# 部長孫雪玲回複議員：託兒費最低3元，負擔得起學前教育

URL: https://www.shicheng.news/zh-hant/v/5nggj
Published: 2024-04-14
Source: 獅城新聞

2024年3月6日，新加坡內政部兼社會及家庭發展部政務部長孫雪玲在國會就嬰幼兒保育和學前教育問題，回答相關議員的問詢。

**以下內容為新加坡眼根據國會英文資料翻譯整理：**

共建關愛包容社會

（幼兒託管、學前教育方面）

主席：政務部長孫雪玲。

內政部兼社會及家庭發展部政務部長孫雪玲：主席先生，我感謝各位議員提出的意見。

政府致力於為每個兒童提供良好的人生開端。學前教育在支持兒童發展方面發揮著重要作用，同時也滿足了家長的照料需求。這是我們實現「齊心為了家」（Made For Families）願景的重要組成部分。

議員楊涴凌女士和林志蔚副教授詢問，我們將如何使學前教育為家庭所接受和負擔得起。政府向主要業者和夥伴機構提供資金，確保它們不超過收費上限，同時提供資助以提高教育質量。政府還為所有家長提供基本補貼，並為符合條件的家庭提供額外補貼。目前，低收入家庭在「主要業者」學前教育機構的託兒費最低為每月3新元。這種全面解決學前教育負擔問題的方法，即保持政府支持學前教育機構的低收費，同時為家長提供託兒補貼，比發放學券更有效。 

未來幾年，我們將進一步提高學前教育的可負擔性。正如黃循財副總理在預算報告中宣布的那樣，我們將在2025年進一步將「主要業者」和「夥伴經營者」的託兒費上限降低40新元。扣除補貼後，月收入為8,000新元的中等收入工作家庭從2025年起在 "主要業者 "學前教育機構支付的全日制託兒費將為208新元，比現在減少約18%。

我們將在2026年進行最後一次削減。這將有助於我們實現2019年國慶日集會的承諾，即在接受經濟情況調查補貼之前，入讀「主要業者」學前教育機構的家庭所支付的費用與小學和課後學生託管的費用相近。我們還將按計劃增加政府資助的學前教育名額，到2025年左右，80%的學齡前兒童可在政府資助的學前教育機構就讀，而目前這一比例超過65%。

楊益財先生詢問，我們將如何繼續吸引和留住幼兒教育工作者，以支持該行業的發展。教育工作者的福祉對我們非常重要。我們的教育工作者致力於培養兒童，在提高幼兒保育和教育質量方面發揮著至關重要的作用。

幼兒培育署（ECDA）一直在增強幼兒教育工作者的職業主張。我們在2021年公布了持續專業發展路線圖，在2022年公布了領導力發展框架和薪酬改善措施。我們將繼續監督和審查，確保教育工作者的薪酬保持競爭力。

我們還在改善教育工作者的工作條件和福利。從2024年起，與小學類似，教師節和兒童節將被指定為學前假期。現有的六天學前班停課日也被重新定位為「專業發展日」（Development Days），讓教育工作者有專門的時間專注於個人和團隊發展。從2025年起，託兒所不再需要在周六營業。這樣，學前班教師每周就多了半天的休息時間。

為了吸引更多新加坡人加入幼兒教育行業，幼兒培育署將於2024年重新啟動「塑造我們的明天」活動，以加強公眾對幼兒教育行業的了解，並意識到幼兒教育工作者是一個受人尊敬的職業。自2018年啟動以來，幼教工作者的人數增加了30%以上，達到25000人。

陳澮敏女士還建議對學前教育認證框架的流程進行審查，以減輕教育工作者的工作量。此認證框架旨在指導學前教育機構提高其質量，例如在教學和學習以及中心的行政和管理方面。經過學前教育認證的學前教育機構數量逐年增加，目前已達1000所，占學前教育機構總數的58%。

幼兒培育署正在對新加坡學前教育認證框架（SPARK）進行審查，並計劃在2025年推出更新的SPARK認證，為我們的學前教育設定新的質量標準。為了減輕教育工作者的工作量，我們正在探索各種方法，以保持學前教育認證所需的工作易於管理，例如簡化要求和利用技術來減少所涉及的文件和行政工作。

