SINGAPORE — By 2017, at least one in two children aged 18 months to six years will have access to full-day childcare as the Government plans to add 20,000 places to ensure sufficient capacity to meet the growing demand for quality childcare here.

More childcare centres will also be built in “high demand” areas, said Acting Minister for Social and Family Development Chan Chun Sing in Parliament yesterday. Over the next two years, Punggol will see 15 more centres added to its current 22 centres, while Woodlands, with an existing 49 centres, will get 10 more.

Laying out a five-year childcare master plan (2013-2017) in Parliament yesterday, Mr Chan noted how childcare capacity has increased by 10 per cent between 2005 and 2008, and by 45 per cent between 2009 and 2012.

And even as the Government will build to meet future demand, he cited two challenges: The availability of physical sites to build the centres and trained manpower to staff them.

To address the issue of space, the Government will be building future childcare centres at new Build-To-Order Housing and Development Board (HDB) blocks, and co-locating the centres with other facilities such as carparks and hawker centres.

“We will not only look for void decks to convert to childcare centres, we will try to explore all sorts of innovative ideas, such as the conversion of disused facilities,” he said.

An example Mr Chan cited was the Eager Beaver Schoolhouse which now sits in an old swimming pool complex in Bukit Merah Central.

The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) will also work with owners of private premises, and try to build more centres near workplace sites so parents can visit their children during lunch hour, he added.

Currently, about a quarter of the 1,000 childcare centres are located near workplaces. Manpower remains a challenge, even though the number of pre-school teachers, centre supervisors and principals has increased to 15,800 now, from the 10,500 in 2008.

Mr Chan said the ministry will continue to work with the Singapore Workforce Development Agency and training agencies to expand the “manpower pipeline”.

Several Members of Parliament also raised questions about the quality and affordability of childcare and whether the criteria for the Anchor Operator Scheme (AOP) could be reviewed to allow more operators on board.

Under the scheme, anchor operators receive government funding to offset operation costs in return for subsidised fees. There are currently two anchor operators under the scheme: NTUC First Campus and the PAP Community Foundation.

Mr Chan said that the scheme has helped “expand” childcare options for the middle-income group. Some 130 new childcare centres have been set up offering fees that are “below the industry median”.

Mr Chan said the Government is open to having more anchor operators, and will issue a Request for Proposal in the second quarter of this year.

“We want to support more anchor operators to come in, to provide quality, affordable, accessible childcare services. In particular, to the middle- income and the lower-income groups,” he added.

A new agency, the Early Childhood Development Agency, will be formed on April 1, and it will help to harmonise rules and regulations, among other things.