Goal 1 Early Childhood Care and Education · group 46 8.1 Children with disabilities 46 8.2 Indigenous children 47 ... more possibilities to support young children (age 0-6), and

ppk/ups/nsb/ECCE Policy Review 24 Jan 2008 1

Curriculum Development Centre

Ministry of Education Malaysia

Early Childhood Care and Education Policy

Implementation Review

2007

24 Jan 2008


CONTENT page

Executive Summary

Abbreviation Used 5

1.0 Introduction

6

2.0 Country Profile in ECCE

Prescool Education for the 4-6 years old

2.1 The History of Preschool Education in Malaysia 8

2.2 Preschools in the Ministry of Education 9

2.3 Preschools set up by Ministry of Rural and Regional

Development

9

2.4 Preschools set up by Department of National Unity and

Integration

10

2.5 Preschool Education for the Special Children 11

2.6 Preschools run by Private Sectors and NGOs 11

Childcare centers for the 0-4 years old

2.7 The history of childcare centers for children aged 0-4 12

2.8 Workplace Childcare Centers 12

2.9 Community Childcare centers 13

2.10 Permata Childcare Centres 13

3.0

Purpose of ECCE Policies Implementation Review

15

4.0 National Constitution, Policies, Laws and Legislation on

ECCE

4.1 Convention on the Rights of the Child 16

4.2 Child Act 2001 (Act 611) 16

4.3 Childcare Centres Act 1984 and Childcare Centers Act 2007 16

4.4 The Early Childhood Care and Development Policy 2007 17

4.5 Education Act 1996 18

4.6 Education Act 1996 (Regulation of Special Education 1997) 19

4.7 The National Education Policy 20

4.8 The 9th Malaysia Plan – Education Development Master Plan,

2006-2020

20

4.9 The National Action Plan of Children 22

4.10 Healthcare Policy 24

4.11 National Child Protection Policy 25

4.12 National Policy on Disabled Child 25

4.13 National Policy on Indigenour Child 26

4.14 Financial Assistance to the Poor 26

Conclusion 26

5.0 Methodology 27


A) EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION

6.0 Expenditure on ECCE

35

7.0 Accessibility of ECCE

7.1 ECCE for the 0-4 years old 37

- Types of Childcare Center

- National Participation/Enrolment

- Participataion by sex

7.2 ECCE for the 4-6 years old 38

- National Enrolment

- Enrolment in Private Preschool

- Enrolment by State

- Primary One Students with ECCE Experience

- National Enrolment by Locality: Urban and Rural

- Participation by Sex

7.3 Participation of the Private Sectors in ECCE 44

Conclusion 45

8.0 Equity – Early Childhood Education for the disadvantaged

group

46

8.1 Children with disabilities 46

8.2 Indigenous children 47

8.3 Refugee children 53

8.4 Children of inmate 54

Conclusion 54

9.0 Quality of ECCE Program

9.1 Early childhood care and development program for 0-4 years old 55

9.2 The national preschool curriculum for the 4-6 years old and its

implementation

56

9.2.1 Implementation of NPC by the MOE preschools 57

9.2.2 Implementation of NPC by KEMAS 61

9.2.3 Implementation of NPC by PERPADUAN preschools 62

9.2.4 Implementation of NPC by the private preschools 63

9.3 National preschool curriculum for special needs children and its

implementation

68

9.3.1 Implementation of the special needs children preschool

curriculum

69

9.4 Training of Teachers and Helpers

9.4.1 Training of childcare providers and childcare minders 70

9.4.2 Training of preschools teachers 71

9.4.3 Training of special education teachers 74

9.4.4 Training of community-based rehabitation workers 75

9.5 Teacher-Student Ratio 76

9.6 Teachers’ Salary 76

9.7 Physical facilities and materials in childcare and preschools 77

10.0 Monitoring and Evaluation of Early childhood Care and

education

78

10.1 A standard procedure in the process of curriculum development 78


10.2 Inspection of implementation of National Preschool Curriculum 79

10.3 Quality of Teacher training 79

10.4 Human’s right 81

10.5 The quality improvement accreditation system to rate childcare

center

81

11.0 Integration in Implementation of ECCE Policies 82

11.1 Procedure of registration 82

11.2 Different implementating agencies 82

11.3 Issue of planning for location of ECCE centers 83

11.4 Publuic awareness and dissemination of information 84

Conclusion

84

B) HEALTHCARE

12.0 Accessibility to Early Childhood Health Care

12.1 Primary Child Health Services 85

12.2 Immunisation 87

12.3 School health services 87

12.4 Baby-friendly hospital 88

12.5 Oral health

88

13.0 Equity – Early Childhood Healthcare for the Disadvantaged

13.1 Children of Poverty 91

13.2 Children with special needs 92

13.3 Children with HIV/AIDS 95

14.0 Monitoring and Evaluation of Early Childhood Healthcare

14.1 Sanity and safety inspection of the childcare center 96

14.2 Nutrition Surveillance 96

14.3 Oral Health Indicators 96

14.4 Health Outcome indicators 97

14.5 Quality improvement accreditation system for the childcare

centers

97

15.0 Implementation gaps, challenges and disparities

15.1 Preschool education 99

15.2 Special education 101

15.3 Healthcare 103

15.4 Childcare centers

105

16.0 Recommendations

16.1 Disadvantaged children – Indigenours children 106

16.2 Special children 106

16.3 Healthcare 107

16.4 Education 108

16.5 National ECCE Policy Coordination Framework/Mechanism 109

17.0 Conclusion 110

Reference 111

Technical working group 113

Instrument 115


ABBREVIATION USED:

CDC Curriculum Development Center

ECCE

Early Childhood Care and Education

EFA Education for all

EPRD Education Planning and Research Division

JNS School Inspectorate

KEMAS

preschool

Preschool run by Department of Community Development,

Ministry of Rural Development

MAPECE Association of Professional Early Childhood Educators

MOE Ministry of Education

MWFCD Ministry of Woman, Family and Community Development

NGO Non-governmental Organisation

NPC National Preschool Curriculum

PERMATA

ECEC Center

Early Childhood Education and Care Center set up through

the project ‘Every Child is Precious as a Jewel’

PERPADUAN

preschool

Preschool run by the Department of National Unity and

Integration

PTM Association of Kindergartens Malaysia

TASKA Childcare center

NAECCEM

PPBM


1.0 INTRODUCTION

Goal 1 of the UNESCO initiated Education for All (EFA) calls for better and

more possibilities to support young children (age 0-6), and their families and

communities, in all the areas where the child is growing – physically, emotionally,

socially and intellectually. It also lays special emphasis on children who suffer

disadvantage or who are particularly vulnerable, for example those living in poverty,

HIV/AIDS, orphans, rural and minority children, and in some situations girls as a

whole.

Malaysia has always place great effort in ensuring education and care for all

children. These efforts are manifested through the many sectors involving in ECCE

and the amount of allocation given to ECCE each year. ECCE in Malaysia is broadly

divided into two main groups, which is the 0-4 years old and the 4-6 years old.

In Malaysia, early childhood care and family development is the jurisdiction

of the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (MWFCD).

MWFCD is the coordinator for national programs on the growth and development of

children. Through its Department of Social Welfare, MWFCD registers all Childcare

centers (TASKA, an acronym in the local language). TASKA offers care and

education for children in the age group of 0-4 years old.

Early childhood education for the 4-6 years old group falls under the

responsibilities of three Ministries, i.e. Ministry of Education, Ministry of Rural and

Regional Development, as well as Department of National Unity and Integration

under the Prime Minister Department. Ministry of Rural Development is the pioneer

in setting up preschools in Malaysia (beginning early 1970’s), currently there are

8307 preschools set up by this Ministry which are commonly known as the KEMAS

preschool. KEMAS preschools are located in rural or suburban and are set up based

on request by the local authority. In the late 1970’s Department of National Unity and

Integration set up preschools in the urban areas where there are ‘Rukun Tetangga’, a

friendly neighbourhood scheme, these preschools are generally known as the

PERPADUAN preschools, PERPADUAN preschools must accept students from the

different races, currently, there are 1496 PERPADUAN preschools. Ministry of

Education (MOE) is the latest in setting up preschools. In the year 1992, preschool

was set up by MOE in the form of pilot project as an annex to the existing primary

school, in the year 2003, MOE preschool project was rolled out to whole nation;

currently there are 5905 of these preschools which are situated all over the country.

Other than MOE, KEMAS and PERPADUAN, other providers of preschool education

include also the State Religious Department (JAIN) and the Islamic (ABIM).

Various names are given to preschool education in the local language, e.g. the

MOE’s prasekolah, KEMAS Tabika, PERPADUAN Tadika, and the private

kindergarten. To facilitate discussion, all would be known as preschool in this report.

An overview of the composition of preschools according to the providing public

agencies as of 2007 is given in Table 1. Diagram 1 and 2 provides an overview of

percentage of preschool classes and students enrolled in the various type of preschools.


Table 1: Three Main Types of Public Preschools in Malaysia 2007

Types of

preschool

KEMAS

preschool

MOE preschool PERPADUAN

preschool

Number of classes

8307 classes 5905 classes 1496 classes

Percentage (by

class)

52.9% 37.9% 9.5%

Enrolment

198,275 147,625 38,952

Diagram 1: Number of preschool classes according to the providing agencies

(EPRD Study, 2008)

(22,158)

3.14%(75,250)

10.65%

(213,051)

30.15%

(285,722)

40.43%

(96,150)

13.6%

(14,413)

2.04%

KPM

KEMAS

PERPD

JAIN

SWASTA

ABIM

((

Diagram 2: Number of preschool students in the various providing agencies

(EPRD Study, 2008)

(8,307)

30.95%

(1,500)

5.59%

(11,434)

42.61%

(962)

3.58% (3,846)

14.33%

(788)

2.94% KPM

KEMAS

PERPADUAN

SWASTA

JAIN

ABIM


2.0 COUNTRY PROFILE IN ECCE

PRESCHOOL EDUCATION FOR THE 4 – 6 YEARS OLD

2.1 The History of Preschool Education in Malaysia

Early childhood care and education in Malaysia existed before the 1960’s. The

provider of this education then were mostly from the religious bodies or non-

governmental organizations; private kindergartens were not a common feature then.

In the year 1972, Ministry of Education Malaysia, MOE drafted the Kaedah-Kaedah

Guru/ Kaedah-Kaedah Kindergarten dan Sekolah Asuhan (Pendaftaran) 1972 Warta

Kerajaan P.U. (A) 414 which provided the procedures to be adhered to regarding the

registration of kindergarten, teachers and its board of governors. This was the first

legal document concerning the registration of early childhood education.

