Petition to ministers to regulate pre-school fees

[JazN]

is there a facebook page to "like" or just send email directly?

[phtthp]

parents,


may read
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=31870

[DesertWind]

This morning, this issue was brought up and discussed on the radio FM90.5 at about 8.30 am (I was in a taxi and happen to hear it). If I am not wrong one of the DJs was Brian. They supplied a telephone number for parents to call in to talk about the price hike of preschool fees. This issue is getting the attention in public so certainly our voices are heard.


Nonetheless, parents with pre-schoolers please continue to support this petition by sending an email to Mr James Tan who is gathering email "signatures" before sending the petition to the relevant authorities. We should not be keeping quiet about this as the fees really hit us hard.

[DesertWind]

A writer to the ST Forum page disagreed that this petition should go to the government. Writer’s view is that pre-school education is like shopping for luxury goods. Those who cannot afford to go high-fees preschool should just go for one that they can afford. Namely PCF and NTUC chains.


Furthermore, writer mentioned that parents should go direct to the operator of the pre-school instead of looking to the government and petitioning.

I disagree with the above mainly because:

Kindergartens and Childcare centres fall under the control of MOE and the MCYS. Why is it not right to petition to the relevant authorities? Especially for MCYS who is providing subsidies for working mothers SGD300 per month for full-day etc. which is suppose to provide relief to the parents, surely they would want to ensure that CCC operators are not exploiting this and increasing fees to inflict the same pain despite the subsidies?

Furthermore, pricing of kindergartens and CCC MUST surely be of some concern to MOE/MCYS? If the government does not think this is their responsibility, why set up the Education Ministry in the first place?

Why does the MOE/MCYS allow overseas operators to come into Singapore to buy up local preschools and then charge sky-high fees any time of the year as and when they wish without putting forth any warnings to such operators?

Learning Vision has various branches in government statutory boards, hospitals, polytechnics, goverment depts. like IRAS and MOM etc… I would have thought such "privileged" locations would be due to government’s effort to provide parents with CCC facilities at such "public" institutions which is truly commendable. But why does MCYS/MOE/ministries allows Foreign Operator(s) to buy up such pre-schools and then does not put in some form of controls over the pricing of the school fees?

I draw an example from the banking sector. MAS controls the banking sector tightly and efficiently. Recently, pricing guidelines and code of conduct when dealing with the consumers are very important. We can feel the controls by the various notices, guidelines and circulars sent addressing such topics and the banks got to toe the line on the various issues that MAS is looking into. We literally feel the heat (I work in a bank).

Likewise, as a parent, I am looking for such controls in the education sector. Where is the pricing guideline? Where is the control of licenses, ownership? I don’t feel it hence I strongly support the petition to the relevant ministries.

I strongly disagree that "shopping" for educational pre-school is like shopping for luxury branded goods. Pre-school is a very important aspect of childhood education that parents/children cannot do without. Furthermore, parents often have not much choices in terms of the locations as we can only choose CCC/kindergartens around our homes or workplaces. We are worried about uncontrolled price increases. We are worried about overseas operators buying up all the GOOD and WELL LOCATED CCC and THEN increase prices uncontrolled by the government, thereby holding us vulnerable parents hostage in the process.

Sure we can vote with our feet. There is no need to point this out to us. But we cannot vote with our feet anymore if ALL CCCs are owned by this same operator buying up all reputable pre-schools in SG (I am exaggerating this to proof my point).

We are appealing to the authorities for protection to vulnerable parents and control educational providers especially in the setting of fees and anti-competitive measures.

The petition is the most peaceful, civilized way we can think of to get our voices heard by the relevant authorities. To me, this is the right way to go.

[phtthp]

:goodpost: support fully!

[Imami]

That writer is most likely someone who is not affected by the price hikes…

[jamestan197300]

Dear Parents,


I have written back to ST Forum to reply why I disagree with the write Eric Lim. It was printed on 7 May 2012.

"I AM the parent who started the petition to regulate preschool fees (‘Petitioning Govt isn’t right way’ by Mr Eric Lim; last Monday). I agree with Mr Lim that parents are responsible for their children’s education but, unlike him, I feel that the Government has a large role to play in regulating preschool fees, even those of private childcare centres.

While the Government should not prevent preschool fee hikes, it must mandate some checks and balances to ensure that the increases are fair and justified, and that preschool operators are not unnecessarily exploiting parents. Currently, there are no regulations and private childcare centres are free to raise fees as they wish.

When my child was in Nursery 2, the monthly school fee was $850. However, within two years, it rose to $1,275. If fees in the private education sector are left unchecked, prices across all segments may eventually rise, affecting not only high-income families but also middle-class and lower-income families.

While I agree that the Government has done its part by providing preschools run by the PAP Community Foundation and the National Trades Union Congress, I do not think lower-income parents will agree that these are truly affordable as their fees are substantially higher than primary school fees.

Why does the Government feel that it is less important to subsidise preschool education?"

James Tan

[kikocd]

i would like to sign the petition. how do i do it?


i just wanna say that its true that PCF and NTUC are offering the lower end prices - but they are not cheap if you have 2 kids and average family income is 4k. easily 1k gone to pay for child care (assuming 350 per child) but the youngest class (3 year old) is usually more expensive. plus you have to pick up kids before 7pm, so parents can’t really work overtime - unless you get a maid to counter this.

and what if the PCF / NTUC CC nearest my house is full, what do i do? from experience most NTUC and PCF have long wait list also.

i am not even talking about "branded" preschools here. so whoever that oppose to the peition is really shallow.

i just want to know why child care fees of $650 before $300 subsidy does not guarantee a place? why can’t child care be free (esp those like PCF and NTUC) if they encourage mothers to work full time. don’t they know gone are the days where work is just 9 to 5?

[magiccastle]

Now the issue is not just of raising the school fee. KU is totally unethical . A few of the LVs will be closing including those at the statutory boards. Don't even want to give face to Government. :lightrod:

We are talking about Education of young children not simply a retail shop not making$$ then close n open another one at a new location . This is what KU has been doing.Totally ignore the human factor - staff, children , parents n even employers are also affected :mad:
MCYS must step in to regulate.We must protect our children n our right n not letting the American venture capitalist making use of the Singapore child care centers as $ spinning tool n let our children suffer

[magiccastle]

At a bigger issue , if government want to encourage birth rate yet there is insufficient or good childcare centers available , how are working parents going to cope n convince to have more children since there is no support from government n let the market force determine? A number of CCC have waiting list. Even for CCC that serve the staff, in the ministries n stat boards,staff need to be put on waiting list. So can see that CCCs that have established brand name are quite arrogant n and increase the fee or stop any operation as they like it. They are at upper hand since the demand for their service is there.

The situation is just like government want to increase population n let in a influx of foreigners, yet infrastructure is not there to support or leave it to the market force to determine >>> what happen? >> overcrowding , not sufficient new flats for couples, increased pty price, inflation , transport system breakdown frequently> people suffer.
Look at China, cities like shanghai- even for pre-schools , whole family need to queue up to get a place for their kid, according to the news , only 1 out of 4 applicants will be successful.
Oh, so stressful, how to have children?

Singapore ,