KUCHING: Six more Early Childhood Education Institutions will be added under Sedidik Sdn Bhd this year in an effort to provide the best service to communities across Sarawak.
Minister of Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah said it augured well with the way Sedidik provides early childhood education in places that need it.
This is the third year Sedidik has been under the auspices of the state government to enable access to early childhood education, especially in areas where such services are not provided by other agencies such as Tabika Perpaduan and preschools.
“Therefore, Sedidik will expand further this year by adding six institutions including kindergartens in Debak in Rumah Seliau which is expected to operate in the first quarter of this year.
“There is also a Bintulu Development Board (BDA) kindergarten in addition to the existing one; Child Care Centre (7-12 years old), the Betong kindergarten and Sarawak Social Welfare Department’s (JKMS) Workplace Nursery are still waiting for permits at the moment,” added Fatimah.
She said this at the Sedidik Excellent Awards Ceremony 2022 as well as unveiling of Sedidik’s new logo at the Waterfront Hotel on Saturday night.
In addition, Fatimah noted that Sedidik is also in the process of upgrading the Urban Transformation Centre (UTC) Kindergarten and that the Masja Workplace Nursery will also be renovated to provide comfortable conditions.
“This is our direction, we move according to demand and wherever there is a need for early childhood education services if we are able, we will provide them.
“God willing, next year we will have more early childhood institutions according to what has been discussed before,” she said.
As of January 31, there were 99 Sedidik institutions with a total of 2,457 children including 79 kindergartens with 1,955 children; and 20 nurseries with 502 children throughout Sarawak.
Meanwhile, the number of educators in kindergarten is 117 and 36 nannies in nurseries.
In a related matter, Fatimah said the ministry aims for 100 per cent of Sedidik educators to have at least a Diploma in Early Childhood Education by 2025 through collaboration with local public and private higher education institutions.
“To achieve this goal, Sedidik has also established collaboration with the Open University of Malaysia, the Sarawak Skills Development Centre (PPKS), the Institute of Teacher Education (IPG) and SIDMA Sarawak College.
“This is very important because the quality of educators is very significant in ensuring the quality of service delivery is always the best and satisfactory.
“As of January 31, the number of educators is 153 – 11 educators (7.20 per cent) have a Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education, 102 educators (66.67 per cent) have a Diploma in Early Childhood Education, 40 educators (26.14 per cent) including five Penan educators in the Apoh-Tutoh area are currently studying and are expected to finish in 2025,” she said.