In the year 1971, Ministry of Rural and Regional Development started its first

preschool known commonly as the Tabika KEMAS in accordance to an education act

formulated by them and from then on they have expanded and today they are the

biggest provider of preschool education in the country. In the year 1976, Department

of National Integration and Unity too started its first preschool commonly known as

the PERPADUAN preschools.

In the 1980’s preschools in Malaysia were built and managed by various

government agencies such as KEMAS, FELDA, RISDA , Department National Unity,

Religious bodies, Police and armies(Cawangan Pendidikan /Angakatan Bersenjata

dan Polis), volunteering bodies and private sectors. Various programs were offered,

different materials used, teacher’s qualification differs too (PPK & BPPDP, 1986).

The various agencies and bodies conducting preschool education felt that there was a

need of guidance and assistance from MOE. MOE too saw the need to standardize

and regulate preschool education in Malaysia. MOE was pioneering two major

preschool projects at that time. These projects were the Projek Pendidikan Imbuhan

managed by Curriculum Development Centre with help from the Yayasan Bernard

Van Leer, a Dutch body. The other project is the Projek Kajian Pendidikan

Prasekolah managed by Education Planning and Research Division with assistance

from UNICEF. Experiences from conducting these projects culminated in the

formulation of the 1986 Preschool Guidebook (Buku Panduan Prasekolah Malaysia

1986), the first formalized curriculum document of early childhood education in

Malaysia. The aim was to provide guidance and assist coordination between

kindergarten minders and to enhance the standard of Malaysia preschool education to

be in line with global development at that time (PPK & BPPPP, 1986).

On 13 Feb, 1992, the Permanent Committee on the Coordination of Preschool

Education (Jawatankuasa Tetap (Induk) Penyelarasan Hal-Hal Pendidikan

Prasekolah) decided that the 1986 Guideline should be reviewed to suit the current

needs and development (KPM, 1993), subsequently the 1993 Guideline (Garis

Panduan Kurikulum Pendidikan Prasekolah Malaysia, 1993) was produced. A

package of preschool curriculum guidebooks were produced in 1992 too, this package

consists of general guidelines, specific guidelines, detailed activities covering various

areas, students activity books, reading materials, cards and building blocks. In 1992,

1131 preschool classes under MOE were set up as pilot project annexed to existing


primary schools. Subsequently MOE started to build more preschool and in 2007, the

number of MOE preschools classes stand at 5905, the second largest preschool

providers after Ministry of Rural and Regional Development (KEMAS preschools).

In 2003, circulars were sent out to all preschools, public and private that they

are required by the law to follow the National Preschool Curriculum developed by the

Ministry of Education.

2.2 Preschool in the Ministry of Education Malaysia(MOE)

MOE sets up preschools to give opportunity to children whose family are with

very low income in the sub-urban, rural and remote areas. It has been decided by

policy makers that 80% of the classes are to be built in the rural areas, Classes are

built annex to the public primary school building with the expenditure borne by

Ministry of Education. This opportunity is given to children with the age 5+ years.

Besides the launching grant given to start a class, MOE provides a yearly allocation of

the following:

Each child is given an allocation of RM 1.50 every school day for food,

food is prepared by school

RM 100.00 yearly per child for learning materials, each preschool class

can receive up to 25 children, thus yearly, school can get up RM2,500 to

buy teaching and learning materials

Preschool education was not regarded officially as part of the bigger system of

national education system until 1996. Through the “National Education Act 1996

(Akta Pendidikan Kebangsaan 1996- Akta 550, 2005), preschool education is finally

officially declared as part of the school system. All preschools/kindergartens

regardless of public or private are required to implement the National Preschool

Curriculum formulated through the Curriculum Development Centre, Ministry of

Education beginning January, 2003. In addition to the National Preschool Curriculum,

any private preschools wanted to implement any other curriculum or program need to

seek permission from the Head of Registrar, which is the MOE. Medium of

instruction used in any registered preschool can be the National language or any other

language but the national language must be taught as a subject. A minimum

requirement of 10 children age 4-6 years old has been set by Ministry of Education

for starting a preschool class in public school. Preschool classes in MOE is still

expanding and it is targeted that ultimately all National Primary School will have

their own preschool class in near future.

2.3 Preschool set up by the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development

(KEMAS preschool)

KEMAS preschools are set up by the Department of Community Development

(Jabatan Kemajuan Masyarakat)to give opportunity to children that comes from sub-

urban, rural and remote areas with family of very low income. Classes are conducted

at the community halls (rented or provided free), housing estates, private property,

shop houses (rented) or separate building built by the Ministry. This opportunity is

given to children with the age 4-6 years. The minimum requirement for enrolment is

10 children per class and the maximum requirement is 30 children.


The operating budget for KEMAS preschools comes from the Ministry of

Rural and Regional Development. The allocation for each child is RM1.50 per day for

food and RM100 per year for learning materials. An extra RM150.00 per year is given

for extra food for very poor family.

KEMAS preschools use the National Preschool Curriculum since 2003.

Tadika KEMAS emphasises on reading, writing and arithmetic, developing

individual potentials, instilling moral values, building character and self awareness,

developing physical skill, health skill, cleanliness skill as well as safety skill.

KEMAS preschools also place importance in creating conducive, cheerful teaching

and learning ambiance as required in the National Preschool Curriculum.

2.4 Preschool set up by the Department of National Unity and Integration,

(PERPADUAN Preschools)

PERPADUAN preschool was first set up in 1976 beginning with 25 classes.

PERPADUAN preschools are not required to be registered under the Education Act

1961 because they are exempted under Warta Kerajaan P.U. (A) 276 dated 15

September, 1977. PERPADUAN preschools are set up in urban and suburban areas

specifically in areas covered by ‘Skim Rukun Tetangga’ – a friendly neighbor scheme.

A Preschool Coordinating Committee made up of members of the local community is

set up for each preschool class. This Preschool Coordinating Committee provides

advice to the running of the preschool and at the same time organized various

activities for the parents. Department of National Unity and Integration is currently

under the care of the Prime Minister Department.

The aim of PERPADUAN preschool is to nurture unity values from early

stages to develop children who love their motherland and able to adapt themselves to

live harmoniously in a multi-racial community. It also aims to encourage and give

opportunity to young children’s parents to interact and increase understanding among

them.

The general objective of PERPADUAN preschools are as below:

o To nurture and foster the spirit of harmony, neighborliness, unity and nationality

among children from different races.

o To inculcate positive spiritual and moral values in the children’s everyday lives

thus creating perfect personalities and characters to become good and valuable

family members.

o To encourage the comprehensive, integrated and balanced development of

children aged 5 and 6 years old via informal learning processes – “learning

through play”.

o To strengthen relations and cultivate unity among parents and the community on

the whole, through the PERPADUAN preschool Coordinating Committee and co-

curriculum activities.

Classes are conducted at the community halls (rented or free of charge), housing

estates, private property, shop houses (rented) or built by the Ministry. This

opportunity is given mainly to children with the age 5+ years. The minimum

requirement for enrolment is 20 children and the maximum requirement is 35 children.

The budget for the classes comes from the Department of National Unity and


Integration which include RM1.50 for each child every school day for food,

RM100.00 yearly for learning materials. PERPADUAN preschools use the National

Preschool Curriculum since 2003.

2.5 Preschool Education for the special children

Cabinet Committee Report 1979 stated that special children education is the

responsibility of the government and NGOs are to be involved in this endeavour.

Education for the special children are taken care of by both the Ministry of Woman,

Family and Community Development as well as the Ministry of Education. Ministry

of Education is in charge of program in the special schools and also in the special

integrated primary schools for children. Ministry of Woman, Family and Community

Development take care of the other special programs.

Since 2000, the existing special schools then have started early intervention

program for the 4-6 age group on their own initiative. These programmes run without

any allocation or training for the teachers specifically to teach preschool. In the year

2003, MOE has approved the conversion of these early intervention programs in the

28 special schools to preschool programs for special need children. These 28

programs made up of 22 for the hearing impaired, 5 for visually impaired and 1 for

learning disability

The program run by the Department of Social Welfare, Ministry of Woman,

Family and Community Development are specially for the severely disabled children.

The purpose is to enhance the quality of life of these people. The National Welfare

Policy and National Social Policy has been introduced to serve this purpose. There are

also special grant given to the NGO’s to help run these special programs for special

children below 4 years old.

A National Board of Advisory and Legislation for the People with Disabilities

(Majlis Penasihat dan Perundingan Kebangsaan Bagi OKU) has been set up and

chaired by the Minister of Women, Family and Community Development. It is a

national coordinating body formed to study, develop and coordinate various issues

and actions related to people with disabilities. Multi-sectoral Collaborative Action

Plan are set up.

2.6 Preschools run by private sectors and NGOs

Preschools set up by the private sector have always been seen by the

government as an alternative to give quality education to children especially by

affordable parents. Children going to these preschool education age from 4-6 years.

These preschools are required to use the National Preschool Curriculum as

stipulated in the National Education Act 1996. Medium of instruction can be the

National Language, Chinese, Tamil or English. The curriculum emphasise on

communication skills, social skills and other skills to prepare them to the primary

(formal) education. Private preschools can offer additional program upon approval

from MOE. Fees charged varies from as high as RM 1000 or more per month to as

low as RM 10 or RM 20 per month.


CHILDCARE CENTERS FOR THE 0 – 4 YEARS OLD

2.7 The History of Childcare centers for children aged 0-4 (TASKA) in

Malaysia

In the year 1982, the then Ministry of Social Welfare conducted a study

together with UNICEF. The outcome of the study indicated the need to enhance the

quality of childcare among the nursery/childcare provider especially in the area of

food, healthy environment, mental development and training for the child minders.

Subsequently, in early 1984, the government sets up a special unit to initiate the

formulation of the Childcare Center’s Act, this project was under the funding of

Bernard Van Leer Foundation. During phase 1 (1984 – 1987) of this project, the team

looked specifically on the advocacy matter and the dissemination of information

while phase 2 (1988 – 1991), the team tackled the issue of registration and

enforcement. In 1 Mac 1985, the Act was first implemented in the Federal Territory of

Kuala Lumpur followed by the other states from 1 Feb 1986. The aim of the Act is to

maintain the stated minimum standard of the childcare centers. It covers issues on

registration, monitoring and inspection of the Childcare Centers. The philosophy

behind the Childcare Center Act 1984 is firstly to provide care and education for

children in the preschool years especially those below 4 years old. Secondly to enable

mothers to work and to provide support to them. According to this Act, every Child

Care Centre must be registered with the Department of Social Welfare. The stated

aim of this Act is to protect the interest of safety of the children against any form of

abuse or neglect.

The Childcare Center Act 1984 has been reviewed in recent years and its

amended version has just been passed by the Parliament giving rise to the Care

Centers (Amendment) Act 2007. There are various amendments in this new Act

which will be explained in later sections in this report.

