Lactation room in schools and educational institutions

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang, Nee Soon GRC

Question

To ask the Minister for Education (a) what percentage of (i) primary schools (ii) secondary schools and (iii) post-secondary educational institutions currently have at least one lactation room; and (b) whether the Ministry can make it compulsory for all schools and educational institutions to have at least one lactation room.

Response

1. MOE is committed to providing a conducive workplace for nursing mothers. This includes providing schools with lactation facilities, which has become a standard building specification for MOE. Today, about 85% of primary schools, 65% of secondary schools and 90% of junior colleges/centralised institutes have a lactation room. For the remaining schools, MOE will progressively provide lactation facilities where feasible over the next 3 years. Presently, all Institutes of Higher Learning, the Autonomous Universities, polytechnics and Institute of Technical Education (ITE) are equipped with lactation facilities.