陳佩玲女士談到了學前教育機構的兒童安全問題。學前教育機構必須為兒童提供一個安全的培育環境。幼兒培育署確保我們的教育工作者具備必要的資格和技能，能夠有效、安全地照顧和教育兒童。除了基本的篩查要求和健康聲明外，所有教育工作者都必須滿足學術、專業和語言方面的要求，才能獲得幼兒培育署的認證，並被派往我們的學前教育機構工作。作為這些要求的一部分，教育工作者必須接受培訓課程，學習課堂管理策略。

幼兒培育署還定期更新教師培訓課程。最近，我們用更具體的例子來說明什麼是不恰當的行為，從而更清晰地指導我們的教育工作者。此外，教育部門還定期舉辦了簡報會和通告，向教育工作者介紹最新的研究成果和教學法。

如果經營者玩忽職守，幼兒培育署將對其處以監管罰款和處罰。如果個別教師有違法行為，警方將根據兒童與青少年法令（Children and Young Persons Act）和/或《刑法典》對其提出指控和處罰。幼兒培育署的權力是通過《學前教育發展中心法令》（ECDC Act）實施的。幼兒培育署將審查學前教育發展中心法令》（ECDC Act）目前規定的執法手段和罰款，並將毫不猶豫地通過修改立法來加強這些手段，以便對違規經營者進行處罰。

我們向家長們保證，如果有證據表明經營者和/或教育者有違規行為，幼兒培育署和警方將立即展開調查，暫停有可能傷害兒童教育者的工作，並將其繩之以法。家長如果懷疑自己的孩子受到不當管理，應向幼兒培育署和警方報告，以便迅速開展調查，並採取適當的措施。

在「新加坡攜手前進」活動中，我們也聽到許多新加坡人分享他們對子女的愛和期望。與此同時，一些人也分享了他們在養育子女過程中遇到的困難和焦慮，尤其是嬰兒的父母。許多家長解釋說，最具有挑戰性的時期是最初的18個月，因為家長要適應一個新的生活階段，既要照顧嬰兒，又要兼顧工作。

正如馬善高部長提到的，對於三歲及以上的兒童，學前班可以說是最好的選擇，既能滿足家長的照顧需求，又能支持兒童的全面發展。對於三歲以下的兒童，重要的是讓他們與照顧者建立培養關係，並讓照顧者對他們的需求做出回應。

如今，大多數新加坡父母更願意扮演這一角色，親自照顧嬰兒或依靠家庭成員的幫助。楊益財先生和黃玲玲女士詢問我們如何更好地支持父母照顧嬰兒。正如「新加坡攜手前進」運動所述，政府將考慮如何進一步增加帶薪育兒假。

目前，大約每五名嬰兒中就有一名在這些嬰兒護理中心註冊，我們計劃到2030年將護理中心為基礎的嬰兒護理服務名額增加約70%，即增加9000個名額，讓更多家長可以藉助這種護理方式。為了配合這些努力，政府將與服務提供商合作，在2024年下半年開展為期三年的試點，提供價格合理、可靠的嬰兒託管服務。這將為父母提供另一種護理選擇。

育兒嫂（我們中的一些人可能將其稱為「保姆」）並不是一個新概念。上世紀七八十年代，這種服務在新加坡較為普遍。有些保姆在自己家裡照顧幾個孩子，有些則到別人家裡照顧孩子。如今，這種情況已不那麼普遍，因為家長可能不知道到哪裡去尋找可信賴的育兒嫂，或者他們可能會發現，與嬰兒護理中心等其他護理方式相比，育兒嫂的費用相對較高。

去年，我在對丹麥、法國和英國進行工作訪問時了解到，這些國家已經制定了一些要求，例如對育兒嫂進行背景調查，並為家長提供財政支持，例如補貼，使家長更容易獲得兒童保育服務。這樣，家長就可以根據自己的照料需求和偏好，更加靈活地選擇最適合自己的方式。例如，父母可能更喜歡在工作時間內有一個更有條理的環境。這樣，他們就可以為嬰兒選擇嬰兒護理中心。而那些喜歡在家庭環境中接受更靈活的時間或更個性化護理的家長，則可以選擇嬰兒託管服務。

因此，我們將開展試點工作，指定幼兒託管機構，並與他們合作在新加坡擴大幼兒託管服務。根據試點計劃，每名幼兒託管人每次最多可在家中或社區場所託管三名嬰兒。社區空間（如社區中心）將設在嬰兒護理需求較高的地區，以便家長能夠方便地獲得保育服務。家長還可以更靈活地與護理員討論他們的保育偏好和要求。

