening ties with the National Institute of Education's Centre for Research in Child Development.

More details on the NIEC will be released later.

A pro-tem board of directors will be set up by MOE to oversee the formation of the NIEC.

It will be chaired by MOE and include representatives from the National Institute of Education, Ngee Ann and Temasek polytechnics, Institute of Technical Education and Seed Institute.

The incoming NIEC director, Mrs Loke-Yeo, is a President's Scholar.

She led the setting up of the 15 existing MOE kindergartens and oversaw the development of teaching and learning resources under the MOE Kindergarten curriculum.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced at the National Day Rally on Sunday that MOE will run 50 kindergartens by 2023, more than three times its current 15.