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Summary:

On 8 June, Lianhe Zaobao highlighted the NIEC CET Graduation ceremony, during which Minister of State (MOS) for Education and Manpower Gan Siow Huang mentioned that 2024 is NIEC’s 5-year anniversary and shared NIEC’s plan to establish a hub aimed at fostering collaboration among early childhood educators. This initiative seeks to strengthen professional development, professional fellowship, peer support, and learning among the EC fraternity.

Since 2019, NIEC has trained over 20,000 students and in-service EC educators. In addition to offering comprehensive diploma and certificate programmes, the institute provides numerous career development opportunities for those undergoing early childhood education training, such as curriculum development and research.

The article also mentioned the ITE Progression Award (IPA), introduced in this year’s budget. This award supports ITE alumni aged 30 and below with a $5,000 Continuing Education and Training (CET) grant and a $10,000 top-up to their CPF Ordinary Accounts upon completing professional diploma courses. The IPA will be expanded to include NIEC PET and CET awards to attract more ITE graduates to the early childhood education sector.
The article concluded with quotes by NIEC Director and CEO, Mrs Loke-Yeo Teck Yong, reflecting on the institution’s impact in the EC sector and the emphasis that our EC educators remain at the heart of Singapore’s early childhood education as the sector continues to make strides in EC training to benefit our children.