The Singapore government will continue to invest heavily in the education of the young, the Minister of Defence Mr Teo Chee Hean, said at the PAP Community Foundation Punggol Branches year end ceremony cum kindergarten concert today.

Mr Teo also said that family support plays an important role play to give encouragement and support to young learners.

In his speech, Mr Teo highlighted the various initiatives taken by the government in helping Singaporeans through the current economic situation.

The PAP Community Foundation will also do its part to help low income families by helping to ensure that the kindergarten education of their children is not affected.

Children from low-income families received subsidies of up to 70-90% per month to offset the cost of their nursery education through the MCYS' extended KIFAS support programme. In addition, they may also benefit from the $200 start-up grant for payment of registration fees, deposit, purchase of uniforms and insurance, and other charges.

He also announced the launch of the PCF Family Kindergarten Assistance Project (FKAP). This is a one-off assistance which provides support to eligible students of PCF who are from low-income households.

Eligible families will receive a grant of $100 which will be disbursed over 2 tranches, which will go towards covering their PCF kindergarten fees. Students from families with gross household income of $2,000 and below.

Mr Teo said that about S$1,000,000 was set aside for this project.

To better support working parents, Punggol East will open its Sparkle Tots Childcare next year, Mr Teo said. It will also encourage working mothers to have children knowing there are affordable, quality childcares nearer to their homes.

Mr Teo also featured the Punggol Central kindergarten in his speech. The pre-school included K2 graduation camp in their syllabus as part of a preparation programme to help to strengthen the children's social skills and prepare them for the next phase of Primary school.