Preschools give students stronger foundation – CM
KUCHING: Sarawak will provide a stronger foundation for its younger generation by offering better pre-school education, says Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.
He said as of now there is a big gap in the quality of pre-school education as it differs from one kindergarten to another.
“The basic foundation of education is through preschool education; we have kindergartens offered by private and public sectors but in rural areas, it (preschool education) is dependent on Community Development Department (Kemas). I see that children who attend private pre-schools are very good in terms of languages, and they understand what they are taught,” Abang Johari said at the presentation of 26th Chief Minister’s Special Award at the State Legislative Assembly last Friday evening.
“If this happens, there will be a gap between the rich and the poor because the rich can afford to send their children to private preschools. I want to make a change because pre-school education is not subject to the national curiculum,” he said.
Touching on Kemas kindergartens, he said they need to be properly equipped to improve the standard and quality of education.
Thus, he rasked Minister of Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah to list out financial institutions to fund this, with maybe between RM20 million and RM30 million.
Similarly, he said that following the visit of Minister of Economic Affairs Datuk Seri Azmin Ali here recently, he had discussed with the minister that education is not politics but about the future of the children of Sarawak, and hoped to announce a good news later.
During the ceremony, awards amounting to RM93,000 were presented to 19 recipients from both primary and secondary schools throughout Sarawak.
Abang Johari’s wife Datin Amar Datuk Juma’ani Tun Tuanku Bujang, State Legislative Assembly Speaker Datuk Amar Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar, Minister of International Trade and E-Commerce and Second Finance Minister Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh, Minister of Local Government and Housing Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian and Yayasan Sarawak director Azmi Bujang were also present at the function.
The basic foundation of education is through pre-school education; we have kindergartens offered by private and public sectors but in rural areas, it (preschool education) is dependent on Community Development Department (Kemas). I see that children who attend private preschools are very good in terms of languages, and they understand what they are taught. — Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg, Chief Minister