SINGAPORE: Singapore’s annual spending of about S$1 billion on early childhood education will “more than double” over the next few years, as the Government looks to make pre-schools more affordable for parents here, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Sunday .
At the moment, families are only eligible for additional means-tested subsidies if their monthly household incomes do not exceed S$7,500. The enhanced subsidy will knock off one-third of the pre-school expenses to around S$370 per child, according to Mr Lee. “We want to start earlier in a child’s life because these years make a big difference to his development,” he explained.Apart from ensuring affordability, other efforts include the doubling of full-day pre-school capacity to almost 180,000 places since 2012.