By Amelia Tan

SINGAPORE's biggest childcare operator will build 25 more centres over the next 12 to 18 months, giving it a total of 75.

NTUC Childcare will also improve the lot of its teachers: It will spend $1.5 million more a year to raise salaries, and on training.

The expansion plan will also create jobs - 350 more teachers will have to be hired for the new centres. It has 511 now.

The expansion will add another 2,500 places to the 5,500 which it offers now.

This is the first operator to come up with concrete proposals to help meet the Government's goal of building 200 new childcare centres by 2013 and to raise teaching standards in the pre-school sector.

Singapore aims to have about 1,000 childcare centres by 2013, up from 749 now.

NTUC Childcare also announced yesterday that it has a new name with immediate effect: NTUC First Campus.

The group operates two types of centres - most situated at the void decks of Housing Board blocks, and a few scattered around community clubs, workplaces and within landed estates.

All offer full-day programmes for children between 18 months and six years old.

The plans were unveiled yesterday by chief executive Chan Tee Seng.

He did not give details of where the new centres would be, but touched on teachers' pay.

Mr Chan said that those with diplomas or higher qualifications can expect an average salary increase of 8.4 per cent. The starting pay of teachers with teaching diplomas, for instance, will increase from $1,400 to $1,600.

Those with leadership diplomas, which qualify them to be principals, will move from $1,600 to $1,800 a month, while those with degrees can expect to be paid at least $2,000.

Those without such qualifications will not get a raise. The group did not say why, though it did say that there are only a few such teachers.

Staff will also get more training opportunities, via overseas study visits, scholarships, and other programmes.

Raising salaries and giving teachers opportunities to improve themselves are key challenges for the childcare industry, which is suffering from high turnover as more and more teachers leave because salaries are so low and opportunities for advancement are few.

The challenging work environment - teachers work long hours and have to perform duties such as cleaning up after children - also contributes to this.

Asked if the moves to raise pay and qualifications will lead to higher costs, and thus a fee hike for parents, Mr Chan said it was possible.

But he said any rise would be limited to the 'lower end of the 5 to 10 per cent range' this year.

He added that, rise or no rise, the group aims to keep fees below the national median for childcare centres, which is $630 a month.

NTUC Childcare centres now charge about $500 monthly.

News of an impending pay hike and better opportunities for self-development were cheered by teachers.

Said Ms Wind Tan, 23, a teacher at the NTUC centre at Toa Payoh Lorong 4 who completed her degree in education last June: 'The better pay and faster career progression will motivate me to stay on.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times on January 15, 2009.