KUCHING: The Education Ministry has been urged to increase government-run pre-schools and kindergartens in urban areas, to ease the financial burden of parents, especially those with more than one child.
Apart from that, it is also crucial to ensure the quality of these educational institutions, to equip young children with social-emotional and life skills that can set them up for future success.
President of Purple Lily, a non-profit organisation committed to inspire and empower women and girls to thrive, Suraya Bujang, said preschools or kindergartens would be the first experience for a child to learn the importance of sharing and new things which foster personal growth in a structured setting.
“Although a child learns to talk while at home, in a preschool, the continuous interaction and exposure with children of the same age group and with teachers helps them to enhance their communication skills.
“Therefore, qualified and well-trained teachers are equally important to give a positive effect on children’s development and their readiness to learn,” she told New Sarawak Tribune.
Suraya said high-quality preschool programmes represent an investment in the workers, leaders and innovators of tomorrow by helping children from low-income families build academic and social skills, promoting their cognitive development and mental health.
She believed that a high-quality preschool programme would have a significant impact on poverty as well.
She was commenting on Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek’s recent statement that there was a need to increase early childhood education facilities as parents in the urban areas were burdened and struggling to find privately run institutions in which to send their children.
She added that having preschool access available in the urban areas could also remove barriers to employment and help build economic security for low-income parents — particularly single mothers and low-income families as well as to contribute to building a stronger economy for all.
