By Leonard Lim

Ms Veronica Ho has two sons, aged five and three, who attend private preschools in Bedok.

One charges $880 a month, the other $570.

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While the emphasis at one centre is on structured learning, the other encourages pupils to be creative and absorb knowledge through free play.

Said Ms Ho, 34, who works in the health-care sector: 'I sent them to different schools as it's too expensive to send both to the one that costs over $800 a month. But I have seen that the teaching methods are too varied.'

The concern over whether Junior is sufficiently prepared for Primary 1 - given the varied approaches - is also shared by another parent, Mr Tan Tin Wee.

'Kids are expected to spell and know numbers by the time they enter Primary 1. More standardisation in preschool to prepare them for primary school would be good,' said the 38-year-old civil servant.

His daughter, who started Primary 1 this year, spent four years at Faith Educare Centre in Sengkang.

Last Monday, Education Minister Ng Eng Hen told Parliament that the Government had no plans to nationalise preschool education, as there is no universally accepted model for kindergarten teaching.

There will be guidelines but no prescription for the approximately 500 kindergartens and 800 childcare centres.

That decision sits well with Ms Anne van Dam, 42, senior preschool director for the upmarket EtonHouse International in Orchard Boulevard.

'The unique early childhood settings would disappear if the Government had gone ahead. Research has shown that young children learn best through play.'

Mr Lim Teck Huat, 50, chief executive of the PAP Community Foundation - the largest kindergarten operator here - said prescribing a certain syllabus would unleash rankings among preschools.

'The kids should be allowed to flourish at their own pace, and we shouldn't become like a factory where everyone does the same thing,' he said.

There already exist plenty of preschool options, observed housewife Ivy Long, 38.

Ms Long picked the upmarket Odyssey The Global Preschool in Wilkinson Road - which focuses on experience-based learning - for her four-year-old son.

'Diversity is crucial for my child's development as well as his outlook on life,' she said.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.