Lower compulsory schooling age
AN EXPERT group studying ways to improve standards and quality in the pre-school education sector has come up with a novel idea:
The Government should work towards lowering the compulsory age for schooling from the current seven years to five years old in the long run.
The group, comprising educators, parents and pre-school education operators, hopes this will lead to the Ministry of Education (MOE) making pre-school education part and parcel of the national education system.
By nationalising pre-school education, they believe the operators and teachers can benefit from the expertise and support that MOE now gives to primary and secondary schools, said Mr Lee Kwok Cheong, chairman of the group, which has been set up by the Government's feedback unit Reach to study ways to improve pre-school education in Singapore.
Such a move will also start the young on an equal footing by ensuring they benefit from quality pre-school education, he added.
The group's recommendations were presented on Wednesday by Mr Lee, who is chief executive of the Singapore Institute of Management.
The eight-member group, set up in 2007, also made four other proposals:
Appoint MOE as the sole agency in charge of pre-school education, a sector now shared with the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports.
Have MOE regulate and raise the qualifications and salaries of pre-school teachers and administrators in order to attract and retain talent in the sector.
Have MOE provide more grants and subsidies for pre-school education to make it affordable to all families, and to encourage bigger pre-school operators to share curriculum resources with smaller operators.
Have MOE fund new pre-schools set up specially for children from low-income families.
Mr Lee later told reporters that the group is calling for the MOE to play a more active role because it sees a need to raise the quality of operators and educators in the pre-school education sector.
At present, quality varies among the 500 kindergartens and 700-plus childcare centres, said Mr Lee, while noting recent government measures to boost the sector.
Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times
KOR KIAN BENG