Childcare centers have undergone many changes in the last few years and

many more changes is expected in the next one or two years. Among the changes are

the setting up of government supported Community Childcare Center, the subsidised

Work-place Childcare Center and the formulation of the Quality Improvement

Accreditation System (QIAS).

Currently, childcare centers in Malaysia is mainly run by the private sectors.

The biggest government sector providing childcare centers is the Ministry of Rural

and Regional Development, specifically the KEMAS. Besides running preschool

classes(for the 4-6 years old), KEMAS also run a total number of 290 TASKA(for the

0-4 years old) with an enrolment of 4033 as of 2007.

2.8 Workplace Childcare Centers

Women accounted for 48% of the working age population of 15 to 64 years,

and the female labour force participation rate has increased from 44.8 % in 2000 to

46.1% in 2006. The number of women employed during the same period increased

from 3.3 million to 3.6 million. Its share to total employment also increased from

35.6% in 2000 to 36.7% in 2006. With the rapid expansion of the country economy,

the country needs the participation of women in its economic activities. With the in


mind, MWFCD is promoting the setting up of childcare at the workplace. Currently

statistic shows that there are only 112 childcare centers set up by employers in

workplace, 26 of these set up by the private sectors, 86 by federal government, state

government or statutory body.

The government has agreed to provide incentives in the form of a RM80,000

grant for renovation and furnishing childcare centre which is set up within the

government officers. A subsidy of RM180 per month would be given to government

servants with monthly salary <RM2000 who send their kids to these centers.

MWFCD is also campaigning the private sectors especially the corporate giants to

provide childcare facilities at the workplace for their employees. Insentives includes

the 10% tax exemption on the cost of building the childcare centers for a period of 10

years (Circular JHDN 01/35/(S)/42/51/60-1 dated 15 Feb 1996)

2.9 Community Childcare Centers

Accessibility and affordability have been identified as the two major issues

pertaining to early childcare education. MWFCD has set up Community Childcare

Centers in Malaysia to provide quality childcare to families from low income groups,

both in urban and rural areas. Community Childcare Centers is defined as ‘childcare

centers managed by organisation appointed/approved by the government, receive

assistance from federal or state government, with 10 or more children’. All these

centers use a similar curriculum set by MWFCD. These centers would provide

benchmark to the other childcare centers. Community Childcare Centers is

conceptualised based on the active participation of local community, parents, children,

governmental agencies as well as the private organisations. MWFCD envisions that

these Community Childcare Centers would managed by voluntary associations in

collaboration with or on a joint venture basis with the private sectors.

MWFCD plans to set up ten new Community Childcare Centers throughout

the country every year. As of July 2007, 4 centers is already in operation. An amount

of RM119,000 x 10 centers is being budged yearly for the setting up of these centers.

To hasten the process of setting up more community childcare centers, MWFCD is

currently preparing a paper to suggest that each parliamentary area sent up a

Community Childcare Centers. Once this materialises, each district would have a

Community Childcare Centers, this would definitely encourages more parents to send

their children there.

As in the Workplace Childcare Centers, families who send their children to

Community Childcare Centers would receive a subsidy of RM 180 per child if the

family income is below RM 2000 in the urban and below RM 1200 for those in the

rural area. A launching grant of RM55,000 will also be given to interested party.

2.10 Permata Early Childhood Education and Care Centers

Permata Early Childhood Education and Care, ECEC is the latest entry to the

childcare centers of Malaysia. On 21st June, 2006, the Cabinet has approved the

program ‘Every Child a Jewel’(Setiap Anak Permata) which is placed under the

purview of Deputy Primary Minister Office. An amount of RM 20 million under the

9th Malaysia Plan has been put aside for this project. Under this program, Permata


ECEC Centers (subsequently will be referred as the Permata Centre) will be built. The

founding principles of Permata ECEC Centrers are as stated below:

- Every child is a jewel for the country

- Every child is precious

- Every child is a part of the human capital of the country

- Every child needs the best education

- Education must start from young/birth

- The first 3 years is crucial for development of the child

Permata ECEC Centers aim to provide integrated quality care and early

education services based on the need of the local community to children below 5

years old and their family. Permata ECEC Centers adopt the community-based

integrated approach practiced by Pen Green Corby United Kingdom under the

SureStart Program. Thus, besides the childcare centre, these centers also prepare out-

reach program, parenting courses, counselling, healthcare services to help local

community to build healthy and safe life style. There would be community resource

centre, library and might entail the services of speech therapy, nutritionists etc to

provide community services.

Four centers with a total of 94 children are in operation since March, 2007 and

a new additional centre will be operated beginning May, 2007. It has been agreed by

the Menteri Besar of each state that one Permata ECEC Centre will be built in each

state before the end of 2007. At the end of two years of pilot project, an evaluation

report would be sent to the Cabinet to decide upon the possibility of its expansion to

the whole country.

In the Permata ECEC Centers, children explore and play as they like,

everything in the centre can be used as learning objects. Children are empowered to

learn on their own through discovery. Teachers are trained to use ECEC modules

adopted from the UK.


3.0 PURPOSE OF ECCE POLICIES IMPLEMENTATION

REVIEW

Within the last two decades, much has happened in the field of ECCE in

Malaysia. Various Acts and Policies have been drafted and implemented. Have these

Acts and Policies been transformed into action plans? To what extent are these Acts

and Policies effectively implemented? Are there any gaps in implementations? What

are the bottlenecks, if any, that have been encountered? The answers to these

questions could help policy makers in making decisions about the need to adjust, fine

tune or enhance the implementation of these policies. This ECCE Policies

Implementation Review is conducted for this purpose.

The objectives of this review is to:

• Analyze the existing policies.

• Identify possible gaps within and between these policies.

• Assess how well the existing policies are being implemented.

• Find out gaps of implementation.

• Assess the sufficiency of present ECCE policies.

• Assess the integration of all ECCE policies.


4.0 NATIONAL CONSTITUTION, POLICIES, LAWS AND

LEGISLATIONS ON ECCE

4.1 Convention on the rights of the child (CRC)

Convention on the rights of the child (CRC) was adopted by the General

Assembly of the United Nations on 20 November, 1989. This landmark treaty places

the care and protection of every child (defined as person under 18 years old) as a

priority for everyone especially government. Malaysia has signed for the convention.

The progress on implementation of CRC is monitored by the UN committee on the

Rights of the Child and also NGOs. Specialized agencies, such as UNICEF are invited

to submit their observations.

There are four principles in CRC, these are: children must not suffer

discrimination, children have a right to survival and development, the best interest of

the child must be a primary consideration and children must be allowed as active

participants in all matters affecting their lives and be free to express their opinions

CRC can be discussed under the headings of Children’s Right to Basic Health

Welfare, the Rights of Children and their families, Children’s rights to education,

leisure and cultural activities, Children’s rights to special protection, and The civil

rights and freedoms of children. In general, CRC talks about rights in term of

accessibility to education, healthcare and protect; quality of the care and education as

well as respect for the children.

4.2 Child Act 2001 (Act 611)

In fulfilling Malaysia’s obligation under the CRC, Malaysia enacted the Child

Act 2001 (Act 611). Act 611 repealed the Juvenile Courts Act 1947(Act 90), the

Women and Girls Protection Act 1973 (Act 106) and the Child Protection Act 1991

(Act 468). The provisions of Act 611 are based on the four core principles of the CRC

that is non-discrimination, best interest of the child, the right to life, survival and

development and respect for the views of the child.

Act 611 provides that every child is entitled to protection and assistance in all

circumstances without regard to distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex,

language, religion, social origin or physical, mental or emotional disabilities or any

status. Act 611 has specific documentation on instruction and rules on the care and

protection of children including the Court for Children.

4.3 Childcare Centers Act 1984 and Childcare Centers Act (Amendment) 2007

(Act 308)

Act 308 is intended to ensure quality childcare for children below the age of

four years at childcare centers. Childcare centers according to this Act are premises

where 4 or more children below the age of 4 years old from more than one household

is accepted for care with a fee.

Part II of the Act stipulated that every Childcare Centre must be registered under

this Act. The caretaker of this Act is the Department of Social Welfare, Ministry of


Woman, Family and Community Development. Thus, all centers that take in children

for a fee are required to register with Department of Social Welfare. Through the

issuance of a Certificate of Registration, which has to be renewed yearly, the

Department of Social Welfare monitors the operation of the childcare centers to

ensure compliance with Act 308 and other regulations that come together with it.

Act 308 also stipulates that all Childcare Providers must themselves undergo

and obtain the basic Childcare Certificate accredited by the Department of Social

Welfare. This is to ensure the quality of childcare providers. Childcare centers are

also required to employ qualified child minders for the benefit of the children.

Childcare minders must undergo a basic childcare training course before or while they

are employed.

The Childcare Centre Act 1984 has been reviewed, amendments to this Act

were approved by the Parliament giving rise to the Care Centers (Amendment) Act

2007. The amended Act aims to regulate and stimulate the growth of the childcare

industry. The validity period for a registered childcare centre has been extended from

12 months to 60 months, this mean that the childcare centre providers do not need to

renew their licence yearly. This is to encourage more currently unregistered childcare

centers to register themselves. Data shows that as of 2004 only 1688 childcare centers

have been registered. The amended Act also reiterated that it is the requirement of the

law that all childcare providers and minders need to undergo a basic childcare training

course before or while they are employed. Failure to this do can cause closure of the

centers, MWFCD is seeking for greater legal power to do so.

4.4 The Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Policy 2007

MWFCD is in the midst of forwarding the Early Childcare and Development

Policy with its plan of actions to parliament for approval. It is expected to be

endorsed by the Government by middle of 2007.

The aim of this ECCD policy is to advocate holistic development and quality

care for new born to 8 years old children based on Malaysia context to develop

human capital in line with the objectives of Vision 2020. This policy aims to

concretise and complement others existing national policies on early childhood. This

policy will be monitored through the setting up of law and regulations enforcement

mechanism and a special accreditation body. The purpose is to ensure a quality

standard in training and services of early childhood care and development.

The general objectives of the ECCD 2007 policy is to “prepare quality care

facilities and services in a conducive environment to stimulate early development of

each child so that he or she can achieve optimum development in line with the

national aspiration.”

An action plan on ECCD accompany this ECCD 2007. Among the action

plans are preparation of minimum standard of childcare services in accordance to the

Child Act 2001 and Childcare Center Act 1984 (amended in 2006) as well as a Code

of Ethics for Childcare Centers based on Covention of the Rights of the Child and

other related Acts. Other plans include the setting up of more childcare centers and

Community-based Rehabilitation Centers based on needs of the local community.


Grants and subsidies would be provided through this policy. Outreach programs aim

to educate and raising awareness of parents, community, family members, childcare

providers and operators and the society at large.

