23. 陈有明医生（裕廊集选区议员）询问社会和家庭发展部部长：

(a)社会与家庭发展部是否研究过一些区域面临学前教育供应不足的原因，特别是在建屋局预购组屋（BTO）的建造阶段早期就为这些区域规划了学前班？

(b) 在此情况下，政府机构如何帮助家长？

马善高（社会与家庭发展部长）先生：幼儿培育署（ECDA）根据每个规划区的人口统计、预计居民出生组群、入学趋势和现有供应情况，来制定学前教育名额，以满足预计需求。从2018 年到 2023 年，我们增加了4万多个全日制学前教育名额，增幅约为25%。如今，全日制学前教育的学位已超过20 万个，足以满足全国和规划区域的需求。

然而，由于家长的偏好各不相同，部分地区可能会出现供不应求的情况。这种情况只发生在极少数地区。在这些地区，幼儿培育署（ECDA）与建屋局（HDB）和现有运营商合作，在可行的情况下，盘活可用的空置平台和公共空间，用于学习教育中心的增建和扩建。幼儿培育署（ECDA）还与经营者合作，为这些地区的学前教育机构重新部署人力。

如果家长对学前教育有迫切需求，我们鼓励他们尽可能扩大学前教育的选择范围，例如考虑邻近社区、父母工作场所附近或祖父母家有空位的学前教育机构。为协助家长寻找学前教育机构，幼儿培育署（ECDA）在LifeSG应用程序上设计了一个新的学前教育机构搜索功能，家长可通过该功能查找有空位的学前教育中心，并直接与学前教育机构联系报名事宜。

REASONS WHY SOME PRECINCTS ARE FACED WITH INSUFFICIENT SUPPLY OF PRESCHOOLS

23 Dr Tan Wu Meng asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) whether the Ministry has studied the reasons why some precincts face an insufficient supply of preschools especially when a preschool was planned for the precinct earlier during the Housing and Development Board Build-to-Order (HDB BTO) construction phase; and (b) how are Government agencies helping parents in such situations.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) plans for preschool places to meet projected demand, based on the demographics, projected resident birth cohort, enrolment trends and existing supply in each Planning Area. From 2018 to 2023, we have added more than 40,000 full-day preschool places, or about a 25% increase. Today, there are over 200,000 full-day preschool places, which is more than sufficient to meet demand at both the national and Planning Area levels.

Nevertheless, demand can exceed supply at the district level due to varying parent preferences. This occurs only in a very small number of districts. In such areas, ECDA works with the Housing and Development Board (HDB) and existing operators to activate available void deck and communal spaces for centre additions and extensions, where feasible. ECDA also works with operators to redeploy manpower to preschools in these areas.

Where parents have an urgent need for preschool, we encourage them to broaden their choice of preschools where possible, such as by considering preschools with available vacancies in adjacent neighbourhoods, near parents' workplaces or in the vicinity of grandparents' homes. To support parents in their search, ECDA has designed a new preschool search on LifeSG, which allows parents to look for centres with available vacancies and contact preschools directly on enrolment.