SINGAPORE — NTUC’s My First Skool, one of the two anchor operators in the pre-school sector here, has announced a fee hike across its 103 childcare centres next year — the first since 2011.

Parents were informed in a letter dated last Thursday that monthly childcare fees would rise by a maximum of S$32.10 from Jan 1 next year, while infant-care fee increases would be capped at S$39.60, depending on household income.

A sibling discount would no longer be extended from next year.

General Manager Adeline Tan said the move is to address rising operating costs.

“To ensure that we are able to continually improve the quality of our programmes and keep up with rising operating costs, our practice is to make regular but moderate fee adjustments each year,” she added.

Besides NTUC’s My First Skool, the PAP Community Foundation is the other anchor operator here.

Both are tasked with providing good-quality and affordable programmes. In return, they receive recurrent grants from the Government to lower operating costs.

Responding to TODAY’s queries, NTUC’s My First Skool, which currently provides over 11,000 childcare places, pointed out that most families earning less than S$7,500 — the national median household income — would see increases of less than S$32.10.

Families earning less than S$2,500 would only see a S$0.32 increase, it added.

Mrs Tan said: “We are mindful of keeping our fees affordable even after the fee adjustment. The new fees at S$674.10 (Toddler and Playgroup) and S$615.25 (Nursery, Kindergarten 1 and Kindergarten 2) per month are significantly below the current national median of S$780 a month.”

The operator said it would further support “extraordinary cases” under its Bright Horizons Fund.

Supported primarily by NTUC UCare, more than 650 children have benefited from the fund’s assistance or programmes last year.

Mrs Tan noted that My First Skool “invests heavily” in teacher training and development.

Currently, 91 per cent of My First Skool teachers hold, or are pursuing, a diploma in pre-school teaching. Another 92 per cent of principals are also degree holders, or are pursuing one, she said.

Besides ensuring that teachers undergo 30 hours of professional development every year, Mrs Tan added that the curriculum is regularly revised and updated to ensure its relevance.

Fee increases for centres run by the PAP Community Foundation vary across the island

A check with two other centres found that there are no plans to raise fees for now.

It was previously reported that 22 centres under the Sembawang Group Representation Constituency would increase fees by 20 per cent from next year.

Parents such as Mr Patrick Tan feared that the marginal fee increases might not be sustainable, leading to a situation where operators continue to raise fees every year.

“The Government subsidies might not keep up with fee increases and parents would end up paying more on their own,” he said.