MWFCD is also in the midst of forwarding the Early Childcare and

Development Policy with its plan of actions to parliament for approval. It is expected

to be endorsed by the Government by middle of 2007.

4.5 Education Act 1996 (Act 550)

Under Part IV, Chapter 1 of the Act: National Education System, it is

stipulated that:

The National Education System is made up of the following:

(a) Preschool education

(b) Primary education

(c) Secondary education

(d) Post secondary education and

(e) Higher education

Under Chapter 2 (Preschool Education), it is stated that no kindergarten

(preschool) can be set up and managed without being registered under this Act.

Anyone found to do so have contravened the law and can be punished. The power of

setting up kindergarten (preschool) lies with the Minister of Education. Minister of

Education can delegate the authority to the Director General of Education as registrar

of schools.

Chapter 2 also stated that the “Minister shall prescribe a curriculum, to be

known as the National Pre-school Curriculum, that shall be used by all kindergartens

in the National Educational System” (Education Act 1996, p. 23). This curriculum

will specify the knowledge, skills and values expected to be acquired by the pupils at

the end of their respective preschool education.

Education Act 1996 (Act 550) has permitted the setting up of preschools

formally in government schools. Although preschools classes has started in

government Primary School since 1992 (only 1131 classes), it was under a program.

With Act 550, Ministry of Education started to build and open preschool classes at an

average of 796 classes per year (from 2002 to 2007).

Taking into consideration the private preschools who might want to implement

extra programs, the Education Act 1996 states that ‘any kindergarten intending to

implement any curriculum in addition to the National Pre-school Curriculum shall,

before implementing such additional curriculum, inform the Registrar General of such

intention” (Education Act 1996, p.23). Any person who contravenes this Act is guilty

of an offence and upon conviction can be liable to a fine not exceeding ten thousand

ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both term.


Education Act 1996 under Chapter 8 – Special Education, stated that the

Minister shall provide special education in special schools, and the Minister may by

regulation prescribe:

the duration of primary and secondary education suitable to the needs of pupils

in receipt of special education

the curriculum to be used in respect of special education

The categories of pupils requiring special educations and the methods

appropriate for the education of pupils in each category of special schools.

It is also stated that the curriculum shall comply with the requirement of the National

Curriculum in so far as it is reasonably practicable.

The Education Act 1996(Act 550) was amended in 2002 to provide

compulsory primary education. It stipulates that every parent is obliged to enroll their

child upon attaining the age of six years in primary school and the child shall remain

as a pupil in a primary school for the duration of the compulsory education for six

years. Although education is compulsory by law, the current policy in Malaysia still

requires students to pay a certain amount of fees upon enrolment in primary school.

Although a minimal fee is imposed, financial assistance is provided by various

Government agencies to needy children to ensure their rights to education. However,

preschool education is not included in this part of the Act, thus preschool education is

not compulsory.

The Education Act 1996 stipulated that all preschools need to provide a

minimum of 3 hours of teaching and learning per day. It also required teacher to keep

a teaching record as well as conduct continuous assessment and keeping student’s

progress record. The Act also empowers the School Inspectorate to conduct inspection

for ensuring an adequate standard of teaching.

4.6 Education Act 1996(Regulation of Special Education 1997)

The Special Education Regulation 1997 was enforced since 1st January, 1998. It is

stated that `pupils with special needs’ means pupils with visual impairment or hearing

impairment or with learning disabilities, whereas `special education programs’ means:

A programme provided in special schools for pupils with visual impairment or

hearing impairment

An integrated programme in regular schools for pupils with visual impairment

or hearing impairment or with learning disabilities

An inclusive education programme for pupils with special needs and who are

able to attend normal classes together with normal pupils.

Based on this regulation, the preschool program for special need children can

be set up either in special school, integrated programme or in inclusive program.

Not all children are eligible for special education programme under Ministry

of Education. Those who are physically handicapped with the mental ability to learn

like normal pupils are supposed to be in main stream class, while those pupils with

multiple disabilities or with profound physical handicap or with severe mental


retardation will be under jurisdiction of Social Welfare Department, Ministry of

Woman, Family and Community Development.

In term of curriculum, teachers are allowed to modify the teaching or learning

methods or techniques, the time for and sequence of activities, the subjects and the

teaching aids in order to achieve the objectives and aims of special education. This is

due to the various learning needs among the special needs children.

4.7 The National Education Policy

Since independence, various educational policies have been formulated to

translate the country’s main development policies such as Vision 2020, National

Development Policy, National Mission, as well as Malaysia’s Five-Year

Development Plans which is formulated every five years. Education policies are

continually being formulated, reviewed and refined in response to the changes that are

taking place at the national level and the global level.

As of 2007, educational policies related to preschool education can be

summarized as below:

- Institutionalize pre-school education in order to provide education for children

aged 5+ children.

- Preschool education prepares a strong foundation for formal education,

enables children aged 5+ to possess a strong foundation in communication,

social and other skills as a preparation for primary school education.

- Enforcing the usage of National Pre-School Curriculum in all educational

institutions except at expatriate pre-schools.

- Enhancing the monitoring and enforcement mechanism of pre-school

programmes conducted by all governmental, non-governmental and private

agencies.

- Expanding pre-school classes of the Ministry of Education.

- Producing sufficient well-trained teachers and training facilities to fulfil the

preschool education needs.

- Ensuring the implementation and supply of pre-school facilities in line with

the policy and objective of the National Pre-School Curriculum.

- Providing an alternative pre-school curriculum for special education.

These policies are translated into action plans such as the Education Development

Master Plan 2006-2010.

4.8 The 9th Malaysia Plan – Education Development Master Plan (Pelan Induk

Pembangunan Pendidikan), PIPP 2006 – 2010

The Education Development Master Plan for Malaysia (2006-2010) (PIPP)

concretizes the aims and aspirations stated in national policies such as the National

Vision Policy (Dasar Wawasan Negara), National Mission (Misi Negara). One of the

aims of the master plan is to ensure all children have the opportunity of education in

terms of access, equity and quality. There are six thrusts in PIPP, these are Nation

Building, Developing Human Capital, Consolidating the National School, Bridging

the Education Gap, Elevating the Teaching Profession, Spurring the Excellence of


Education Institutions. Plans for preschool education are found specifically in the

thrust of Consolidating the National School.

PIPP spells out the action plans of MOE in the next 5 years. From 2006 to

2010, MOE intends to extend preschool education to all National School especially

those in rural and interior areas. MOE also plans to ensure that special needs children

obtain opportunity to education. Besides this, it is also in the plan that MOE would

make sure sufficient teachers as well as teacher assistants in the MOE preschools. In

this direction, MOE is planning to recruit more graduate teacher to teach in primary

school including preschool. MOE intends to increase the per capita grant allocation

for preschool. Per capita grant is given yearly to all MOE preschool to purchase

teaching and learning materials. Currently, all MOE preschools get a RM 100 per

child per year allocation.

The 9th Malaysian Plan has allocated RM 327.3 million to run preschool

expansion programme including program for special needs children in MOE schools.

This allocation includes expenses for building or renovating for new classes. Table 2

indicates the number of classes planned and budget allocated for expansions of

preschool classes under Ninth Malaysia Plan. Table 3 gives information on the

number of preschools built from 1999 onwards.

Table 2: Number of Preschool Classes to be built under 9th Malaysia Plan

Project Number of Classes to be Built

(RM) Million

Urban Rural Total Urban Rural Total

Preschool 491 2135 2626 66.4 260.9 327.3

Table 3 provides information on the number of preschool classes built by MOE from

the year 1992 to 2007. Data for the year 2008 – 2009 are preschool classes planned to

be built.

Table 3: Number of Preschools Built from

1992 to 2007 and will be Built from 2008 to 2009

Num.

Year

Number of

Preschool

Classes

Total

(accumulate)

1. 1992 1131 1131

2. 2002 100 1231

3. 2003 1500 2731

4. 2004 500 3231

5. 2005 700 3931


Num.

Year

Number of

Preschool

Classes

Total

(accumulate)

6. 2006 652 4583

7. 2007 1322 5905

8. 2008 1012 6918

9. 2009 800 7717

Total 7717

Source: EPRD & BS

Under PIPP, the government has given specific attention to boost rural

education with the hope of bridging the gap between rural and urban areas. With

cooperation from National Implementation Task Force and National Implementation

Directorate, MOE will implement projects that are identified as High Impact Projects

(HIPs). Under HIP, MOE will expand its preschool education programme by

providing more than 2400 classes in rural areas to 61,000 preschool children aged 5-6

Project under HIP includes providing preshool with computer and software facilities.

4.9 The National Action Plan of Children

The World Summit for Children (1990) made declaration concerning the need

to uphold rights of children’s life, protection, development and participation.

Malaysia has accepted the declaration on 19 July, 1991. Subsequently, the First

National Action Plan of Children, 1990 - 2001 (Pelan Tindakan Kanak-kanak Negara

Pertama) was formulated. A committee made up of governmental agencies, UNICEF,

WHO was set up. The National Population and Family Development Board (Lembaga

Penduduk dan Pembangunan Keluarga Negara, LPPKN) was the secretariat for this

plan. The theme of this plan was ‘Caring for the Children of Malaysia’. It focuses on

children’s health, mother’s health, family development and planning, nutrition,

accessibility and quality of healthcare, basic education and literacy, children with

problem, role of woman and family, mass media.

At the end of 2000, the 3rd Consultative Forum on “Caring for the children of

Malaysia” was organized (31 Oct – 1 Nov, 2000). This was followed by workshop on

preparation of the Second National Action Plan of Children, 2001 – 2020. A

workshop on children also took place on Mac, 2001. These forum and workshops

aimed to review the First Action Plan and to formulate the Second Action Plan.

Department of Social Welfare was appointed as the secretariat. The proposed

committee for this action plan is to made up of Ministry of Health, Ministry of

Education, Ministry of Rural and Regional Development, Department of Social

Welfare, LPPKN, Labour Department, Department of Orang Asli Affairs, National

Unity and Integration Department, Police, Statistic Department. The Second National

Action Plan was drafted and waited to be approved by the government. However a

hiccup happens, the government wanted to pass the Convention on the rights of the


child, CRC country report first as the Second National Action Plan on Children is to

focus on the CRC. CRC report was finally passed by the Cabinet in 2006.

While waiting for the CRC report to be passed and as an interim between the

two National Action Plans, a National Committee on the Development and Expansion

of Children’s Program (Jawatankuasa Program Perkembangan dan Pembangunan

Kanak-kanak Negara) was set up with the Department of Social Welfare as the

secretariat. From the year 2002 to 2007, this committee took over the task of

coordination and monitoring of progress of programs in six areas as below:

• Care and development of early childhood

• Basic Education and Literacy

• Children with problem

• Disadvantaged children

• Parental education and function of family

• Children and his/her environment

This committee is chaired by the Director General of Social Welfare Department and

conducts meeting twice a year. This committee is answerable to the National

Advisory and Consultative Council for Children under the care of Ministry of Woman,

Family and Community Development. Members of this committee made up of

officials from 20 governmental agencies as listed below.

