Early Childhood Development Agency


The Early Childhood Development Agency is an Autonomous Agency that manages the early childhood education sector in Singapore. It oversees the development of childcare centres and kindergartens. The Agency is jointly overseen by the Ministry of Social and Family Development and the Ministry of Education, with it being housed in the former.

History

The idea of having an agency for early childhood was first proposed during the 2012 National Day Rally by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as a statutory board, being part of a plan to raise early childhood education standards in Singapore. Before the Agency was formed, kindergartens and childcare centres were managed by the Ministry of Education's Pre-school Education Branch and Ministry of Social and Family Development's Child Care Division respectively.
Following the announcement, the Agency was formed on 1 April 2013.

Overview

The agency's mission is "To Ensure Every Child Has Access To Affordable And Quality Early Childhood Development Services And Programmes", where the early childhood sector is of good quality and has good educators for each child. It mainly focuses on children under the age of 7.