‘Early childhood education first step to advancement’

KUCHING: Head of State Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud talked at length about the importance of early childhood education, which is the first step to advance development in society.

He said stakeholders in early childhood education, including parents, ought to come together to discuss approaches needed to upgrade the quality of education.

“I’m pleased to observe that our society has come to emphasise the importance and quality of early childhood education, which is something that has to include everybody,” he said when launching the 12th Early Childhood Education Conference 2018 at a leading hotel here yesterday.

Taib said concerted efforts could play a role to enhance understanding so that what early childhood education offered here could match that of international standard.

He added that this would ensure that Sarawak’s early childhood education could achieve the standard of being part of the global society.

“Our world has changed so much,” he said, addfing that many children had natural interests apart from going through the process of taking up the programmes being prepared for them.

Through early childhood education, he believed that educators and the relevant stakeholders could make life more interesting for the young learners.

He added that early childhood education was also a platform for young individuals to mingle with their counterparts, and to adapt to a formal learning environment.

Minister of Welfare, Community Well Being, Women, Family and Childhood Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah spoke earlier. She said the Sarawak government would develop an educational plan for parents to understand early childhoold care and education (ECCE), and promote the principle of ‘playing is learning and learning through playing’.

“We want to humanise ECCE and we will establish ICT development plan for our preschool teachers,” she said.

Fatimah said Sarawak would adopt ‘playing is learning and learning through playing’ from her recent working visit to Finland.

She said children in Finland were treated as important individuals, and were given the freedom to develop.

“In Finland, they emphasise the learning of Maths and Science as well as creativity. We also visited Estonia where they use ICT development and management in early childhood education.”

Meanwhile, a total of 182 participants are attending a three-day conference themed ‘Digitalisation of Early Childhood Education’ that ends today (Oct 7).

Fatimah said the conference, first held in 2006, aimed to upgrade professionalism among early childhood educators besides promoting positive attitude among industry players on the adoption of technology in teaching.

It is hoped that it would bridge the gap between young learners and educators with digitalisation, given Sarawak’s geographical challenges, she added.