• Prime Minister’s Department

o National Unity and Integration Department

o Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM)

• Ministry of Information

o Department of Information

• Ministry of Energy, Water and Communication

• Ministry of Education

o Education Planning and Research Division

o Curriculum Development Centre

o School Division

o Department of Special Education

o Division on Private Education

• Ministry of Health

o Division on family health development

• Ministry of Internal Security

o Royal Police Malaysia

o Prison Department of Malaysia

o Department of National Registration

o National Anti-Drug Agency

• Ministry of Rural and Regional Development

o Department of Community Development (KEMAS)

o Department of Orang Asli Affair

• Ministry of Human Resource

o Labour Department

• Ministry of Housing and Local Government

o Department of urban and rural planning

• Ministry of Woman, Family and Community Development

o Department of Social Welfare


o The National Population and Family Development Board

4.10 Healthcare policy

Child health services in Malaysia started since 1950s as one of the programme

within the maternal and child health policy under the jurisdiction of the Public Health

Department, Ministry of Health. Policies on health and health services for early

childhood are either explicitly stated or implicit within the other general health policy

as stated below.

Child Health Services Policy

Child health services in Malaysia started since 1950s as part of the maternal

and child health programme. Since then the programme has been gradually rolled out

to all Health and Community Clinics in rural and urban areas. After the country

adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1989, specific programs

on child health services began to roll out as a response of the government’s

commitment to provide adequate health infrastructure and programmes which are

accessible and affordable to all children.

Article 24 in CRC stated that ‘The child has a right to the highest standard of

health and medical care attainable. States shall place special emphasis on the

provision of primary and preventive health care, public health education and the

reduction of infant mortality. They shall encourage international co-operation in this

regard and strive to see that no child is deprived of access to effective health

services.” Policies and programs on child healthcare in Malaysia henceforth are

formulated based on this overarching Article.

Among the child health services available currently are routine visits and

examination for children, immunization, assessment of child growth and

development, assessment of nutritional status which includes measurement of weight

and height. Health education to the parents is carried out during child health clinic

sessions whenever necessary. Child health programmes are being planned

continuously according to the changing needs of the children

National Nutrition Policy

National Nutrition Policy was formulated in 2003 to ensure public access to

safe and quality food regardless of location as well as ascertain that nutritious food is

crucial for optimal growth, development and the health of the family. In order to

achieve this, one of the measure is the amendment of the Food Regulation 1985 in

2004 to include the implementation of mandatory labelling of food content with

relevant nutrition information to assist consumers in making informed choices when

purchasing food product. The Plan of Action on Nutrition started in 1986 included the

improvement of food quality and safety, breast feeding promotion, promotion of

appropriate diet and healthy lifestyle.

Safe Water and Sanitation Policy

Provision of safe water and proper sanitation has been an on-going effort by

the government since independence. In 2002, enhanced effort have been made which


include the construction of water supply system, sanitary well, rain water collection

schemes have been . The Safe Water and Sanitation Policy also emphasise on

prevention and reduction of waterborne diseases to improve the health status of the

population, especially in the rural areas.

Studies have indicated high prevalence rates of endemic goitre in isolated

parts of Peninsular Malaysia as well as Sabah and Sarawak. Measures have been

made to reduce this incidence by giving iodised salts and iodinated water in the

affected states. Legislation for iodised salt was gazetted in December 1999 and

implemented in June 2000. Additional efforts include installation of iodinators in the

water supply to schools and longhouses in the areas known to be endemic for iodine

deficiency disorders.

4.11 National Child Protection Policy

Child Act 2001 (Act 611) provides that every child is entitled to protection

and assistance in all circumstances without regard to distinction of any kind, such as

race, colour, sex, language, religion, social origin or physical, mental or emotional

disabilities or any status. Under Article 19, 20, and 22 of CRC, state parties shall take

all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect

the child from all forms of maltreatment by parents or other responsible for the care of

the child.

Legal provisions servicing the National Child Protection Policy includes the

following:

• Penal Code (Act 574) which cover offences affecting the human body.

• Domestic Violence Act 1994 (Act 521) protects a child against any form of

abuse committed within the household

Whereas establishments and efforts serving the National Child Protection Policy

includes the following:

• Court for Children

• Child Protection Teams

• Child Activity Centers

• Orphanage

• Rehabilitation Centers/Schools

Any reports by public on maltreatment would be investigated by the Department of

Social Welfare.

4.12 National Policy on Disabled Child

Article 23 of CRC recognised that a disabled child has the right to special care,

education and training to help him or her enjoy a full and decent life in dignity and

achieve the greatest degree of self-reliance and social integration possible. The

Division on Persons with Disabilities under the Department of Social Welfare is

responsible for the database on the disabled people as well as setting up the

Community Based Rehabilitation centers providing diagnosis and rehabilitation

services.


4.13 National Policy on Indigenous Child

Article 30 in CRC stipulates that children belonging to the minority group or

the indigenous children have the right to enjoy his or her own culture, to profess and

practise his or her own religion, or to use his or her own language. In response to this,

curriculum of the native languages such as Iban, Kadazan-Dusun and Semai have

been formulated and offered as subjects in schools in the native communities.

Aboriginal Peoples Act 1954 (Act 134) places the responsibility for the

general administration, welfare and advancement of Orang Asli on the Commissioner

of Aboriginal Affairs. Various programs such as ‘Woman Motivator’(Penggerak

Wanita) (since 2000), and Orang Asli Preschool (since 1992) have been designed.

4.14 Financial assistance to the poor

Established since 1946, the Department of Social Welfare has formulated

various policies and subsequently programs for the social development and welfare of

the people.

For the poor, there are three kinds of assistance, namely the General Assistance

(Bantuan Am), Child Assistance (Bantuan Kanak-kanak) and Schooling Assistance

(Bantuan Sekolah). Poor is defined based on the combined family income and differs

according to areas or states, for example in the Federal Territorial, the poor who are

able to get financial assistance are those with combined family income of below RM

713 for a family of four. The financial assistance ranges from RM 350 to RM 400.

General Assistance is given to singles or couples without children. Child Support

Assistance is given to family with children to cater for the living expenses whereas

Schooling Assistance is given to school going children for school fees, school

uniform, bus fare etc. In the year of 2005 a total of RM 85,456,351 has been given to

a total of 95,345 cases as General Assistance. In the same year, RM 43,660,680 has

been given as Child Assistance to a total of 19,346 cases.

Summary

In general, ECCE policies explained in this section encompasses the following areas:

o Accessibility to ECCE – ensuring all children have access to ECCE

o Equity of ECCE – ensuring all disadvantaged children have access to ECCE

o Ensuring standards and quality program

o using of a standardized curriculum

o qualified teachers/carers

Analysis and discussion will be based on these areas: Accessibility, Equity and

Quality


5.0 METHODOLOGY

This study (the ECCE Policy Review) used both quantitative and qualitative

methodology. While the quantitative data provides a comprehensive situation analysis

of the current status of ECCE policies implementation, the qualitative data seeks for

explanations and reasons for certain performance revealed through the quantitative

data.

ECCE policies in Malaysia especially those related to the preschools have

already been implemented for at least 5 years. As a common practice, the related

government agencies have planned to study the implementation of these policies.

This study do not intend to reinvent the wheel but rather consolidate on findings from

various on-going studies and reports given in Table 4. Brief overview of each of these

studies are provided in the same table.

Table 4: Overview of recently completed and on-going studies on ECCE in Malaysia

No. Research/Study Acronym Overview of the research/study

1 Mid Decade Assessment of

Education for All – Goal 1:

Expand early childhood

care and education

- A UNESCO project.

Conducted by Curriculum

Development Centre (CDC)

in 2006/7

EFA-

Goal 1

Study

Ministries, divisions, departments, as

well as major non-governmental

organizations, professional bodies

involved with the care and education

for children in Malaysia cooperated in

this mid-decade assessment. Data

was collected extensively from

existing documents and focus groups

discussions.

2 Evaluation of Preschool

Program

- conducted by Education

Planning and Research

Division (EPRD) in 2007/8

EPRD

Study

Areas of concern:

- Participation of children (age 5+)

in preschool program

- Quantity and quality of basic

facilities of preschools

- Teachers and helper

- Implementation of National

Preschool Curriculum

Respondents:

- A total of 890 respondents (444

MOE, 170 KEMAS, 174

PERPADUAN, 102 private).

- Respondents made up of teachers,

assistants and principles.

- Respondents came from various

localities covering all the zones in

Malaysia.

- 67.72% of the students in the

sample are from parents with

income below RM1,000 and


No. Research/Study Acronym Overview of the research/study

24.44% of them are from parents

with income below RM2,000. The

GNP of Malaysia is

Instrument:

- Questionnaires

-

3 Implementation of National


- conducted by CDC in

2007/8

CDC

Study

Areas of concern:

- Implementation of National


- Classroom teaching and learning

- Use of teaching and learning

material

Respondents:

- All preschool teachers from West

Malaysia, all states.

- Approx. 70% of preschool teachers

from East Malaysia

Methodology:

- Questionnaires (3700 respondents)

- Classroom observations (20

observations)

- Interview (20 interviews)

From the findings of the above studies, especially the EFA Goal 1 Study,

various issues of concern were discovered. Examples are the prevalence of not-

registered private ECCE providers, integration and coordination during

implementation of various policies. More in-depth data is deemed as necessary in

order to shed lights onto these issues. The following smaller scale studies as listed in

Table 5 were then conducted.

Table 5: Additional studies conducted to

supplement data obtained from research conducted in Table 4

No. Studies Acronym Overview of the research/study

1 Participation and

implementation of National

Preschool Curriculum by

private preschools

Private

preschool

Study

Respondents:

- Private preschools teachers and

operators

- Officers involved in ECCE

- Members of NGOs involved in

ECCE: (a)Association of

Kindergarten Malaysia (PTM),

(b)National Association of Early

Childhood Care and Education



Malaysia, (c)Association of

Professional Early Childhood

Educators, (d)Association of

Registered Childcare Centers.

