News

When our child was six months old, we registered our interest with the Early Childhood Development Agency to enrol him in our daughter’s pre-school for playgroup when he turned 18 months. We were waiting for the centre to notify us about the registration when the enrolment date was nearer. We were, however, informed that my daughter’s school has scrapped the sibling affiliation system for registration. Parents may be unaware that many pre-schools do not guarantee children a place even though the elder siblings are enrolled in the school. This is unlike the primary school Phase 1 registration, which gives siblings priority. We are now scrambling to find a pre-school for my son, who turned 18 months recently. But my friends are in a worse predicament than me. Some of them have more than two children. Without this priority system in place, their children, ranging from one to six years of age, may be placed in different pre-schools. With the rising transport cost and cost of living, many of these families will find it financially and logistically difficult to send three or four kids to different schools every school day. Rushing to send them to school and getting to their workplace will be a nightmare. I hope the sibling affiliation priority system can be implemented across all pre-schools, just like in primary schools for those entering Primary 1.