Parents will have more quality kindergartens at affordable rates to choose from, as an additional eight Ministry of Education (MOE) kindergartens are 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 MOE kindergartens are MOE Kindergarten (MK) @New Primary School along Tampines North Drive, MK @ Ang Mo Kio, MK @ Sembawang, MK @ North View, MK @ Jurong West, MK @ Gongshang, MK @ Junyuan and MK @ Jing Shan.
MOE kindergartens were first set up in 2014 to provide affordable early childhood education and raise the quality of a diverse pre-school sector in Singapore.
The monthly fee for a four-hour MOE kindergarten programme this year and next 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 have to pay a monthly fee of only $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 yesterday - MK @ Gongshang - will replace the current MK @ 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, children in Nursery 2 at these centres, who are Singaporeans or permanent residents, will be guaranteed a place in a nearby MOE kindergarten when 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 Kindergarten 1 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 last year.
More details of the exercise will be released in 2021.