Areas of concern:

- Teaching and learning

approaches

- Understanding of National

Preschool curriculum

- Issues faced by private

preschools

Methodology:

- Questionnaire (More than 100

questionnaires were sent out to

private preschools teachers and

operators, only 19 replied)

- Interviews (4 preschools

teachers/operators)

- School visits (2 preschools)

- Focus groups discussions (3

discussion sessions: PTM 1,

ECCE 1, ECCE 2)

- Document analysis (Reports

from School Inspectorate and

Private School Division, MOE,

report on case study by Malaysia

Association of Professional Early

Childhood Education)

2 Participation of indigenous

children in MOE

preschools

Indigenous

children

Study

Visits to three centers

3 Teaching and learning in

MOE Special Education

Preschool

- conducted by Special

Education Preschool Unit

in collaboration with CDC

-

Special

Children

Study

- Questionnaires were filled up by

teachers teaching in Special

Children Preschools

- Observations and interviews on 4

teachers conducted by Special

Education Preschool Unit officer

4 Coordination and

integration in ECCE

- conducted by CDC

Integration

Study

Respondents:

- Officers from various

departments and Ministries

involved in ECCE

- NGOs involved in ECCE



- Private preschools operators

Methodology

- Focus group discussions (2

sessions: ECCE 1, ECCE 2)

- Interview ( 6 persons)

- Questionnaire ( 11 answered)

Visit to KEMAS preschool

- One KEMAS preschool was

visited

- 2 KEMAS teachers and 1 district

supervisor were interviewed

Visit to PERPADUAN

preschool

- One PERPADUAN preschool was

visited

Specific research questions as well as methodology for each of the categories

explored through this study are provided in this following section.

POLICY AREA 1: TO PROVIDE ECCE TO ALL CHILDREN

RELATED REGULATION/LAW:

o CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD (CRC)

o CHILDREN ACT 2001 (Act 611) - RIGHT TO EDUCATION/

HEALTHCARE*

o NURSERY ACT 1984 (ACT 308)

Table 6: Research Questions and method to investigate Policy Area 1

Generic

Category

Sub-category Research Questions Method

Access Level of

participation

What is the Gross Enrolment Rate,

GER for TASKA, 0-3 years old?

What is the GER for preschool, 4-6

years old?

Is the participation rate satisfactory?

Has it achieve the country target?

If the GER is unsatisfactory, what is

the cause?

Secondary

Statistics

collected from the

relevant agencies.

Interview relevant

offices/agencies.


Generic

Category

Sub-category Research Questions Method

Equity in

access to

quality early

childhood

care and

education

Who are the advantaged and the

disadvantaged and what are the

reasons for the gaps in their access to

ECCE?

Are there any discrimination based on

race, sex, mental/physical condition,

language, geographical location?

Questionnaires

sent out to a

number of private

preschools and

interviews.

Quality Educators What are the teacher’s and assistant’s

quality/qualification?

Statistics

collected from the

relevant agencies

Physical and

material

support

Is the physical infrastructure and

services adequate?

What improvements are most urgently

needed?

Are the teaching and learning

materials adequate?

What are the best practices for the

development and supply of quality

materials that can be scaled up?

EPRD Study

(which covers

approx. 900

schools)

Resource Distribution

of public

resources

How is ECCE provision financed? Statistic collected

from relevant

agencies.

POLICY 2: USING A STANDARDISED CURRICULUM

RELATED REGULATION/LAW:

o EDUCATION ACT 1996: All preschools must use the National Preschool

Curriculum


Generic

Category

Objectives of Review

Method/Study

Quality of

program

To assess how well the existing

policies are being implemented

To find out gaps of

implementation

EPRD Study.

CDC Study

Study/Report from the Private


Generic

Category

Objectives of Review

Method/Study

Education Department

Visit private kindergarten and

KEMAS and PERPADUAN

kindergarten:

- one private kindergarten in

town

- one private kindergarten in

rural

- one KEMAS kindergarten

- one PERPADUAN

kindergarten

ISSUE 3: INTEGRATION(possible gap)


Category Sub-Category Questions Method

Governance Analysing existing

policies

Identifying gaps

within the policy

Identify gaps

between the

policies

Document analysis.

Integration across

different sectors of

government within

similar Ministry

How are different sectors

coordinated for the

development and

implementation of ECCE

policy?

What is the most feasible

and effective way of

mustering inter sectoral

coordination?

Interview officers

from the relevant

agencies.

Focus Group

Discussion.

Integration across

different levels of

government within

similar Ministry

What are the respective

responsibilities of the

different levels of

government for ECCE?

Interviews

Focus group

discussion

Integration across

different Ministries

How are different

Ministries coordinated

Interviews


Category Sub-Category Questions Method

for the development and

implementation of ECCE

policy?

What is the most feasible

and effective way of

mustering inter

Ministerial

coordination?

Focus group

discussions.

ISSUE 4: EFFECTIVENESS(possible gap)


Generic

Category

Sub-Category Questions Method

Effectiveness Implementation Is policy transformed into an

annual action plan/adopted?

What evidence exists that the

policies have been effective

implemented?

What contradictions/

bottlenecks exist in

implementation at the

different levels?

Interview officers

from the relevant

agencies.

Focus group

discussions.

Monitoring and

evaluation

What systems are in place

for monitoring and

evaluating policy

implementation and

effectiveness?

What are the processes in

place to enable data to be

collected on policy and

implementation?

What mechanisms are in

place to ensure the collecting

and sharing of data relevant

to national needs?

Interview officers

from the relevant

agencies.

Focus group

discussions.


Constraints and Lessons learned

ECCE in Malaysia as in many other countries are under the purview of many

Ministries, departments and agencies. Young children are always the utmost concern

of an increasingly affluent and informed society. Many national, regional or

international based NGOs are interested in issues related to ECCE. Obtaining data

from such a wide spectrum of society on a sensitive issue is a problem both

administratively and professionally. Each individual agency or department in safe

guarding its own interest are not willing to share all, no-barred information. Some

data obtained were deemed as sensitive for fear of misinterpretation by other

departments or other sectors of the society at large. A study of this scale would be

better conducted by an independent, neutral 3rd party such as a research center.


A) EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION

6.0 EXPENDITURE ON ECCE

Fund allocated for early childhood education is given to three

Ministries/Department, namely Ministry of Education, Ministry of Rural and

Regional Development as well as the Department of National Integration and Unity.

Data obtained for this study is limited to Ministry of Education (MOE) only and does

not reflect total expenditure of the nation. Table 10 provides information on the

amount as well as % of MOE allocation as compared to the total expenditure on

education.

Table 10: Percentage Expenditure Spent on ECCE by the MOE

Public Expenditure on

Education Public Expenditure of ECCE % Expenditure spent on

ECCE

2000 14,079,737,820 25,080,900 0.18%

2001 18,601,959,600 27,794,000 0.15%

2002 20,719,036,710 37,750,000 0.18%

2003 26,194,824,940 46,491,000 0.18%

2004 23,937,604,060 176,477,000 0.74%

2005 16,719,469,500 178,061,100 1.06%

Source: Finance Division, MOE

Public Expenditure on ECCE

0

20,000,000

40,000,000

60,000,000

80,000,000

100,000,000

120,000,000

140,000,000

160,000,000

180,000,000

200,000,000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

year

RM

0.00%

0.20%

0.40%

0.60%

0.80%

1.00%

1.20%

Public Expenditure of ECCE

% Expenditure spent on ECCE

Diagram 3: MOE Expenditure on ECCE

Figure from Table 10 and Diagram 3 indicates that percentage and amount of

public expenditure (MOE) on ECCE is increasing year by year. Malaysian

government is beginning to focus more on ECCE program. From 2003 to 2004, there

is an increase of 0.56%, the biggest so far. However, having only 1.06% of the total

expenditure on education for ECCE (2005) is not something very encouraging.


Compare to 41.60% of total public expenditure on education spent on primary

education and 37.07% spent on secondary education. There is a need for higher

allocation for ECCE.

Table 11: Estimated recurrent expenditure for

MOE preschool, primary and secondary education

Level of education 2005 2006

Preschool 178,061,000 (1.31%) 173,528,500 (1.22%)

Primary 5,674,836,800 (41.60%) 6,060,289,900 (42.66%)

Secondary 5,057,590,900 (37.07%) 5,421,272,800 (38.16%)

Fully Residential School

Education (Secondary)

216,535,700 (1.59%) 262,630,900 (1.85%)

(source: Statistics, EPRD MOE)

Expenditure for early childhood care for the age group of 0 to 4 is borne by the

Ministry of Woman, Family and Community Development. There is no information

on the expenditure. Expenditure for healthcare is borne by the Ministry of Health

(MOH). However, allocation of children health under MOH is for 0 – 12 years old.

There is no specific breakup data for 0 – 6 years old.


7.0 ACCESSIBILITY OF ECCE

Policies on ECCE stated clearly the aim and responsibility of the government

with regard to providing or monitoring the accessibility of ECCE. This section will

discuss accessibility of ECCE under the categories of ECCE for the 0 – 4 years old

and 4-6 years old.

7.1 EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND DEVELOPMENT FOR THE 0 – 4

YEARS OLD

Types of Childcare Center

There are various kinds of childcare centers in Malaysia, these centers are generally

named as TASKA. Categories of childcare centers found in Malaysia are as below:

Government own childcare center (TASKA dalam komuniti)(since 2006)

Workplace childcare center

Institutional childcare center

Plantation childcare center

Home based childcare center

Legally all childcare centers need to be registered with the Ministry of Woman,

Family and Community Development.

The government did not set any specific targets with regards to the number or

percentage of TASKA to be built in any specific time frame. TASKA are mainly

built and run by private or non-profit organizations. Currently the government merely

sets up the registration and monitoring mechanism pertaining to the development of

TASKA. However, from 2007, the government is beginning to set up some TASKA

through the PERMATA projects.

National Participation/Enrolment

Gross Enrolment Ratio, GER for 2005 indicates that only 1.82 % of total

population of the age group of 0-4 years old is attending TASKA. This is not a very

realistic figure and is believed that it does not reflect the actual situation in the

country. Reports shown that many of the childcare centers are not registered As of

Feb 2007, only 1,831 childcare centers are registered handling a total of 34,100

children (Minister of Woman’s opening address for the Early Childcare and Preschool

Education Conference held on 14-15 Mac, 2007). In reality as one walks around the

town one can observe many buildings or houses being used as TASKA, there are also

many home based childcare where there are less than 10 children ( the law states that

if there is less than 10 children, the premise need not be registered).

Participation by sex

Participation by gender is a global issue to be addressed. Generally the female

is the disadvantages group. However, Gender Parity Index, GPI in Malaysia is

showing an opposite trend of positively biased to the female. In another word, more

female than male has accessibility to ECCE. GPI for ECCE 0 – 4 years old in 2005 is

1.282.


