KUCHING: Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah has reiterated that the state government is doing its best to ensure all preschool children in Sarawak have access, equity to Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE).
The Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister added that appropriate and relevant support had been given to all ECCE providers in the government or private sector.
She was refuting the comments made by Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) president Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh that the state and federal governments did not pay enough attention to nurseries and pre-schools in Sarawak.
“I would like to highlight that the state government has long paid attention to early childhood care and education. For instance in 2017, the Sarawak Early Childhood Development Council was set up to look into matters pertaining to early childhood care and education. That year, the Early Childhood Development Division, manned by 10 staff, was established to give special attention to early childhood care and education in Sarawak.
“My ministry focuses on access, equity and quality of early childhood education. Through a collaborative effort with various agencies at the federal and state levels, 98.35 percent of our children in Year 1 (2021) attended preschool education.
“Under our state-owned Sedidik, we focus on equity to ensure that children in rural areas are not left behind in preschool education. This is to help complement the federal initiatives through Kemas, Prasekolah KPM and Tabika Perpadu,” she explained in a statement on Tuesday (Oct 12).
Fatimah added that as teachers played a crucial role in delivering quality services for quality preschools, her ministry had organised various courses and workshops to enhance the knowledge and skills of the teachers and caregivers.
“In addition to that, we also organise a preschool convention annually with specific themes relating to early childhood care and education.
“This year, we organised the inaugural Sarawak Preschool International Convention (Oct 1 to Oct 3) with the theme ‘Character Building in the New Norm’. It was attended by 2,180 teachers and caregivers.
“To ensure quality early childhood institutions, my ministry gives out monetary grants for winners of our annual award for quality early childhood institutions,” she added.
Fatimah pointed out that Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg also announced an allocation of RM 37 million for ECCE, One- Stop Early Intervention Centre Sarawak and the operations of 94 kindergartens and childcare centres under Sedidik Sdn Bhd in the 2022 State Budget.
“Since 2019, the government has approved Geran Tahunan Khas (GTK) of RM16 million to help all registered early childhood institutions in the state. Each registered early childhood institution is entitled to a RM5,000 grant.
“On top of that, my ministry has approved 2,755 out of the 2,946 (93.5 percent) applications received,” she said.
Fatimah further revealed that the Early Childhood Development Division of her ministry also organised the Sarawak Preschool Kids Got Talent annually to focus on the talent development of young children and ensure their holistic development.
“Additionally, various books have also been published to help operators, teachers, caregivers and even parents in teaching, nurturing and taking care of young children.
“Preschool teachers are a special breed of teachers. They are like second parents to the young children ranging from 0-6 years old, nurturing and loving the children, teaching early literacy and basic life skills, inculcating values for character development and laying foundation for quality human development.
“We salute the dedication, commitment and passion of preschoolteachers including those working at privately run, church, mosque, community based institutions as documented in the Ministry’s recently published book ‘Women in ECCE: Sowing The Seeds For The Future’,” she said.
