New grant for operators to support internships in early childhood sector
TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) will be introducing a new Early Childhood Capability Grant to support childcare centres and kindergartens to enhance their internship programmes for students.
To help operators deliver consistent and quality internship experiences, the grant will be given to operators selected by polytechnics and ITEs to host interns under the enhanced internship programme.
Announcing this during the Ministry of Education (MOE) Committee of Supply (COS) in Parliament today (March 6), Senior Minister of State for Education and Law Indranee Rajah said: “The grant will help employers defray costs of developing and running internship programmes – for instance, the cost of training and deployment of mentors, as well as costs in providing stipends, and teaching and learning resources for interns.”
Under the enhanced programme, students enrolled in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) courses at polytechnics and ITE will benefit from a standardised 22-week internship – almost double the length of some existing internship programmes.
They will also have more comprehensive learning outcomes covering key knowledge and skills, as well as have an assigned mentor to ease their transition from school into the workplace.
These key enhancements are expected to be progressively introduced in the full-time ECCE courses from September this year.
Operators will receive S$1,700 per intern to support senior early childhood teachers who will have to take on additional mentoring commitments or hire relief staff to cover their duties. Another S$200 per intern will be provided to cover the cost of teaching materials and project resources.
ECDA will also co-fund half of the minimum wage paid to students. Operators must commit to paying a minimum stipend of S$600 and S$700 per month to ITE and polytechnic students respectively.
“The benefits of internships are clear. They provide an authentic learning environment that allow the student to gain real life practical knowledge and hands-on experience,” said Ms Indranee.