7.2 ACCESSIBILITY TO EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

(PRESCHOOL), 4-6 YEARS OLD

National Enrolment

Early childhood education in Malaysia for the age group of 4-6 is offered by

both the public sector as well as the private sector. Public sectors involved are the

Ministry of Education (MOE), Ministry of Rural and Regional Development

(MORRD), and the Department of National Integrity and Unity (DNID). Other than

these, early childhood education is also provided by religious bodies such as the

ABIM (Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia) and the State Religious Department. Early

childhood education for this age group (4-6 years old) is generally known as the

preschool education.

Table 12 provides information on the progress from 2000 to 2005 in terms of

Gross Enrolment Ratio, GER and Gender Parity Index, GPI. The calculation of GER

is based on enrolment of public preschools offered by MOE, MORRD, DNID, and

state religious department as well as registered privately run preschool. GER is

calculated using enrolment divided by actual population of the particular age group,

the actual population is obtained from the national census conducted by the National

Registration Department.

Table 12: Gross Enrolment Ratio and GPI. Progress between 2000 to 2005 (National Level)

GER for ECCE GPI for GER

Male Female Total

2000 49.61% 47.07% 48.38% 0.949

2001 50.81% 55.12% 52.89% 1.085

2002 54.79% 51.98% 53.43% 0.949

2003 55.00% 63.17% 58.95% 1.149

2004 59.66% 70.30% 64.77% 1.178

2005 66.48% 68.35% 67.38% 1.028

Source: MOE, JPS KPM, KEMAS, PERPADUAN, ABIM, JAIN

GER fo ECCE

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

YEAR

Male

Female

Diagram 4: GER and GPI for Preschool Education in Malaysia (old data, change)


Data from Table 12 and Diagram 4 shows that there is a steady increase of

GER in the past six years. The increase in enrolment was the highest in 2003 (55.07%

compared to the previous year) whereas from 2005 to 2006 the increase is only 9.54%

(EPRD’s Study, 2008). Table 8 also shows that as of 2005 there is only a 67.38%

participation of children in preschool education. It needs to be noted that there is a

sizable population of students in private preschools which are not registered with the

Department of Private Education, Ministry of Education. In a recent random survey

by the Department of Private Education, a high percentage of private preschools are

not registered. The Department of Private Education is currently doing a promotion to

get these private preschools registered.

Enrolment in Private Preschools

Table 13 provides information on enrolment of students in the private

preschools. In the year 2005, 43% of the children who participate in preschools are

from these privately run preschools. There is a decline in enrolment of students in the

private preschools in the past few years. The sharpest decline occurred in 2003 which

coincided with the year MOE began setting up its preschools in a big scale. This

shows that preschool offered by MOE could attract a sizable population, perhaps

since it is non paying and since it is part of the formal school system. Children from

MOE preschools could continue with Primary Education in the same school.

Information on private preschools at each state is given in Table 14.

Table 13: % of Students Enrolled in Private Preschool

% Enrolled in Private

Centers

2000 60%

2001 66%

2002 67%

2003 39%

2004 43%

2005 43%

Source: JPS, MOE

Private preschools are more prevalent in certain states. Table 14 provides the average

percentage of students enrolled in private schools from the year 2003 to 2005. The

states where private preschools are more prevalent are Labuan(70%), Johor(69%),

Selangor(68%), Sarawak(68%), Negeri Sembilan (67%), Kuala Lumpur(66%), and

Perak (66%). Besides Labuan which is a very small territory, the other states are from

the more populous state on the west coast. States recorded lower private preschools

enrolment are Kelantan (53%), Terengganu (55%), two east coast states. It is difficult

to gauge the effect of such segregation. There is no standard instrument used to

measure the effectiveness of preschool education offered by the government and those

offered by the private sectors. Government preschools from whichever agencies or

ministries receive regular funding and assistance from the central government in

terms of infrastructure, teacher training, teachers salary and equipment. The quality of

private preschools differs across the country and there is no specific studies conducted

on this matter yet. However, it need to be noted that all preschools regardless of

private or public need to use the National Preschool Curriculum.


Table 14: Average % of Students Enrolled

In Private Preschools from 2003 to 2005

State

Average % of students enrolled in private

preschools from 2003 to 2005

NATIONAL 41

KELANTAN 53

TERENGGANU 55

PAHANG 57

PERLIS 57

KEDAH 61

MELAKA 64

PULAU PINANG 65

SABAH 65

PERAK 66

WP KUALA LUMPUR 66

NEGERI SEMBILAN 67

SARAWAK 68

SELANGOR 68

JOHOR 69

LABUAN 70

National Enrolment by State

Table 15 shows the distribution of the ECCE national enrolment for the age of

4 – 6 according to the states. GER enrolment for the year 2005 indicates how far away

the state is in terms of providing ECCE preschool education to all children of the age

group. States like Terengganu (82.67%), Negeri Sembilan (77.71%) are doing well

and are far ahead of states like Kuala Lumpur (37.41%), Labuan (39.47%) and

Kelantan (41.85%). It is interesting to note that Kuala Lumpur as the capital of the

country recorded such low GER, the only probable answer is that there are lots of

unregistered private preschools in Kuala Lumpur and they are not captured in this

national enrolment data. Kelantan being a state with many religious schools might be

seeing a lot of its children enrolled in privately run religious schools which is not

recorded in the national data as well.

Table 15 too provides information on the average national enrolment 2000 –

2005 and how these states contribute to the percentage of total ECCE enrolment for 4

– 6 years old for the country. This data provides a realistic picture of the country.

Johor state and Selangor state though not too high on their respective 2005 GER have

more students compared to Negeri Sembilan and Terengganu. This is because Johor is

a big state in terms of area and Selangor is a populous state. Perlis is a small state and

contributes only to 1.24 % of the total enrolment of the country though its GER is

quite high at 66.80%.


Table 15: ECCE National Enrolment and GER for 4 – 6 Years Old by State

GER for 4-6 Years Old ECCE

Enrolment 2005

Average Enrolment

2000 – 2005

% of Average Enrolment by

State

NATIONAL 67.38% 659,848

WP KUALA LUMPUR 37.41% 29,683 4.49

LABUAN 39.47% 1,592 2.41

KELANTAN 41.85% 40,804 6.18

SARAWAK 47.16% 63,338 9.59

SABAH 51.55% 56,627 8.58

KEDAH 54.20% 49,622 7.52

MELAKA 55.36% 22,247 3.37

PULAU PINANG 57.08% 36,526 5.54

SELANGOR 57.63% 88,779 13.45

PERAK 59.24% 52,533 7.96

PERLIS 66.80% 8,158 1.24

PAHANG 67.91% 41,301 6.26

JOHOR 70.33% 101,044 15.31

NEGERI SEMBILAN 77.71% 31.526 4.78

TERENGGANU 82.67% 36,378 5.51

100

Average ECCE Enrolment By State

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

LABU

AN

PER

LIS

MELA

KA

WP K

UALA

LUM

PUR

NEGERI S

EMBIL

AN

PULA

U P

INANG

TERENGGANU

KELA

NTAN

PAH

ANG

KED

AH

PER

AK

SABAH

SAR

AW

AK

SELA

NGOR

JOHOR

State

En

rolm

en

t

Diagram 5: Average ECCE Enrolment 4-6 years old by State


GER 2005 per State

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

LABUAN

KELA

NTAN

SARAW

AK

SABAH

KEDAH

MELA

KA

PULA

U P

INAN

G

SELA

NG

OR

PERAK

NATIO

NAL

PERLI

S

PAHAN

G

JOHO

R

NEG

ERI S

EMBIL

AN

TEREN

GGANU

State

GE

R

Series1

Diagram 6: GER for 4 – 6 years old by State

Primary 1 Student with ECCE Experience

Diagram 7 captured the statistic of actual students in Year 1 Primary School

who have ECCE experience (data collected by CDC, 2007). Out of a total of 340,823

Primary 1 students from 10 states, only 5.3% do not have ECCE experience. This

coincide with EPRD Study 1 where out of a (Wan). The discrepancy between this

data and data from Table 12 which indicate that in 2005, only 67.38% of 4-6 years old

children were in preschools might be due to the prevalence of unregistered private

preschools.

% Primary One Students with ECCE Experience 2007

2%

5%

28%

7%30%

23%

5%

MOE

KEMAS

PERPADUAN

PRIVATE

RELIGIOUS AGENCIES

OTHERS

WITHOUT PRESCHOOLS

Diagram 7: % of New Entrant to Primary 1 with ECCE Experience


National Enrolment by locality: urban and rural

The aim of MOE and KEMAS setting up preschools are especially to provide for the

children at the rural area. MOE has set a target of 80% rural and 20% urban

preschool. However this target has not been met yet as shown in Table 16. Table 17

indicated that majority of public preschools are in the rural areas. CDC study(refer to

Table 4 pg 28) revealed that 69.1% of the preschools are situated in rural or interior,

9.7% in suburban dan 21.2% in urban. In actual situation, number of preschools in

rural and interior would be more than this as CDC study though captured all of

peninsular Malaysia preschools only covered a portion of the East Malaysia. East

Malaysia has many rural and interior preschools.

Table 16: Number of MOE preschools by urban and rural (2005)

Urban Rural % Rural

preschools

Schools 1055 2232 67.9%

Classes 1399 2605 65.06%

Enrolment 31970 61406 52.06%

Table 17: Number of public preschool classes by different providers and locality

(Enrolment in bracket)

ECCE

Provider

Urban Rural Pinggir

bandar

Orang

Asli

Estate Special

Education

Total

MOE 1399

(31970)

2605

(61406)

- 49 49 4569

Kemas 1333

(43814)

4317

(82489)

1181

(29,576)

201

(4383)

54

(1480)

0 7086

Perpaduan

TOTAL

Participation by Sex

GPI for the 4-6 years old is more biased towards female. This shows that in

Malaysia, the girls has equal opportunity to schooling in the preschool level. In fact

more girls seems to be in preschool than boys. The EPRD’s study indicated the most

common sexual combination of preschool classes is 49.72% male and 48.38% female.

Table 18: GER for ECCE 4 – 6 Years Old by Sex Progress between 2000 to 2005 (National Level) 4-6

GER for ECCE GPI for GER

Male Female Total

2000 47.38% 45.02% 46.24% 0.950

2001 47.91% 51.70% 49.75% 1.079

2002 50.63% 47.86% 49.29% 0.945

2003 49.35% 56.13% 52.64% 1.137

2004 52.52% 60.36% 56.33% 1.149

2005 59.38% 59.75% 59.56% 1.006

Source: MOE, JPS KPM, KEMAS, PERPADUAN, ABIM, JAIN


7.3 PARTICIPATION OF THE PRIVATE SECTORS IN ECCE

Private sector is one of the key players of ECCE in Malaysia. These private

sectors ranges from individual, company and association. Amongst these, individual

is the main provider. Individually owned preschools do not usually have many

classes, they are rather small in terms of physical areas or number of children.

