NTUC's Seed Institute, which trains early childhood educators, on Thursday became the first Continuing Education and Training (CET) centre in the early childhood sector to attain the National CET Institute (NCI) status.

The NCI status is conferred by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency to CET centres which demonstrate the highest quality training for workers. NTUC's Seed Institute is the fourth of 46 CET centres to attain the NCI status since 2009. The other three are in the food and beverage, retail, and tourism industries.

"This achievement... will spur us to do even more, to bring the early childhood sector to even greater heights," said Seed Institute academic director Ho Yin Fong at an event on Thursday.

It was also announced on Thursday that Seed Institute will roll out a new Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) training course in early May. This new course is aimed at educators who work with children aged two months to three years.