為了確保家庭能夠負擔得起嬰兒託管服務，幼兒培育署將向指定運營商提供資金，以使在工作時間使用該服務的父母負擔得起費用。我們的目標是使父母在託兒服務上的費用，與中等收入家庭在」主要業者「學前教育機構支付的嬰兒護理費用相似。我們還將擴大兒童發展帳戶的使用，以進一步支付該試點下的託兒費用。

我們知道，安全是父母在決定嬰兒護理安排時的一個關鍵考慮因素。為了讓家長在此次試點中更有保障，幼兒培育署將對運營商和保姆進行背景調查，並要求運營商滿足一定的服務要求。這些服務要求包括：評估保姆的適合性和住所；制定兒童安全護理法和保姆責任準則；向家長披露保姆的資料；建立事件管理流程；確保保姆接受基本嬰兒護理、急救培訓以及食品安全和衛生等領域的必要培訓。

幼兒培育署還將與經營者合作，共同制定行業標準。這包括規定什麼是安全的託兒環境，以及經營者和託兒所各自的責任。這將確保各指定經營者的基本服務標準，並有助於提升託兒行業的整體水平。

通過試點，我們可以評估家長對幼兒託管的接受程度。由於這是一項新的試點項目，我們已邀請家長、幼兒託管人和幼兒託管機構參與，聽取他們的意見，以幫助我們完善各項參數。我們將繼續開展此類活動，並在2024年下半年公布更多細節。

顏添寶先生詢問我們將如何支持這些家長，幫助他們的孩子充分發揮潛能。

有發育障礙的兒童有不同的獨特需求，需要不同類型的支持。一些兒童可以在幼兒園得到支持，而另一些兒童則可能需要在提供嬰幼兒早期干預計劃 (EIPIC)的中心接受更專業的干預。

國際研究還表明，父母最有能力在孩子的日常生活中植入與社交和情感技能相關的干預措施。要做好這項工作，家長需要掌握在家中提供早期干預支持的技能。因此，我們將推出 "嬰幼兒早期干預--關愛"（EIPIC-Care）試點項目，這是一項針對兩到三歲有發展需求兒童的看護者的培訓計劃。在為期六個月的課程中，看護者將通過小組工作坊和個別輔導課程，向專業人士學習如何在家中為孩子的發展提供支持。

幼兒培育署計劃在2024年下半年推出「嬰幼兒早期干預計劃—關愛」試點項目。對於需要更多支持的兒童，我們一直在增加政府資助名額，以滿足需要中度至高度早期干預支持的兒童的需求。2023年，我們將啟動13個由私營機構運營的嬰幼兒早期干預計劃—關愛中心和2個嬰幼兒早期干預計劃中心，以增加1200個名額。這比2022年增加了26%。

2024年，我們將再推出四家早期干預中心，增加1500個名額。我們將繼續擴大政府資助的名額，到2027年，為80%需要中高水平早期干預的兒童提供服務，比2022年的60%有所提高。這將有助於縮短進入早期干預中心的整體等待時間，使有發展需求的兒童能夠及時得到支持。

為了向有特殊需要的大齡兒童家庭提供更有力的經濟支持，黃循財副總理在預算報告中宣布，將使特殊教育學校和特殊學生護理中心的費用更能為家庭所承受。我們將降低所支付的費用，使自付費用占家庭收入的比例更接近發育正常的同齡人。舉例來說，每月家庭收入為6000新元的家庭，自付的幼兒中心費用會減少三分之一，由500新元減至約340新元。

潘勤群女士詢問恢復性司法在配偶暴力案件中的應用。當家庭走過人生旅途中的各個裡程碑時，我們希望建立穩固的家庭，確保父母有能力為子女建立安全的庇護所。

遺憾的是，當家庭暴力發生時，有些家庭並不安全。為了加強對暴力倖存者的保護，我們去年在國會提出了《家庭暴力（修正）法案》（the Family Violence (Amendment) Bill） 。這個修正法案還加強了政府對施暴者進行改造的權力，這對於在倖存者獲得保護和安全後幫助家庭和解至關重要。

