NTUC First Campus unveils $500,000 “Bright Horizons Fund Care Package for COVID-19” to provide 100% fee offset off the net fees payable, for low-income families who face reduction in household income or loss of job.

NTUC First Campus (NFC) had earlier announced that all 167 of its pre-schools will provide a partial fee offset of the net fees for children not attending the pre-school during the Circuit Breaker period. In support of the latest Government measures on fee offset, NFC will be extending this partial fee offset to cover the extended Circuit Breaker period in May. A 50% fee offset off the net fees payable will apply to Singaporean children enrolled in NTUC First Campus’ My First Skool (MFS), The Little Skool-House (LSH) and The Caterpillar’s Cove (TCC) and are not attending pre-school during the extended Circuit Breaker period in May. This is part of NFC’s continuous efforts to provide support to families and their children through this crucial period, when centres suspend general services from Wednesday, 8 April 2020 to Monday, 1 June 2020. More than 20,000 children will benefit from this support.

More than 150 NFC pre-schools will remain open to provide limited services to serve up to 8% of children whose parents are working in essential services and without alternative care arrangements during this period. 

Bright Horizons Fund Care Package for COVID-19 for My First Skool children

To provide additional support for families who have had a reduction in household income [1] or loss of job during this COVID-19 period, NFC’s Bright Horizons Fund (BHF) has initiated a $500,000 “Bright Horizons Fund Care Package for COVID-19” to provide a 100% fee offset off the net fees payable [2] for these families for six months, for children enrolled or enrolling in MFS with household income (HHI) ≤ $4,500 per month (p.m.). This package is available for application till end 2020. 

Mr Chan Tee Seng, NTUC First Campus’ CEO, said: “As part of the NTUC family, our goal is to help working parents so that the children do not lose out on their educational experience even if their parents are affected by financial hardship. We understand that our low-income families are struggling to support their children’s pre-school education due to a reduction in income or loss of job during this COVID-19 period. To allay their worries and share their financial burden, we have stepped up to provide a 100% fee offset of net fees payable for six months, for these families.”  

Mr Tengku Halid Faizal Bin Tengku Mohd Yusoff, father of a K2 child at MFS who will receive support from the “Bright Horizons Fund Care Package for COVID-19”, said: “I used to be a limousine driver who fetches tourists from the airport but I lost my job due to the COVID-19 situation. My wife is a housewife and we have two young children to care for. It has been a very challenging time for us as we have no income now. We were looking at withdrawing our child from pre-school because we really cannot afford it anymore. We are very happy to receive this timely financial support that covers our elder daughter’s pre-school fees for six months so that she can continue learning before she goes to Primary 1 next year. This also eases our financial burden a lot and gives me time to look for a job.”

“At the same time, we will also continue to push out a wide variety and engaging range of Home-Based Learning resources on KidzMatters. Since our launch three weeks ago, some 70,000 parents have visited the portal. This is a challenging period for all, and we will continue to do our best to provide support for families to tide them through,” Mr Chan added.

[1] This refers to a reduction in income for at least one month.

[2] The net pre-school fees payable is the amount after Government subsidies, and 50% fee offsets by MFS for the entire Circuit Breaker period from 8 Apr to 1 Jun 2020.