MELAKA – The establishment of new kindergartens under the Social Welfare Department (SWD) in an area will depend on whether it is needed to avoid wastage, said Rural Development Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid.
Mahdzir said SWD kindergartens are currently competing with primary schools offering pre-school education to children as young as 4 years of age.
“We are constantly reviewing applications or the need to establish a new department kindergarten in the outskirts of towns or rural areas because it involves numerous factors, especially in terms of funding.
“A certain amount of money is needed to open a new kindergarten. New department kindergartens open each year and we also had to shut some down due to the lack of pupils as parents chose to send their children to pre-schools,” he said to reporters after officiating the Persatuan Anggota Kemas Malaysia 2022 and Kelab Anak Muda Perintis Intelektual Semalaysia annual general meeting, which was also attended by SWD director-general Datuk Mohamad Yaasid Bidin.
Mahdzir also said new SWD kindergartens will be opened to reduce the density of students in existing kindergartens to ensure that early education classes can be conducted smoothly and comfortably.
“We only need between 20 and 30 pupils for each kindergarten. If the number exceeds this, we will have to open new kindergartens because we do not want the classes to be crowded,” he said.
He said there were 10,765 SWD kindergartens nationwide with 215,565 pupils.
In other developments, he said a proposal to raise the allowance of SWD kindergarten assistants to RM800 a month was still at the study stage at the Finance Ministry.
Mahdzir added that SWD kindergarten assistants receive an RM500 allowance a month involving about 11,000 volunteers.
“The proposal to increase the allowance is now at the Finance Ministry and we hope to get a positive response,” he added. – Bernama, May 29, 2022
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