Pre-School Education

Name and Constituency of  Member of Parliament

Mr Zainudin Nordin,

MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC

Question

To ask Minister for Education (a) how many applications for pre-school education centre licence has his Ministry received in the last 5 years; (b) what are the criteria for approval of the licence; (c) what other Government agencies are involved in the approval process, and (d) whether these agencies work closely on such approvals or do they merely focus on their respective areas of concern.

Response

1                     Since 1999, MOE has registered 99 pre-school education centres or kindergartens. MOE registers kindergartens if they meet the basic requirements in land-use, safety, hygiene, teacher qualifications and curriculum.

2          Potential operators would need to obtain clearances from the relevant authorities before applying for registration with MOE. To start with they must obtain legal status for their kindergartens. Hence those that are commercially run would first need to register the businesses with the Accounting & Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA). Those that are community based must ensure their parent organisations have been registered with the Registry of Societies (ROS).

3          Like all businesses and societies, the kindergartens would have to seek planning approval from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) for land use as a kindergarten, from the Fire Safety and Shelter Department (FSSD) for fire safety compliance, and from the Land Transport Authority (LTA) for traffic and parking clearance. For rebuilding or extensive alteration of premises, approval from the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) is also needed.

4          For the Housing Development Board (HDB) owned premises, potential operators can obtain all the clearances for the premises through HDB.

5          MOE would assess the suitability of the curriculum and teacher qualifications before granting registration. During the approval process, the relevant authorities consult with one another where necessary.

6.         From 30 August of this year, applicants can apply for multiple licenses using one government portal, i.e. Online Businesses Licensing Service (OBLS at http://licences.business.gov.sg/) to obtain clearances from relevant agencies, and wait for outcomes given by respective agencies. Hence potential operators can apply for the registration of kindergartens through OBLS. The one-stop portal enables applicants to identify the clearances needed to start a kindergarten and to apply for clearances simultaneously for the proposed premises. To date, MOE has received five applications through OBLS.