70 pre-schools in S’pore closed each year from 2023 to 2025. What’s driving the closures?
Most of them were non-government supported pre-schools.
In Singapore, an average of 70 pre-schools close each year from 2023 to 2025, primarily non-government-supported centres facing rising costs, manpower pressures and falling fertility. Pre-School By-The-Park @ Li Hwan, a privately-run centre in Serangoon Gardens, closed in November 2025 due to falling enrolment and the inability to attract 40 new students to remain open.
The centre's founder, Loy Wee Mee, explained that private pre-schools have more flexibility in innovation but face higher costs and manpower demands, which can be particularly challenging for smaller, non-funded centres. In response to the closure, concerned parents rallied to save the centre, raising funds through social media and neighbourhood banners.
The centre has since been renamed Wonder Yard Schoolhouse and is now managed by the parents as a non-profit. The Ministry of Social and Family Development reported that about half of the centers that ceased operations in 2025 had been operating at below 40% of their enrolment capacity. ECDA chief executive, Ku Geok Boon, noted that smaller operators face operational challenges more acutely, and some closures represent mergers for better economies of scale.
The sector has grown rapidly, with more than 220,000 full-day pre-school places, up from about 135,000 in 2016, and the number of licensed pre-schools remaining relatively stable at around 1,753.
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