SINGAPORE - A rebuilt PAP Community Foundation (PCF) Sparkletots centre in Joo Chiat will make early childhood education more accessible to those living in Marine Parade, said Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong on April 28.
Speaking to parents and teachers at the official launch of the new Sparkletots campus at 15 Lorong K Telok Kurau, Mr Tong announced a new bursary so that children from needy households in the region can get their best start on their educational journey.
“I think there is no other way of breaking the cycle of the less privileged, the lower income, and those that don’t have the opportunity, than through education,” said Mr Tong, who is also Second Minister for Law.
In the 2010s, Joo Chiat became Singapore’s first all-private property constituency after its last remaining Housing Board blocks were acquired under the Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme.
This meant that while the estate has a range of kindergartens, they are largely privately run, with monthly fees of between $800 and $3,000 before subsidies. For PCF Sparkletots @ Joo Chiat, monthly fees for citizens before subsidies range from $163.50 for kindergarten, to $741.20 for childcare.
The new bursary for Marine Parade GRC residents will hopefully encourage more lower-income families to send their children to pre-school, including to the newly expanded Sparkletots @ Joo Chiat, said Mr Tong, who is the MP for Joo Chiat ward in Marine Parade.
“There are also other factors (that affect enrolment) which include practical or logistical ones like transportation,” he added. “We will be studying to see how we can best support such families and help get their young children in pre-school.”
The idea to redevelop Sparkletots @ Joo Chiat came about in 2018, as the school premises were dated and the curriculum had not kept up, said Mr Tong.
More than $2 million was raised to tear down the more than 50-year-old building and to rebuild it from scratch. Meanwhile, the ageing lease was renegotiated with the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) and eventually came to include an adjacent parcel of land to expand the pre-school’s outdoor play area, said Mr Tong.
The new campus sits on a 1,928 square metre plot of land, compared with the previous 1,347 sq m, while its outdoor area has more than doubled to 820 sq m.
The larger outdoor space meant the school could launch an enhanced outdoor learning programme, run by the Character and Leadership Academy (CLA), which includes a mini obstacle course, nature trails and animal care.
Mr Tong hopes to bring this programme to other PCF Sparkletots kindergartens in Marine Parade.
While the new premises were completed in 2020, enrolment was initially small due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It now has 107 children.
Ms June Lee, 38, has two children enrolled at Sparkletots @ Joo Chiat. She said they enjoy the outdoor activities, such as gardening and an outdoor musical wall – a display of pots, pans and upcycled cans for children to make music with.
“There is a lot of learning happening here, whether it is indoors or outdoors,” she said.
The pre-school’s donors include Musim Mas, a palm oil company which gave $300,000 to the bursary, and Manpower Minister Tan See Leng, who contributed to the new campus.
In 2018, Dr Tan had yet to enter politics but knew Mr Tong professionally. Both men now co-anchor Marine Parade GRC.
Dr Tan said it was fortuitous that they became colleagues in the same GRC, but even before that, he was happy to support Mr Tong’s efforts to transform the kindergarten.
“It is now a very good quality early childhood education centre which many Marine Parade GRC residents will be able to benefit from,” he said.
Musim Mas chief financial officer Alvin Lim said the firm is ever ready to support initiatives that widen access to education for those in financial need.
