Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim asked the Minister for Social and Family Development whether there are plans to meet potential demand in new estates with many young families, such as Sengkang and Punggol by (i) increasing the density of student care facilities such as community‐ and school‐based student care and (ii) increasing the issuance of permits for private after‐school care facilities.
Answer
1 Student care centres (SCCs), including those in all primary schools, provide after-school hours care and supervision to children from 7 to 14 years old. Setting up a SCC does not require a permit from the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF). SCC operators may register with MSF if they wish to administer the Student Care Fee Assistance (SCFA) scheme, which subsidises the student care fees for children from lower income families. Today, around 400 SCCs are registered with MSF as SCFA Administrators.
2 Registered SCCs currently provide around 48,000 student care places. Overall SCC enrolment is below SCC capacity in all towns, including in Sengkang and Punggol, although there may be a wait list for particular SCCs. We encourage parents to enroll their children in nearby SCCs if they are not able to immediately secure places in particular SCCs. MSF works with the Ministry of Education (MOE) to monitor the demand for SCC places, and will facilitate the expansion of capacity where necessary.