我們的社會服務從業人員還為面臨傷害風險或遭受暴力的家庭提供支持，以解決使用暴力的根本原因，並與倖存者和施暴者合作，儘可能治癒和恢復關係。對這些家庭的支持包括諮詢。在確保安全的情況下，家庭成員（包括兒童）可以參加這些輔導課程，以治癒創傷並恢復家庭關係。

但是，如果在短期內無法恢復家庭關係，我們會毫不猶豫地採取堅決措施。這包括行使法律的全部權力，將肇事者繩之以法，並確保安全，為倖存者提供保護。主席先生，正面我將用普通話發言。

(普通話)： 家庭是我們社會的基石。我們希望讓父母和准父母在照顧子女時更加放心。我們希望為每個孩子提供一個良好的人生開端。這是我們實現 新加坡"齊心為了家 "願景的重要組成部分。

我們將繼續為家庭提供更方便、更負擔得起的學前教育。2025 年，我們將進一步把主要業者機構和夥伴機構的託兒費上限降低 40 新元。我們將在2026年進行最後一次下調。我們還將增加政府支持的學前教育名額，到2025年，使80%的學齡前兒童都能在政府支持的學前教育機構接受教育。從2025年到2030年，我們將繼續保持這個80%的比例。

我們還從家長那裡了解到，孩子在嬰幼兒時期是最具挑戰性的時期。為了更好地支持家長照顧嬰兒，政府將與服務提供商合作，推出嬰兒託管服務，為家長提供另一種照顧選擇。我們將提供資金，使家長能夠負擔得起託兒服務。為確保嬰幼兒得到妥善照顧，幼兒保育署將進行背景調查，並要求經營者符合服務要求，以確保嬰幼兒的安全。幼兒保育署還將與經營者合作，共同制定行業標準。這包括規定什麼是安全的託兒環境，以及經營者和託兒所各自的責任。

有發展需求兒童的家長也需要更多的支持，以幫助他們的孩子充分發揮潛能。要做好這項工作，家長需要掌握在家中提供早期干預支持的技能。因此，我們將推出一項 "早期干預--關愛"（EIPIC-Care）試點項目，這是一項針對兩到三歲有發展需求兒童的看護者的培訓計劃。對於有更高需求的兒童，我們將繼續增加政府資助的名額，以滿足需要中高水平早期干預支持的兒童的需求。

(用英語）：正如馬善高部長所分享的，我們所有人都必須發揮自己的作用，以實現我們的願景，即建設一個關愛家庭的社會和一個 "齊心為了家 "的新加坡。

我們看到許多志願者與專業人員一起為有需要的家庭提供支持。瑪莎（Marsha Hernatasha）女士和齊斯蒂娜（Qistina Mohamed Nasir）女士是朋友，她們是幼兒培育輔導計劃（KidSTART）園藝奇觀項目的義工。作為義工，她們負責接待 KidSTART 家庭、包裝和分發禮品袋，並在講故事環節中與孩子們互動。瑪莎女士和齊斯蒂娜女士認為，志願服務是做善事和回饋幼兒家庭的好機會。我們將 2024 年定為 "歡慶義工年"，讓我們感謝並認可志願者的貢獻、努力和犧牲。

我們致力於支持我們的父母和准父母，讓他們放心，每個孩子在新加坡都能有一個良好的人生開端，並能公平地獲得人生進步的機會。

![部長孫雪玲回複議員：託兒費最低3元，負擔得起學前教育](https://www.shicheng.news/images/image/1742/17425298.avif?0)





以下是英文質詢內容：

**COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY – HEAD I (MINISTRY OF SOCIAL AND FAMILY DEVELOPMENT)**

**(Building a caring and inclusive society together)**

The Chairman: Minister of State Sun Xueling.

The Minister of State for Social and Family Development (Ms Sun Xueling): Mr Chairman, I thank Members for their views.

The Government is committed to providing every child with a good start in life. Preschools play an important role in supporting our children's development while meeting parents' caregiving needs. This is an important part of our vision in realising a Singapore Made for Families. 

Ms Yeo Wan Ling and Assoc Prof Jamus Lim asked how we will make preschools accessible and affordable for families. The Government provides funding to Anchor and Partner Operators to ensure that they keep within fee caps, while investing in quality improvements. The Government also provides all parents with basic subsidies, as well as additional subsidies for eligible families. Currently, lower-income families can pay as low as $3 per month for childcare in an Anchor Operator preschool. This comprehensive approach to preschool affordability, where we keep fees charged for Government-supported preschools low and provide childcare subsidies to parents, is more effective than giving vouchers. 

