\n<\/p>\n
Mr Wong likened these efforts to how the government already makes primary education affordable regardless of household income and whether both parents are working.<\/p>\n
\u201cLikewise, we want every Singaporean child to have access to quality preschool at fees that families can comfortably afford,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The government will make preschool more affordable by extending full childcare and infant care subsidies to families regardless of the mother\u2019s working status, MSF said.<\/p>\n
The mother is considered the main applicant for preschool subsidies, with single fathers as the main applicant in cases of divorce, separation or widowhood.<\/p>\n
Currently, full subsidies are only available to families where the main applicant is working.<\/p>\n
Non-working applicants are only eligible for a basic monthly subsidy of S$150 for both full-day childcare and infant care.<\/p>\n
Working applicants are eligible for a basic monthly subsidy of S$300 for full-day childcare and S$600 for full-day infant care.<\/p>\n
They are also eligible for a means-tested additional subsidy of up to S$467 for full-day childcare and S$710 for full-day infant care.<\/p>\n
Going forward, MSF and NPTD committed to making caregiving options in the preschool and primary school years more affordable.<\/p>\n
This includes ramping up the number of infant care spaces available and expanding the infant educator workforce.<\/p>\n
Mr Wong added that government support will continue as children grow older.<\/p>\n
Demand for student care is rising, with every primary school now providing such services, he noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we can and we will do more. We will expand capacity, improve the quality of care, and keep fees affordable.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will also work with selected centres outside schools, to provide more options for parents,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In the primary school years, the government currently takes a light-touch approach to overseeing student care centres, said NPTD.<\/p>\n
Centres that are registered with MSF must meet basic requirements and can administer means-tested fee assistance. These centres are located in every primary school and some are based in the community.<\/p>\n
Underscoring the government\u2019s efforts, Mr Wong said: \u201cThe early years in a child\u2019s life matter greatly. They shape how children learn, grow and thrive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is why, over the years, we have steadily expanded this sector,\u201d he said. \u201cNow we are ready to go further.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
SUBSIDIES REGARDLESS OF WORKING STATUS Mr Wong likened these efforts to how the government already makes primary education affordable regardless of household income and whether…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":78987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dam.mediacorp.sg\/image\/upload\/s--8qKEOpZm--\/c_fill,g_auto,h_676,w_1200\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1\/mediacorp\/cna\/image\/2026\/08\/23\/istock-687967974.jpg?itok=B4_Olb1c","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[120,25334,4782,28812,14967,28779,10345,17193],"class_list":["post-78986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-news-sg-global","tag-care","tag-childcare","tag-fees","tag-governmentsupported","tag-infant","tag-ndr","tag-preschools","tag-significantly","wpcat-2-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=78986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/78987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=78986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=78986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=78986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}