By Goh Pei Pei & Margaret Ringgit
MIRI: The Sarawak Government has approved RM2.5 million for child care fee subsidy to ensure the disadvantaged and vulnerable groups are able to attend preschools as well.
Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg said the allocation could help families who were unable to send their children to preschools due to financial constraints.
“We know she’s very passionate about helping our young children and I sympathised with those children who couldn’t attend preschools, so her request for RM2.5 million is approved,” he said, referring to Women, Early Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah’s request.
Earlier, Fatimah said the federal government has given a fee subsidy for child care centres (TASKA) and kindergarten (TADIKA) children including those in Sarawak. Each child is entitled to a RM180 subsidy per month for those whose family incomes are RM800 and below for urban areas and RM500 for rural areas.
She said the applications for the fee subsidy have to be submitted to Sarawak Education Department and only children who are under the e-KASIH list are qualified for the subsidy.
“However, not all eligible parents are registered under e-KASIH due to the sudden economic impact of COVID-19. Thus, out of 2,661 applicants, only 351 have been approved for 2022. Thus, Sarawak needs RM2,148,300 to help all the eligible children,” she added.
Apart from that, Abang Johari said the Sarawak Government has approved special annual grants (GTK) totalling RM16 million since 2019 to assist registered early childhood institutions.
“This is to help our educators involved in ECCE as it is something special, which requires certain soft and specialist skills to deal with young children,” he said at the opening ceremony of Sarawak Preschool International Convention 2022 here today.
“After the last state election, we have a new ministry (Education, Innovation and Talent Development Ministry), but we separate ECCE from it and the reason is simple – we need a special approach to handle our young children,” he said.
Young children, he said, particularly those aged between four and six, like to play games and have fun, thus, the approach to educate them must be fun. Besides, educators can include modern technology and devices to enhance the teaching and learning process in the digital era.
Abang Johari said the Sarawak Government has been placing great emphasis on education, not only in ECCE but also in primary, secondary and tertiary education.
“We don’t mind spending on education as long as we have the money – because our children are our future,” he added.
