S’pore to recruit 1,800 more infant care educators; pre-schools’ hiring grant expanded to meet demand

SINGAPORE – By 2030, Singapore will hire 1,800 more infant care educators to meet the expected rising demand for infant care as services become more affordable for families.

A hiring grant for pre-school operators will also be expanded to help them recruit more of such educators, Senior Minister of State for Social and Family Development Goh Pei Ming said on Aug 28.

He was speaking to the media on the sidelines of a Teachers’ Day celebration at E-Bridge Pre-School @ Sumang Lane.

From September, the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) will expand the Manpower Hiring Grant (MHG), which provides funding support for eligible local and foreign trainees who enrol in early childhood courses in Singapore. While they study, they are hired by an employer and receive training for the job.

With the expanded grant, training stipends will be extended to a wider range of infant care certifications, including the Assistant Infant Educator and Fundamentals Certificate in Infant Care courses.

The grant’s maximum funding for training stipends will also rise from the current 60 per cent to 70 per cent, said an ECDA spokesperson.

Funding support under the MHG, which also provides up to half of course fee subsidies, will also be extended by three years to Dec 31, 2030. The previous application window for MHG was until the end of 2027.

Goh said infant care is “much more than routine care”, and such educators create environments where infants can grow and develop holistically.

“They are trained to be responsive to each child’s needs and build warm, respectful and trusting relationships with our young ones. We want to support both aspiring and existing educators to gain these skills needed for infant care,” said Goh.

ECDA’s moves come after a suite of measures to boost support for families was announced by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong at the National Day Rally on Aug 23.

Fees at government-supported pre-schools are set to drop by more than half by 2030, with monthly prices for full-day childcare cut to $150 a month and infant care to $300.

The network of government-supported pre-school operators will also be expanded, so more families can access these affordable services nearer their homes.

As infant care becomes more affordable and accessible, demand for infant care places is expected to rise. The infant educator workforce needs to expand to meet this growth, said ECDA.

In response to queries, the agency said it will also explore overseas partnerships if needed to broaden the pool of suitable candidates, potentially with countries such as China, Malaysia, Philippines and Myanmar. This is alongside efforts to attract, develop and retain locals in the sector.

It also plans to draw manpower from the current pool of pre-school educators. More than 2,000 educators have qualifications for both infant care and other pre-school roles, and only 4 per cent of them are infant educators.

ECDA is exploring additional support to encourage these educators to join infant care, and said more details will be shared later.

Goh also announced that ECDA will introduce a new grant to help eligible pre-school operators that wish to join the government-supported partner operator network.

Details of the grant are still being worked through, said ECDA, which is engaging the sector to develop a solution to support operators in making this transition.

“Not all private operators will come on board, but we hope to involve a good number of them,” said Goh about the network-related grant. ECDA said more details will be announced later in 2026.

There are currently 33 partner operators that run 380 pre-schools, which receive government funding support and offer lower fees to families.

Recruitment challenges

The early childhood sector has long faced a manpower crunch, and ECDA has in recent years raised salaries and taken steps to guide educators in charting out their career progression.

E-Bridge Pre-School’s chief executive Lim Tien Hock said the work of infant care educators is “onerous” and “highly specialised”. It involves hands-on care for young infants and helping them to meet developmental milestones.

“Manpower recruitment is always a challenge. But within that challenge, we do our best,” said Lim, adding that the expanded MHG would give them another avenue for recruitment.

They now have 300 such educators, 80 per cent of whom are locals, said E-Bridge Pre-School’s director for human resources Vivian Lee.

To attract more people, the operator offers a $10,000 joining bonus for infant care educators. It also started using the MHG in 2024 and has since hired 44 infant care educators under the scheme.

One of them is Liyana Mohd Razali, 34, who made a mid-career switch from the civil service to becoming an infant care educator in 2025. The mother of four children aged three to eight had wanted to find a new job, as she could not handle shifts at her previous job alongside parenting responsibilities.

She worked at E-Bridge Pre-School @ Sumang Lane – which was near her home – while enrolled in a five-month course for a Higher Certificate in Infant Care. Her course fees were fully paid for by the pre-school operator and government subsidies under the MHG.

The grant eased her financial burdens while transiting to the new role, said Liyana, who had taken two years of no-pay leave to care for her children before she re-entered the workforce.

As an infant care educator, she cares for babies aged two to 18 months old. The work can feel overwhelming when several infants need attention at once, but there are also fulfilling moments like witnessing them take their first step or say their first word, she said.

The centre has a ratio of one educator to five infants. Work gets tiring when one teacher goes on leave or falls sick, said Liyana, who hopes new colleagues will join their ranks.

“The more the better,” she said.