By Mavis Toh

Singapore's largest kindergarten operator has come up with a package to align its staff's pay with market rates.

This will help recruit and retain talent as the PAP Community Foundation (PCF) expands in the next five years.

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean said this yesterday at the official opening of PCF Punggol East Sparkletots Infant & Child Care Centre.

PCF, which now runs 250 kindergartens and 33 childcare centres islandwide, recently completed a salary harmonisation exercise to ensure that salary ranges are in line with the market's.

A kindergarten principal with an early childhood education degree will get a monthly salary of between $2,300 and $4,375, depending on experience, ability and performance.

Teachers with a basic degree start off with at least $2,100, while the monthly pay of diploma holders will range from $1,300 to $2,720.

Childcare teaching staff too will receive up to $300 more, to reflect the more demanding work.

Mr Teo said: 'There are many childcare centres. We want to make sure we follow the market, so that we can attract good quality teachers and childcare minders to provide good quality education.'

The industry has been plagued by low pay, making it difficult to retain staff.

Mr Teo has assured parents that fees for PCF centres will remain affordable. For instance, its childcare centres - which cater to children aged two months to six years old - now charge a median fee of about $450 monthly.

In the next five years, PCF will open another 40 childcare centres.

All new centres will be in the heartland to provide services from infant care to childcare and even student care.

This is in line with the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports' plan to add 200 new childcare centres in the next five years to meet the rising demand.

Working mum Nguyen Thi Hong Diep, 36, who has a three-month-old infant and a six-year-old daughter, finds it hard to manage both family and career. 'I am seriously considering sending my older child to a childcare centre,' said the business owner.

Besides boosting numbers, PCF will review its curriculum to provide substantial content and innovative teaching methods.

Some kindergartens will even implement innovations like integrating the use of Lego toys into the curriculum.

Ms Teng Siew King, 29, quit her accounting job last month to work in a childcare centre. She took a 40 per cent pay cut.

'I really want to work with children. I'm glad that the childcare industry is getting more recognition,' she said.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.