By Jermyn Chow

PARENTS from needy families will get more help from a self-help group and the labour movement here to pay for their children's preschool education fees.

The scheme is borne by the Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC) Workfare Programme and the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) Childcare Bright Horizons Fund.

The scheme will be on top of other subsidies that these families already receive, said labour chief Lim Swee Say, who is also Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, at the CDAC event in Fort Canning Park yesterday.

The aim of the scheme: To offset the costs of starting the children on early childhood development and offload the parents' burden of looking after children, so they can go to work.

Mr Lim said: 'We're trying to help every member of the family, from the father to the mother to the children... not just in terms of financial resources, but also to create more opportunities for them to work together, to play together, to live together, so that the whole family can be more effective as a functioning family.'

The new fund, which was rolled out last month, will give a leg-up to those who 'slip through the system' and do not qualify for existing government subsidies, said Mr Lim.

They include single parents who can barely make ends meet and permanent residents.

Both the CDAC and NTUC have allocated $200,000 for the scheme this year.

Up to 100 children are expected to benefit from it, and more are expected to come on board next year, Mr Lim added.

But the subsidy will be capped at $200 per child each month.

The new subsidy will benefit especially those with net household income not exceeding $1,500 or those whose average income per person in the household does not exceed $450.

Children from low-income families, who do not speak English or speak little English, will also be put on a reading programme to increase their literacy level.

Cheering the new scheme are families like that of Bong Tze An, five.

Both her parents - an air-conditioner technician and a seamstress - bring home a joint income of only $2,400 a month. Yet, they are left with hardly any savings after deducting their living expenses and putting Tze An and her two siblings through school.

Sending Tze An to her Havelock Road childcare centre alone costs $535 a month.

Because she is a permanent resident, Tze An qualifies only for a $75 government childcare subsidy.

The Bongs' financial situation has been so tight that her mother, Madam Siau Memei, 39, wanted to pull her out of the childcare centre.

'We hardly had any breathing space and didn't know how else to pay for her fees,' she said.

But under the joint scheme plus a $75 government subsidy, her childcare fees has been lowered from $535 to about $250 a month.

'Life is much easier now and I can use the extra money for my second son's tuition fees,' said Madam Siau.

To be eligible, the child must be a Singaporean or permanent resident. The child, between two months and six years old, must also attend one of the 39 NTUC childcare centres islandwide.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on September 8, 2008.

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