Labuan dept pioneers English for pre-school programme
LABUAN: The Department of National Unity and Integration (JPNIN) Labuan has become the pioneer in introducing the first ever Creative Smart Programme and English Pre-School in all its kindergarten schools.
Confirming this, JPNIN Malaysia Director-General Baharin Idris said the programme would be applied to all schools across the country.
“The JPNIN Labuan created history in our achievement in emphasising the early literacy of English language in the teaching and interaction in our Tabika Perpaduan. We want this programme to be applied in all JPNIN's kindergartens nationwide.
“This is the brainchild of the Member of Parliament for Labuan Datuk Rozman Isli and JPNIN Labuan initiated it successfully,” he said at the Smile Window of Communication programme at the Labuan International School here yesterday. Rozman in his speech said as early childhood education moved ahead in public policy debate, more attention is being paid to early literacy.
“Early childhood professionals have long recognised the importance of language and literacy in preparing children to succeed in school,” he said.
Rozman who is also chairman of Labuan Corporation said literacy development started early in life and was highly correlated with school achievement.
“All of the domains of a child's development; physical, socialemotional, cognitive, language and literacy are interrelated and interdependent.
“The more limited a child's experiences with language and literacy the more likely he or she will have difficulty in learning to read,” he said.
He reminded that parent involvement programs should have a strong early literacy component that guided parents and caregivers in providing early literacy experiences at home.