Ministry urges restraint

I refer to the letter by Mr Ronnie Tan last Thursday (18 Sep 2008), 'Stop this hike,
or it's back to square one' on concerns regarding childcare centres raising their
fees following the announced increase in child care subsidy.

Child care centres are business entities which need to remain viable. Rising cost
of living, as well as higher requirements for teacher qualifications in the pre-
school sector, may lead to higher costs.

We strongly urge operators to exercise restraint and to keep their services

affordable for parents. Operators should bear in mind increased competition in
the sector given the plan for a further 200 new childcare centres to be
established over the next five years. Parents will select childcare centres that
best meet their expectations in the most cost-effective manner.

The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports currently provides

funding to childcare centres operated by non-profit Voluntary Welfare
Organisations (VWO) in the form of subsidies for capital expenditure and ongoing
subsidised rental.

The Government will introduce a new recurrent grant to eligible non-profit

childcare centre operators. This will allow such operators to set the benchmark
for both quality and affordability.

More details on this scheme will be announced before the end of this year.

We thank Mr Tan for his feedback. The Ministry will continue to monitor the
situation and review policies on childcare centres where necessary.

Lee Kim Hua

Director
Family Services Division
Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports
Stop this hike, or it’s back to square one

Since the childcare subsidy for working mothers increased from $150 to $300 on
Aug 17, I have made many enquiries at various childcare centres. To my surprise,
most, if not all, the centres said that they were revising their fees from next year.
Reasons cited include the fact that childcare subsidies had increased, that they
needed to cover the rising costs and that teachers were not well paid.

I thought the childcare subsidy was meant to help parents with preschoolers by
reducing the costs and making childcare more affordable. With childcare centres
increasing their fees, there are no savings for parents. It will be back to square
one - childcare services will still be a high cost for parents with many children
going to preschool even if the mother is working. Will the Ministry of Community
Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) stop childcare centres from increasing
their fees as a result of the increase in the childcare subsidy?

Childcare centre costs and preschool teacher pay are issues MCYS needs to
address. Why not consider giving a subsidy to childcare centres too?

With such a subsidy, centres could address the problem of costs. They could
also pay preschool teachers better, which will attract higher quality teachers.
They would not need to use the MCYS subsidy for working mothers to address
their own problems.

Someone really needs to look into this matter and do something fair for us
parents.

Ronnie Tan