We will further enhance preschool affordability in the coming years. As announced by Deputy Prime Minister Wong in his Budget speech, we will further reduce childcare fee caps at Anchor and Partner Operators by $40 in 2025. After subsidies, a middle-income working household with monthly income of $8,000, will pay $208 for full-day childcare at an Anchor Operator preschool from 2025, around 18% less from what they pay today.

We will make a final reduction in 2026. This will help us to achieve our 2019 National Day Rally commitment where families enrolled in Anchor Operators pay similar expenses to that of primary school and after-school student care, before means-tested subsidies. We are also on track to increasing the number of Government-supported preschool places so that 80% of preschoolers can have a place in a Government-supported preschool by around 2025, up from over 65% today.

Mr Melvin Yong asked how we will continue to attract and retain early childhood educators to support the sector. The well-being of our educators is important to us. Our educators dedicate themselves to the nurturing of our children and play a critical role in driving the quality of care and education for our young children.

ECDA has been enhancing the career proposition of early childhood educators. We announced the Continuing Professional Development Roadmap in 2021 and the Leadership Development Framework as well as salary improvements in 2022. We will continue to monitor and review to ensure educators' salaries remain competitive.

We are also improving the working conditions and well-being of educators. From 2024, similar to Primary Schools, Teacher's Day and Children's Day will be designated as preschool holidays. The existing six days of preschool closure have also been repositioned as "Development Days" to give educators dedicated time to focus on their individual and team development. From 2025, childcare centres are no longer required to operate on Saturdays. With this, preschool teachers will have an additional half-day of rest every week.

To attract more Singaporeans to the sector, ECDA is relaunching the "Shape Our Tomorrow" campaign in 2024 to strengthen the public's understanding of the early childhood (EC) sector and recognise EC educators as a respected profession. Since its launch in 2018, the number of EC educators has increased by more than 30% to 25,000.

Ms Carrie Tan also suggested the SPARK certification process be reviewed to reduce educators' workload. SPARK is an accreditation framework to guide preschools in raising their quality, such as in the areas of teaching and learning and administration and management of centres. The number of SPARK-certified preschools has been growing over the years and stands at 1,000 preschools or 58% of the sector today.

ECDA is reviewing SPARK and plans to roll out the refreshed SPARK certification in 2025 to set the next bound of quality for our preschools. To reduce workload on educators, we are exploring various ways to keep the work required for SPARK certification manageable, such as streamlining requirements and tapping on technology to reduce the documentation and administraton work involved.

Ms Tin Pei Ling touched on child safety in preschools. Preschools must be a safe and nurturing environment for our children. ECDA ensures that our educators have the necessary qualifications and skills to effectively and safely care for and educate children. Besides basic screening requirements and health declarations, all educators must meet the academic, professional and language requirements before they can be certified by ECDA and deployed in our preschools. As part of these requirements, educators must undergo training programmes where they learn classroom management strategies.

ECDA also regularly updates the training curriculum of the teachers. We have recently made it clearer with more specific examples on what constitutes inappropriate behaviour to guide our educators. There are also regular sector-wide briefings and circulars to update educators on the latest research and teaching pedagogies.

Where there is negligence from operators, ECDA will take them to task with regulatory fines and levers. Where individual teachers have committed offences, they will be charged by the Police and punished under the Children and Young Persons Act and/or the Penal Code. ECDA's powers are enforced through the Early Childhood Development Centres Act. ECDA will review enforcement levers and fines currently stipulated through the ECDC Act and will not hesitate to enhance the levers through legislative changes to take errant operators to task. We are working on this right now even as I speak.

**3.00 pm**

We give our assurance to parents that where there is evidence that operators and/or educators have been errant, ECDA and the Police will commence investigations immediately, suspend educators who are in a position to harm children and take them to justice. Parents who suspect that their child has been subjected to child mismanagement should report to ECDA and the Police, so that investigations can be swiftly carried out, investigations are not compromised and due process can be taken.

During the Forward SG engagements, we also have heard many Singaporeans share their love and aspirations for their children. At the same time, some have also shared about the struggles and anxieties that they faced in raising their children – especially from parents of infants and parents of children with developmental needs. Many parents explained that the most challenging period was during the first 18 months, as parents are adapting to a new phase of life to care for an infant while juggling work responsibilities.

