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The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) is introducing priority enrolment for children from lower-income families at Anchor Operator (AOP) preschools.

The move was announced at the ministry's Committee of Supply (COS) debate on Mar. 3, 2023.

This will be done as part of efforts to scale up KidSTART, an initiative to provide further support for lower-income parents and children.

"This support will begin from the early years, which are critical for children’s development," said Minister of State for Social and Family Development Sun Xueling.

AOPs are given funding support to provide quality and affordable early childhood care and education, especially for children from lower income or disadvantaged backgrounds.

Priority enrolment

Children from families with a gross monthly household income of S$6,000 and below have been prioritised for enrolment into childcare programmes from Jan. 1, 2023.

Among these children, those that will be given higher priority include:

• Children from families with a gross monthly household income of S$3,000 and below
• Children supported by KidSTART
• Children supported by the Preschool Outreach Programme

"Every child from a lower-income household will have priority enrolment in Anchor Operator preschools so that they can be enrolled as soon as possible," Sun said.

Through the Preschool Search Portal, parents can indicate whether their monthly household income meets the eligibility criteria for priority enrolment when indicating interest in the AOPs.

This will allow the preschools to identify children eligible for priority enrolment.

Enrolment from age three

About 80 per cent of children aged three to four from lower-income families are enrolled into preschool, lower than that of the rest of the population.

"We hope that with a facilitated enrolment process, parents from lower-income families will work with us and help to enrol their children into preschool by age three," Sun added.

She also shared earlier in her speech, "Our local data shows that children who attended preschool from three years onwards are less likely to require additional learning support in primary school."

Beyond preschool enrolment, KidSTART will also work closely with the AOP preschools to address barriers to regular attendance for children under the initiative.

KidSTART scale up

KidSTART was introduced in 2016 to equip lower-income parents with the knowledge and skills to support their young children’s development, health and nutrition.

It will be extended to Jalan Besar, Toa Payoh, Sengkang, Hougang and Serangoon in the coming year.

It currently supports 20 per cent of children from eligible families and targets to increase that to 80 per cent, starting with children born in 2023.

Top photo via MSF's Facebook page.