Early Childhood Development Agency

The Early Childhood Development Agency (Abbreviation: ECDA; Malay: Agensi Pembangunan Awal Kanak-kanak; Tamil: ஆரம்பகால பாலர்பருவ மேம்பாட்டு வாரியம்; Chinese: 幼儿培育署) 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.

Early Childhood Development Agency
Logo of the Early Childhood Development Agency
Agency overview
Formed1 April 2013 (2013-04-01)
JurisdictionGovernment of Singapore
Headquarters51 Cuppage Road, #08-01, Singapore 229469
Agency executive
  • Jamie Ang, Chief Executive Officer
Parent agencyMinistry of Social and Family Development
Ministry of Education
Websitewww.ecda.gov.sg

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.[1] 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.[2]

Following the announcement, the Agency was formed on 1 April 2013.[2]

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.[3]

See also

References
  1. "National Day Rally 2012". Prime Minister's Office (Singapore). 26 August 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2020. First of all, we will establish a new statutory board to oversee preschool education.
  2. "Launch of The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA)". MOE. 27 March 2013. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  3. "About Us". ECDA. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.