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Honour Early Childhood Educators by Supporting their Well-Being, Safety and Productivity

29 Aug 2022

To celebrate Teachers’ Day, which falls on 2 September this year, Minister for Social and Family Development and Second Minister for Health, Mr Masagos Zulkifli visited Learning Kidz @ Jubilee Square to show his appreciation for all early childhood (EC) educators in Singapore. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, our educators have demonstrated their dedication and sacrifice in nurturing our children - from keeping preschools open in support of front-line essential workers to ensuring safety and well-being of children during their learning and daily routines.

Celebratory Initiatives for Teachers’ Day

2   For this year’s Teachers’ Day, ECDA has launched a social media movement #ShareWordsOfThanks, inviting parents and the public to share their words of thanks to EC educators via a fun and interactive Augmented Reality Instagram (AR IG) filter. Parents and their children can record their appreciation message using the filter, post it on their social media page, tagging @BeanstalkECDA. 

3   All EC educators can also look forward to receiving a Thank You Kit comprising sponsored gift items, promotions and discounts redeemable through a mobile app. In its 7th year, Special Treats is a ground-up initiative to celebrate the passion and dedication of EC educators in nurturing our children. It was introduced in 2016 by the Association for Early Childhood Educators Singapore (AECES) and Preschool Market1, with support from ECDA. 
Enhancing EC educators’ Well-being and Workplace safety

4   Other than the celebratory initiatives, ECDA has been working with the Health Promotion Board (HPB) and Workplace Safety & Health (WSH) Council to promote programmes that support the well-being of educators and enhance work safety.

5   Since the recommendations from the Occupational Health and Safety Assessment last September, there has been support provided to enhance the well-being of our educators. To date, more than 5,500 preschool staff from close to 90 preschools have participated in HPB’s workplace health programmes under Health Champs. These programmes are accessible through a mix of virtual and on-site sessions tailored to suit the health needs of preschool staff. They include physical activities and health coaching workshops covering topics such as nutrition and mental wellness. 

6   WSH Council will also be organising Risk Management training workshops customised for the EC sector in November 2022. Preschool operators will be trained on how to identify and manage safety and health risks. 

Improving EC educators’ Productivity with EC Industry Digital Plan

7   Through the EC Industry Digital Plan (IDP), ECDA has been working with operators to help EC educators with their workload and improve productivity. Since the $4 million Early Childhood Digitalisation Grant was launched in October 2021, half of all preschool operators have adopted IDP solutions, including the Preschool Management System which digitalises processes such as temperature and attendance-taking. More solutions will be onboarded progressively,  including a digital learning platform for educators.

1Preschool Market is a social enterprise and the outreach arm of AECES

Please refer to the Annex here.

Thank you.​

​Early Childhood Development Agency​