KOTA SAMARAHAN: Tabika KEMAS buildings will continue to be improved as an effort to provide comfortable facilities for students and teachers.
Deputy Minister of Rural and Regional Development Datuk Rubiah Wang, said, however, land ownership issues are a constraint to the ministry, along with limited government allocations.
“We realise that many KEMAS preschool premises are rented or leased. Nevertheless, KKWD always strives to reduce the number of such (rented or leased) premises every year,” she said.
She said this in her speech at the Muara Tuang Tabika KEMAS appreciation day 2024/2024 at the Sarawak INFRA branch auditorium here on Friday.
Rubiah said, allocation to KEMAS is increased by the Ministry every year to provide comfortable facilities for students in these preschools.
“Although the learning modules are enhanced, we are still somewhat behind in terms of infrastructure, with many KEMAS premises still not meeting the actual requirements for education,” she said.
While the facilities are sometimes lacklustre, Rubiah said the KEMAS education module is among the best in Malaysia, receiving international recognition, namely the Trusted Brand Gold Award in the Preschool category.
She said KEMAS not only emphasises reading, writing, and arithmetic to the preschoolers but also shapes children’s mentality to be dynamic, striving to develop them both academically and socially.
“Therefore, the KEMAS education module is different from other pre-schools, including in terms of talent development. Last year, we focused on talent development, while this year we might focus on their talents in sports,” she said.
Meanwhile, she then a total of 217,370 children are recorded to be studying in 10,671 KEMAS preschools, while 10,440 children are studying in 561 KEMAS nurseries nationwide.
“This figure shows that KEMAS is a key pillar in driving early childhood education. That being said, the existing modules must be improved to deliver a better impact.
“In an effort to strengthen the KEMAS preschool system, the ministry has ensured that all teacher appointments have at least a diploma certificate so that they can contribute and teach children.
“Moreover, we also continuously collaborate with other ministries involved, such as the Ministry of Education Malaysia (KPM), to ensure that the KEMAS preschool system can be improved from time to time,” she said.
At the event, a total of 190 children from 16 KEMAS preschools in the Muara Tuang area were presented certificates.
