KUCHING: There are 77 tadikas and 23 taskas under SeDidik Sdn Bhd this year, revealed Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah.
She said this year’s registration saw 1,863 children registered at Tadika SeDidik while 419 children registered at Taska SeDidik.
“I believe this number will increase because we have received many requests, especially for childcare centres at workplaces,” she said during a press conference following her visit to SeDidik Perdana UTC at Urban Transformation Centre (UTC) here, yesterday.
On childcare centres she said, “It is an important support system for working parents who are without any available extended family (to mind their children while they are working).
“This support system allows parents to work with peace of mind, knowing that their children at registered taskas and tadikas are safe, getting quality care and education by trained teachers.”
Fatimah urged for the establishment of taskas and tadikas in the government and private sectors.
Based on last year’s record, she said there were 2,910 tadikas with 81,302 registered children, and 172 taskas with 2,537 registered children.
“Our focus in early childhood development is to provide a support system with quality taskas and tadikas,” she added.
In 2019, about 99 percent of the children in Primary One had gone through early childhood education.
“This shows that our vision and mission to provide access to early childhood education has been achieved,” she said.
Fatimah also emphasised on the teachers and the quality of services provided, as one of SeDidik’s focus areas was to ensure teachers had the proper qualification with at least a diploma or degree in Early Childhood Education (ECE) by 2021.
She advised parents to fetch their children punctually to instil confidence in their children to attend taskas and tadikas as a place for them to learn and play.
SeDidik Perdana UTC provides services such as taska for babies aged six months to children aged four, tadika for children aged five to six, and before and after school care for children in Primary One to Primary Six.
On the matter of child car seats being mandatory starting this year, Fatimah said that this was an important and worthwhile investment for the children’s safety. “Parents in the front passenger seat should not allow their children to sit on their lap as this is very dangerous,” she added.
