Empowering Kemas kindergartens to continue — minister
SIPITANG: Tabika Kemas (Community Development Department’s kindergartens) will continue to be empowered in efforts to make it on par with the early childhood education system in private kindergartens.
Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said it was important to ensure that the early childhood education offered by Tabika Kemas would become the main choice for parents to send their children to.
“Various initiatives have been carried out to enhance its early childhood programme and in ensuring the quality of its education system is on par with that of private kindergartens, currently, 50 per cent of its staff are diploma holders.
“We have also upgraded all of its kindergartens nationwide to ensure that that it provides a conducive environment and attracts the attention of parents, especially those from urban and suburban areas,” he told reporters after officiating the closing ceremony of the state level ‘Kemas 4U’ programme here yesterday.
Also present were Sipitang Member of Parliament, Datuk Sapawi Ahmad; Sabah Assistant Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister, Datuk Kamarlin Ombi; and Sidumin State Assemblyman, Datuk Ahmad Bujang.
Elaborating further, Ismail Sabri said his ministry wanted to change the perception of parents who viewed the education system of private kindergartens as being better than that of Tabika Kemas.
“Parents, particularly in urban areas, tend to opt to send their children to private kindergartens that impose costly fees as compared to Tabika Kemas due to the perception that the education system in private kindergartens is of better quality.
“As such, we will continue to empower Tabika Kemas with various plans, including the addition of several new subjects such as Islamic Education,” he said.
According to Ismail Sabri, the programme is also a mechanism for Kemas to go down to the ground, which is in line with the concept of popularising the Malaysian civil service that was introduced by the government previously.