Source: © Press Holdings Limited. Reproduced with permission. HOME FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012 B12  Government pre-schools on the way

Several pilot centres to open in the next few years; statutory board will regulate sector

By KEZIA TOH and centres will be ready to take in pupils. STACEY CHIA These early moves by the authorities come after studies – such as one commis- Mr Francis Ng, with pre-schoolers at Carpe Diem Schoolhouse in Jalan Jurong Kechil. The childcare centre chain’s founder said he may consider SEVERAL government-run pre-schools sioned by the Lien Foundation ranking becoming an anchor operator to help provide quality services for low and middle income families. ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM will be up and running in the next few Singapore 29th out of 45 countries in ear- years. ly childhood education standards – They will apply research findings in turned the spotlight on the industry. Given the great range of choices, the and effort to effectively address them.” number of anchor operators and will an- effective teaching and learning in A new committee to formulate and board would then provide “a single focal To keep pre-school education afforda- nounce more details of the criteria and pre-schools to develop teaching resourc- oversee strategies to improve the sector point to drive quality, accessibility and af- ble, more operators will also be roped in conditions of joining the scheme later. es and “best practices”. will be led by Education Minister Heng fordability improvements in this sector”, to provide programmes for the mass mar- Mr Francis Ng, 48, founder of child- These would then be shared with other Swee Keat and Acting MCYS Minister said the statement. The MOE and MCYS ket. Just two anchor operators – the PAP care centre chain Carpe Diem, said he industry operators to spur quality im- . Members include MCYS currently oversee pre-school education. Community Foundation and the National might consider becoming an anchor opera- provements, said the Ministry of Educa- Minister of State Halimah Yacob and Ms Government Parliamentary Commit- Trades Union Congress’ My First Skool – tor to help parents feeling the pinch of tion (MOE) and the Ministry of Communi- , the incoming Senior Min- tee for Education deputy chairman Den- now receive recurrent grants from the high school fees. ty Development, Youth and Sports ister of State for Law and Education. ise Phua said the new board should go be- Government that lower operating costs. “I hope that those who want to be (MCYS) in a joint release yesterday. Yesterday, the ministries also gave yond developing more regulations and en- In return, operators are required to pro- anchor operators do it for the right rea- The MOE will decide how these pilot more details on the new statutory board gage stakeholders to take in their needs. vide good quality, affordable services tar- sons, which is to provide service to the centres will be implemented, including which will be responsible for developing “It should be sure to get down to the geted at the broad majority of low and community,” he said. the locations and number to be set up ini- and regulating both kindergartens and ground to understand the most critical middle income families. The ministries [email protected] tially. It will also decide when these childcare centres. needs and root issues, and put in time said they will look into expanding the [email protected] Pool of 500 PMEs to get help finding jobs trained THE Manpower Ministry has start- PMEs form one-third of Singa- niche jobs and sectors,” wrote Mr ed a one-year pilot programme to pore’s workforce of 3.2 million Tan. part-timers help 500 unemployed profession- and more of them are getting un- A total of 21 PMEs have als, managers and executives employed. attended the new programme. (PMEs) get jobs. The scheme, launched last One of them is Mr Remi Abdul to grow They will undergo career-pro- month, is run by the Singapore Rahman. filing to identify their strengths Workforce Development Agency The 38-year-old found the By MELODY ZACCHEUS and be coached as well on (WDA) with two private-sector practical skills, such as resume- job-search skills – from handling human resource companies. writing, useful but his most impor- interviews and resume-writing to It complements help given by tant take-away was that he was A PROGRAMME to help business- making cold calls to companies WDA’s career centres in Commu- not alone in his job search. es draw upon part-time workers asking for a job. nity Development Councils. “When I saw this group of is being beefed up to ease the la- They will also be referred to Those who attend will be as- people who were also in the same bour shortfall, particularly in the jobs. sessed again a month later on whe- boat, it really boosted my self- retail and F&B industries. These details were given by Act- ther they need more help. esteem. Spring Singapore and the ing Manpower Minister Tan “Through this scheme, we “It’s the market – it’s not me,” Workforce Development Agen- Chuan-Jin yesterday in a post on hope to widen employment oppor- he told The Straits Times. cy’s part-time pool programme his ministry’s blog. tunities for PMEs, especially for JANICE HENG will be expanded to include the Singapore Retailers Association (SRA) and the Restaurant Associa- tion of Singapore (RAS). This was announced yester- IT innovation awards for 2 health-care groups day by Mr S. Iswaran, the Sec- ond Minister for Trade and Indus- try and Home Affairs, at the SRA A MULTI-DOSE medication man- ty category for its multi-dose med- gency departments, to check pa- Guardian’s area manager Chong Chee Hwa (seated) received the Manager of Ball 2012. It was held at the Raf- the Year award and Goldheart’s senior business development executive Derrick agement system and a smart- ication management system. tient queues before they visit. fles City Convention Centre, Lee was named Young Executive of the Year yesterday. ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN phone application have won recog- If a patient requires five differ- Available on Apple’s iOS, Goog- where six retail awards and five nition in the field of technological ent types of medication at the le’s Android and Research In Mo- retail scholarships were handed innovation. same time each day, all five tab- tion’s Blackberry platforms, the out. With the inclusion of the behind that of other cities such vider or association. Those who National Healthcare Group lets are packed into a single sa- app also features direct call and SRA and RAS, this pool is set to as New York and Hong Kong,” apply will pay about $20 per per- (NHG) and SingHealth received chet. The system, ConviDose, us- e-mail functions, making it easier reach 2,000 part-timers in the he said. “This means there is son, or 10 per cent of the cost of the awards yesterday. es a machine to sort different med- to fix appointments or send que- next two years. A further 3,000 much scope for productivity im- training after a 90 per cent spon- They were presented by the Sin- ications – up to a maximum of sev- ries to doctors. part-timers from other indus- provement. And the Government sorship by Spring Singapore. gapore Infocomm Technology Fed- en – into each sachet. This helps The application has had about tries will also benefit. is determined in its commitment Ms Valecia Lee, the senior hu- eration at its 30th anniversary din- patients keep track of which drugs 25,000 downloads since it was Mr Iswaran said the pilot pro- to support our businesses in rais- man resource manager of sport- ner, held at the Sands Expo and to take, and when. launched at the start of this year. gramme, launched in Dec 2010, ing their productivity levels.” ing goods retailer RSH Limited, Convention Centre. SingHealth won the bronze Both ConviDose and Health attracted almost 2,500 part-tim- Part-timers under the pro- said the company has benefited The annual awards recognise in- award in the mobile applications Buddy were both developed ers from 100 companies. gramme will be provided with from the programme. “It really novative IT applications or solu- category for its Health Buddy mo- jointly with Integrated Health In- “At approximately $41,700 training and benefits through an helps that staff are trained well tions with local content. bile app, giving users webcam formation Systems, the IT subsidi- per worker, our nominal val- employment contract with the and come to work prepared.” NHG Pharmacy won a bronze views at SingHealth polyclinics ary of the Ministry of Health. ue-added figure per worker lags relevant manpower service pro- [email protected] award in the infocomm productivi- and hospital accident and emer- PEARL LEE