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Both operators and educators are responsible for child safety in preschools

Type: Forum Letters,

Topic(s): Children & Families,

Published on 25 June 2025

We thank Mr Chen Xin Fa for his letter (“Preschool operators also bear responsibility”, 20 June). Indeed, the Early Childhood Development Agency’s  (ECDA) approach is to ensure that both educators and operators are responsible for the children’s safety and well-being.     

 

Operators are required to establish and effectively implement child safe policies and standard operating procedures. Operators and centre leaders must also actively guide and supervise staff in the day-to-day operations of preschools, for example through regular walkabouts, class observations, and sharing best practices. They must also ensure that educators perform their duties professionally and in compliance with the prevailing Early Childhood Development Centres (ECDC) Code of Practice. When incidents happen in the preschool, they are to find out what happened and apprise parents accordingly. 

 

In addition, since January 2025, all preschools are required to operate CCTV cameras in the premises. Aside from providing greater peace of mind for educators and parents, CCTV footage serve as an objective and reliable source of evidence in the investigation of incidents. 

 

While the case raised by Mr Chen occurred in November 2023, when CCTV was not mandatory, ECDA did investigate both the educator and the operator. Actions were taken against both for child mismanagement, under the ECDC Regulations. The former educator has also been barred from working in the preschool sector.  

 

This incident is not reflective of the good work by many of our preschool educators, who work tirelessly to care for young children, nor the quality of preschool education in Singapore. ECDA will continue to work with preschool operators to ensure that they understand their regulatory obligations, and to take firm actions against those that do not comply. Besides the regulatory framework, we urge parents and preschools to maintain open communications. This helps to build trust and strong partnership, which is critical in ensuring a safe and nurturing environment in preschools. 

 

 

Bernice Lee (Ms) 

Director, Regulation and Licensing 

Early Childhood Development Agency