SINGAPORE - Parents will have a bigger selection of quality kindergartens at affordable rates to pick from, with eight more Ministry of Education (MOE) kindergartens opening across the island in 2022.

Located inside primary schools and offering both kindergarten and full daycare services, the eight will bring the total number of MOE kindergartens here to 43, providing some 5,800 places.

The eight new kindergartens are: MOE Kindergarten @Sembawang, MOE Kindergarten @North View, MOE Kindergarten @Jurong West, MOE Kindergarten @New Primary School along Tampines North Drive (more details to be provided), MOE Kindergarten @Gongshang, MOE Kindergarten @Junyuan, MOE Kindergarten @Jing Shan and MOE Kindergarten @Ang Mo Kio.

MOE kindergartens were first set up in 2014 to provide affordable pre-school education and raise the quality of early childhood practices in the diverse pre-school scene here.

The monthly fee for a four-hour MOE kindergarten programme in 2019 and 2020 is $160 for Singaporean children and $320 for permanent residents.

Financial assistance in the form of a monthly fee subsidy is provided to all Singaporean children who meet the income criteria. For example, a child from a family with a gross monthly income of $2,500 and below will only have to pay a monthly fee of $1.60, after the subsidy.

Top priority for admissions goes to Singaporean children from lower-income households living within a kilometre of the MOE kindergarten.

One of the eight announced on Thursday (May 30) - MOE Kindergarten @Gongshang - will replace the current MOE Kindergarten @Tampines, which is located at a void deck.

The new MOE kindergartens will also collaborate with the Early Years Centres, operated by PCF Sparkletots for children aged between two months and four years.

Under the scheme, Nursery 2 children in these centres who are Singaporeans or permanent residents will be guaranteed a place in a nearby MOE kindergarten in the year that the child turns five.

There will still be places for children who do not come from Early Years Centres, the ministry said.

Registration for admission to K1 in 2022 for the eight new kindergartens will take place in 2021. The registration exercise will be open to Singaporean and permanent resident children born between Jan 2, 2017, and Jan 1, 2018.

More details of the exercise will be released in 2021.