SINGAPORE — Starting next month, the Government will look beyond just the bidding price in open tenders for childcare centre sites in the heartlands, and consider other factors such as the quality and affordability of the programmes.

Previously, sites were awarded to the operator which put in the highest bid — a practice that indirectly drives up childcare fees.

The change is one of the measures that the newly established Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) is implementing to achieve its objectives of affordability, accessibility and quality of the pre-school sector.

The ECDA, which began operations this month, oversees the regulation and development of kindergarten and child/infant care programmes for children below the age of six. The autonomous agency is jointly overseen by the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF).

Speaking to the media last week, ECDA Chief Executive Officer Lee Tung Jean said the tender for childcare sites was assessed “purely based on price”. “So whoever bids the highest rental can get the site and ... that makes the cost structure of the childcare centre so much higher,” she said.

On the new practice, she said: “Beyond just the price, we will also be looking at what kind of quality programme they can offer and what sort of fees they intend to charge.”

Dr Lee, who was formerly Director of the Energy Division at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, said that her agency will also be working “very closely” with the Housing and Development Board (HDB) to lower the childcare centre’s rental costs.

The Government had earlier announced that it would be increasing the number of anchor operators - from the existing two, NTUC First Campus and the PAP Community Foundation - and Dr Lee reiterated that such a move would also help to make childcare more affordable. Anchor operators receive Government funding to offset operation costs, including teachers’ salaries in return for subsidised fees.

ECDA, which is staffed by officers from the MSF and MOE, is also the accrediting body for licensing the sector. It also has the authority to take errant operators to task and in the extreme, close them down.

On the curriculum of childcare programmes, Dr Lee said that the planning will be left to the MOE. Nevertheless, ECDA’s early childhood development experts will work closely on this with MOE staff within the agency.

The agency will also be reviewing the Singapore Pre-school Accreditation Framework and explore what can be done to get smaller centres onboard. It may also extend the framework to childcare operators that cater to children below four years old.

MOE recently announced that it will set up its own kindergartens. Dr Lee said these kindergartens would be regulated in the same manner as the rest of the sector. ECDA would not be involved with the decision-making of the MOE kindergartens to ensure “clear accountability” and prevent a conflict of interest.

To better understand what parents want in childcare, ECDA will conduct a survey in the coming months. The agency will use the survey findings when it subsequently puts out information for parents to help them make informed decisions when it comes to selecting a childcare centre.

ECDA will also embark on efforts to reach out to children from lower-income households who do not attend pre-school. Depending on the family circumstances, the agency will work with social workers to help these children.

During the interview, the reporters noted that Dr Lee, a Rhodes Scholar who holds a doctorate in economics from Oxford University, seemed to have little professional experience with early childhood development in her career so far in the Administrative Service.

In response, Dr Lee said: “Even now when I speak with colleagues who are experts in this area, I find that I can understand where they are coming from...how it’s important to teach children through things like purposeful play. It’s exactly the things I had also been doing with my kids. So it’s something that is intuitively, quite natural for me and I can pick up quite readily.”

Dr Lee is married with three children aged between 14 and four. Her eldest son, Sheldon, had previously been in the news for his outstanding academic performance, including scoring a distinction in the international equivalent of the O-Level mathematics exam when he was just nine years old.