As mentioned by Minister Masagos, for children aged three and above, preschools can be the best option to meet parents' caregiving needs while supporting the child's holistic development. For children below three years, what is important is for them to build nurturing relationships with significant caregivers and for caregivers to be responsive towards their needs.

Today, most Singaporean parents prefer to play this role and care for infants themselves or rely on the help of family members. Mr Melvin Yong and Ms Ng Ling Ling have asked how we can better support parents in caring for their infants. As mentioned in the Forward SG report, the Government will consider how paid parental leave can be further increased. Currently, around one in five infants are enrolled in infant care centres. We will continue to ramp up centre-based infant care.

Currently, around one in five infants are enrolled in these infant care centres and we plan to increase centre-based infant care places by about 70%, or 9,000 more places by 2030 so that more parents can rely on this care option. To complement these efforts, the Government will work with service providers to launch a three-year pilot in the second half of 2024 to provide affordable and reliable infant childminding services. This will be yet another caregiving option for parents.

Childminders, some of us may know them as "nannies" are not a new concept. They were more common in Singapore in the 1970s and 1980s. Some childminders look after a few children in their own homes while others travel to a family's home to look after the child. They are less common today, as parents may be unsure of where to look for trusted childminders or they may find childminding relatively more expensive as compared to other caregiving options, such as infant care centres.

Last year, in a work visit to Denmark, France and the UK, I learnt that these countries have put in place requirements, such as background checks on the childminders and financial support to parents, such as subsidies, to make childminding more accessible to parents. Parents can then have greater flexibility to choose what is best for them in terms of their caregiving needs and preferences. For example, parents may prefer a more structured setting during working hours. They may then opt for infant care centres for their infants. Those who prefer more flexible hours or more individualised care in a home-setting may for opt for infant childminding.

We will thus launch a pilot and appoint childminding operators and work with them to expand infant childminding services in Singapore. Under the pilot, each childminder will be allowed to care for up to three infants at any one time, at their homes or at a community space. Community spaces, such as community centres, will be in areas of high infant care demand so that parents can conveniently access childminding services. Parents also have more flexibility to discuss their care preferences and requirements with the childminder.

To ensure that infant childminding services are affordable to families, ECDA will provide funding to appointed operators to keep the out-of-pocket expenses affordable for parents who use the service for their infants during typical working hours on weekdays. We aim to make parents' expenses for childminding services similar to what a middle-income family pays for infant care at their Anchor Operator. We will also extend the usage of CDA to further defray the cost of childminding under the pilot.

We understand that the safety is a key consideration for parents when deciding the care arrangements for their infants. To give parents more assurance under this pilot, ECDA will conduct background checks on operators and childminders and require operators to meet certain service requirements. These service requirements include: (a) assessing the suitability and homes of the childminders; (b) putting in place guidelines for child-safe practices and responsibilities of childminders; (c) disclosing childminders' profile to parents; (d) establishing processes for incident management; and (e) ensuring that childminders undergo required training in areas, such as basic infant care, first aid training and food safety and hygiene.

ECDA will also work with operators to co-develop industry standards. This includes laying out what constitutes a safe childminding environment and the respective responsibilities of operators and childminders. This will ensure baseline service standards across the appointed operators and help to uplift the childminding sector in general.

The pilot will allow us to assess the receptiveness of parents to infant childminding. As this is a new pilot, we have engaged parents, childminders and childminding operators to hear their views to help us refine the parameters. We will continue such engagements and announce more details in the second-half of 2024.

Mr Gan Thiam Poh asked how we will support parents of children with developmental needs to help their child reach their full potential.

Children with developmental challenges have diverse and unique needs and require different types of support. Some can be supported in their preschools, while others may require more specialised interventions at centres providing Early Intervention Programme for Infants and Children (EIPIC).

International studies have also shown that parents are in the best position to embed intervention related to social and emotional skills in their children's daily lives. For parents to do this well, they will need to be equipped with the skills to provide early intervention support at home. This is why we will be introducing an EIPIC-Care pilot, a training programme for caregivers of two- to three-year-olds with developmental needs. During the six-month programme, caregivers will learn from professionals through group workshops and individual coaching sessions on how to support their child's development at home.

