KUCHING: The Sarawak government has allocated RM16 million through the Special Annual Grant (GTK) amounting to RM5,000 to every Children’s Early Education Institutions (IPAKK) in the state.
Welfare, Community Well-being, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah said this was a good development and has received positive feedback from operators of nurseries and kindergartens.
She added that the real purpose of the GTK IPAKK project is to focus on healthy and balanced nutrition, fun-learning, childcare digitisation and guidance, parent engagement as well as teacher and caretaker competence.
“These four focuses are very important elements in the early childhood education aspect, as well as helping to improve the quality of services provided by IPAKK.
“Children who are educated in a proper way are believed to have the foundation of excellence for high quality,” she said when met recently.
Fatimah added that for GTK, each registered IPAKK had to submit an application to her ministry as required in the guidelines.
She explained that for nurseries or kindergartens in the rural areas of Sarawak, they were allowed to send the application form either via post or email.
“We take note of their existence, and this way, it will make it easier for them to submit applications faster to the Early Childhood Development Division (BPAKS).
“In addition, we will not make the existence of a nursery or kindergarten become a barrier for them to benefit from the state government,” she said.
Fatimah also stressed that her ministry has been conducting studies and discussions to see Education Department, Welfare Department, Community Development Department (Kemas)’s plan so that all children in the state would not be left behind.
The annual grant would not only encourage the establishment of nurseries or kindergartens in the state, but also to ensure the continuity and commitment of existing nursery or kindergartens to further expand in terms of quality of learning, teaching ability and parenting beliefs on the development of early childhood education.
“Therefore, I hope the incentives will benefit every IPAKK for more efficient service.
“This will certainly improve the quality of early childhood education that is expected to produce a brilliant generation in the future,” she continued.
Fatimah further stated that the state has a magnificent percentage of which 94 percent of the children in this year’s grade have received early childhood education either in nurseries or kindergartens.
“We will also launch Child Care Centres throughout the state. The first centre has been launched at Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) to facilitate working parents to send their children to a safe place,” she mentioned.