ECDA plans to launch the EIPIC-Care pilot in the second half of 2024. For children who require more support, we have been increasing the number of Government-funded places for children requiring medium to high levels of early intervention support. In 2023, we launched 13 EIPIC-P centres, which are operated by private providers; and two EIPIC centres, to increase our capacity by 1,200 places. This is a 26% increase from 2022.

In 2024, we will launch four more early intervention centres and increase our capacity by 1,500 places. We will continue to expand our Government-funded places to serve 80% of children requiring medium to high levels of early intervention by 2027, up from 60% in 2022. This will help to reduce overall wait times for enrolment into an early intervention centre so that children with developmental needs can receive timely support.

To provide stronger financial support for families of older children with special needs, Deputy Prime Minister Wong announced in his Budget speech that we will make Special Education (SPED) Schools and Special Student Care Centres (SSCC) more affordable for families. We will reduce the fees paid to bring the proportion of household income paid for out-of-pocket expenses closer to that of their typically developing peers. To illustrate, families with a monthly household income of $6,000 will see one-third decrease in their out-of-pocket expenses paid for SSCC, from $500 to around $340.

Ms Hazel Poa asked on the use of restorative justice in cases of spousal violence. As families navigate various milestones in their life journey, we want to build strong families and ensure parents are equipped to build safe havens for their children.

Unfortunately, some families are not safe when violence happens at home. To strengthen protection for survivors of violence, we moved the Family Violence (Amendment) Bill in Parliament last year. These provisions also strengthen powers for the Government to rehabilitate perpetrators, which is crucial to helping families reconcile once protection and safety for survivors have been achieved.

Our social service practitioners also support families at risk of harm or who are experiencing violence to address the root causes for the use of violence and work with the survivor and perpetrator to heal and restore relationships where possible. Support for these families would include counselling. Family members, including children, may attend these counselling sessions to achieve healing and restoration of family relationships where it is safe to do so.

However, we will not hesitate to take firm measures when such restoration is not possible in the immediate term. This includes exercising the full powers of the law to take the perpetrators to task and to ensure the safety and protection of the survivors. Mr Chairman, in Mandarin, please.

(In Mandarin): Families are the bedrock of our society. We want to give parents and parents-to-be greater assurance in the caregiving of their children. We want to provide every child with a good start in life. This is an important part of our vision in realising a Singapore Made For Families.

We will continue to make preschools more accessible and affordable for families. We will further reduce childcare fee caps at Anchor and Partner Operators by $40 in 2025. We will make a final reduction in 2026. We will also increase the number of Government-supported preschool places, so that 80% of preschoolers can have a place in a Government-supported preschool by 2025. We will continue to maintain this 80% from 2025 to 2030.

We have also heard from parents that the most challenging period was during their child's infancy. To better support parents in the care of infants, the Government will work with service providers to launch an infant childminding service to provide another caregiving option for parents. We will provide funding to keep the childminding service affordable for parents. To ensure that the infants are well cared for, ECDA will conduct background checks and require operators to meet service requirements to ensure safety of the infants. ECDA will also work with operators to co-develop industry standards. This includes laying out what constitutes a safe childminding environment and the respective responsibilities of operators and childminders.

Parents of children with development needs also require greater support to help their child reach their full potential. For parents to do this well, they will need to be equipped with the skills to provide early intervention support at home. This is why we will be introducing an EIPIC-Care pilot, a training programme for caregivers of two- to three-year-olds with developmental needs. For children with higher needs, we will continue to increase the number of Government-funded places for children requiring medium- to high levels of early intervention support.

(In English): As Minister Masagos shared, all of us must play our part to realise our vision of a family-friendly society and a Singapore Made for Families.

We have seen many volunteers who have worked alongside professionals to support our families in need. Ms Marsha Hernatasha and Ms Qistina Mohamed Nasir are friends who are volunteers together for KidSTART Garden Wonders. As volunteers, they welcome KidSTART families, pack and distribute goody bags and engage the children during the storytelling sessions. Ms Marsha and Ms Qistina sees volunteering as an opportunity to do something good and give back to families with young children. As we dedicate 2024 as the Year of Celebrating Volunteers, let us appreciate and recognise the contributions, effort and sacrifice of our volunteers.

We are committed in supporting our parents and parents-to-be, so that they are assured that every child can have a good start in life in Singapore and that they have fair access to opportunities to progress in life.

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