Private preschools (4-6 years old) or TASKA (0-4 years old) are conducted

either in residential area, offices, places of worship or purpose-built premises. Data

displayed in previous section indicated there are many unregistered preschools. The

question is why are the private ECCE providers reluctant to register their centres? To

obtain some insight into the reason why many preschools and TASKA are not

registered, the following sessions were conducted:

Focus groups discussions: ECCE 1 and ECCE 2

Question and answer session during “Child-centered learning” seminar

organized by the Association of Preschools Malaysia on 1 July, 2007 (PTM

Seminar, 2007)

Interview with Sarah, an retired staff of the Social Welfare Department (Sarah)

Interview Patricia, Jenny, Minah, Shelly four private preschool operator

(Patricia, Jenny, Minah, Shelly)

Questionnaire received through Private Preschool Study

Long delay was reported in the application for registration of ECCE centers.

Complicated procedures and requirements, red-tape, enforcement officers not helpful

and not keeping up to their appointments as well as too much paper work even for

yearly renewal deter the private ECCE providers from registering their centres (ECCE

1, ECCE 2). To register TASKA or preschools, one need to get approval from four

different agencies which are the Fire Department, Social Welfare Department, Health

and the Local Authority. Approval from some departments are slower than others due

to under-staff, and low priority (Sarah).

Respondents revealed the incident of how after rectifying one mistake in the

application form, the whole application form would go right under the pile again and

the waiting game continues. Respondents also commented that there are cases where

application would only be answered by the authority after one to two years. With this

long delay due to bureaucratic red tape, applicants faced the following problem:

“Procedure required that applicants must show proof of

location and availability of premises (building). It is

expensive to rent the building while waiting for the

applications to be approved, this could take years or at

the end of it not being approved at all. Some of us break

the law and go ahead without permit”

(Questionnaire: Catherine)

Until 2006, the Social Welfare Department which is responsible for the

registration of TASKA and preschools do not have enforcement power. However a

lot of this is changing in the year 2007 where there are amendment of laws, provision

of more man power and vigorous campaign to register ECCE providers. One stop

centers are being formed too so that ECCE providers need only to go to one location


to get everything approved. Prior to that they need to run to different offices located

in different part of the town. Sarah was quick to point out too that the private ECCE

provides too need to bear the responsibilities as some of them could not be bothered

with laws and regulation and believe that the enforcement is so poor that they would

not be affected even though they do not registered.

Some ECCE providers in the village (kampong) land face a barrier as some of

the land do not have land title to support the application. ECCE providers in housing

areas have also a hurdle to overcome, that is to obtain consent from ten neighbours to

open their centers. Different local authorities charge different rate and have different

requirements. In some areas, charges is made on conversion into business paremises

and some charges per sq ft (ECCE 2).

The 2006 Private Preschools Inspection conducted by the Private Education

Department, MOE found that private kindergartens who have valid documents for

their operation could produce the compulsory documents of company registration

documents, declaration of temporary registration, declaration of private registration,

teaching permits, local board trade license, head teacher appointment letter, approved

renewal, declaration of registered establishment, validation or checked by fire brigade,

institution brochures and amended registration declarations. However there are some

private kindergartens operating without some of these documents. Some private

preschools are registered under learning centers, franscised centers and not

preschools/kindergarten. These private preschools register themselves in the Ministry

of Entrepreneurship, thus they are not subjected to the regulations under the

Education Act 1996.

7.4 ACCESSIBILITY TO ECCE: CONCLUSION

Data indicated that majority of Malaysian children have no problem of

accessibility to ECCE. There are many ECCE providers around. The issue at hand is

the non-registration of these ECCE centres.


8.0 EQUITY – EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION FOR

THE DISADVANTAGED GROUP

Children Act 2001 (Act 611) provides that every child is entitled to protection

and assistance in all circumstances without regard to distinction of any kind, such as

race, colour, sex, language, religion, social origin, physical disability, mental

disability or emotional disability or any other status. As stipulated in the Act, all

children are entitled to their rights in quality education, care and protection. Issues of

accessibility and equity surfaced as we analysed national data and its aggregation. As

policies are being implemented, various disadvantaged group could be identified. The

following sections discussed on steps and programmes taken to address the issues of

equity for these groups of people. From this data obtained, we can then gauge the

effectiveness of the Children Act 2001 with specific reference to the disadvantaged

children.

8.1 CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES

Early childhood education for the special children is offered by two ministries

that is Ministry of Education and Ministry of Woman, Family and Community

Development. Policies related to the provision of education for the special children is

enacted in the Education Act 1996 (Special Education Regulation -1997).

Education for special need children who are having mono disability, such as

children with hearing impairment, visual impairment and learning disability, are under

the care of Ministry of Education whereas those with multiple disabilities are taken

care by Ministry of Woman, Family and Community Development. Children who are

physically handicapped but their cognitive is at par as normal children are in

mainstream program, together with normal children. Besides these two ministries,

early childhood education for special children is also under the non-government

organizations and association such as Down Syndrome Association, National Autistic

Society of Malaysia, Spastic Centre and many more.

The Education Ministry of Malaysia provides special schools for children with

disabilities. As for 2006, Malaysia has set up 28 preschool classes in special school

and 72 classes in integration program. The classes in special school cater for the

children with hearing impairment and visual impairment whereas the classes in

integration program cater for the children with learning disabilities, LD.

Table 19: Number of MOE Special Education

Preschool Program Set up in the Particular Year

Year 2003 2004 2005 2006 TOTAL

Total number

of programme

3*(inclusive) 28(special

school)

32(LD) 12(LD) 72

Enrolment

15 127 299 363 804

*this inclusive programme ended in 2005 when the preschool for integration programme started.

LD: Learning Disability


Basically, the goal of special education preschool programme which was set

up within the integration mode is to enhance the integration between the special need

children and the normal children. Students in these schools have to share the area for

outdoor play and this is the time where they can play together. The teacher must be

conscientious and dedicated to support disabled children and to provide early

childhood intervention to ensure special children having the chance to achieve their

maximum potential, their future will be much brighter and more promising.

Table 20: Enrolment of Special Needs Children in Preschool Special Education

Programme under MOE based on Category

Year/ Age

Hearing Impaired Visually Impaired Learning Disability

4 yr

5 yr

6 Yr Total

4 yr

5 yr

6 yr Total

4 yr

5 yr

6 yr Total

2000 0 0 0 0 1 2 2 5 0 0 0 0

2001 2 10 37 49 1 2 5 8 0 0 3 3

2002 1 22 33 56 0 3 5 8 0 0 0 0

2003 3 6 32 41 1 3 12 16 0 5 10 15

2004 8 15 78 101 1 5 10 16 0 9 22 31

2005 3 48 76 127 0 4 15 19 0 33 101 134

2006 4 18 122 144 0 3 13 16 2 26 170 198

Total 21 119 378 518 4 22 62 88 2 73 306 381

The enrolment of hearing impaired children increased sharply in 2004 when

MOE officially set up a proper preschool program for the special children. Even

though the program for visually impaired was also set up in 2004, there was not

much difference in the number of children who joined the program. It might be

because of location factor and parents who are not willing to let their children stay in

the hostel. As for learning disability children, the enrolment increased in 2005 when

the 32 preschool Learning Disability, LD programs were set up throughout Malaysia.

The number of students are increasing and this shows that the parents are aware about

the service provided and they really seek for it. In the Ninth Malaysia Plan, 100

preschool program for special need children will be set up.

8.2 INDIGENOUS CHILDREN

Indigenous children in Malaysia is categorised into two major groups, one group

in the peninsular of Malaysia (West Malaysia) and the other in East Malaysia (the

states of Sabah and Sarawak). East Malaysia is separated from West Malaysia by the

South China Sea. In fact, indigenous people form the major population of East

Malaysia, they are made up of the ethnic groups of Iban, Dayak, Kadazan, Penan,

Bidayuh etc. Though many of these indigenous people are already living in towns

and cities, there are still many who are leading a more nomadic life in the interior of

Sabah and Sarawak.

Indigenous people in peninsular of Malaysia is known as the ‘orang asli’. Many

of them still stay in remote and interior areas of Malaysia. Generally the orang asli

has their ways of life and are reluctant to leave their home in remote area. Many of


their children either do not go to school or dropped out from school during their

primary school years.

Childcare Centre Programme (0-4 years old) for the Orang Asli

In Malaysia, children are generally placed in childcare centers because both

parents are working and they have no one to care for their children at home. Rarely

are children looked after by childcare providers if there are maids or family members

to care for the children. This practice of placing children in childcare is not

widespread among orang asli communities in Peninsular Malaysia because most of

the mothers do not work outside their homes. Nonetheless, childcare facilities are

provided by Department of Community Development, KEMAS for orang asli parents

who need the facilities beginning from 2005 as shown in Table 21.

The Department of Orang Asli Affairs (JHEOA) was of the opinion though the

mothers of orang asli children in remote areas are not working outside their homes

and do not need alternative care, these children need enrichment to enable them to

develop, especially intellectually. Furthermore, mothers need knowledge to give

proper care to their children. A program called ‘Penggerak Wanita’ which can be

literally translated as the ‘woman mover’ was specifically developed for this purpose.

The objective of this programme is to give awareness to mothers in indigenous

community the importance of education; cultivate a reading habit and a love for

knowledge among children; and organize and conduct co-curricular activities which

involves the children and their parents. As of 2006, JHEOA has established 28

“Penggerak Wanita” centers as shown in Table 21. The centers employ 108 care-

givers and consists of 529 children, aged from 2 to 4. These care-givers are the

mothers themselves and they are paid a minimum wage.

Table 21: Number of Orang Asli in Childcare Centers

Year

Chi No. of children

in childcare

centers

operated by

KEMAS

Childcare Centers Operated by

JHEOA/Penggerak Wanita

Total No.

of Indigenous

Children in

Childcare

Centre

No. of

centers

opened in

year

Total No. of

centers

No of

Indigenous

children in

Childcare

Centre

2000 None 6 6 80 80

2001 None 4 10 190 190

2002 None 4 14 262 262

2003 None 4 18 320 320

2004 None 2 20 380 380

2005 226 4 24 432 658

2006 317 4 28 529 846

The total population of orang asli children of ages 0-7 years is approximately 7190 in

the year 2007. Since there is no specific data on the population of 0-4 years old, the

percentage of orang asli children in childcare center could not be calculated.


Preschool Education (4-6 years old)

To ensure socio-economically deprived children, especially indigenous

children are not further disadvantaged, the Department of Community Development

(KEMAS) in Peninsular Malaysia, set up kindergartens to cater to the needs of the

orang asli children in the peninsular Malaysia since 1992.

Indigenous children in Sabah and Sarawak attend preschools which are

operated by the Ministry of Education, KEMAS, PERPADUAN and private

kindergartens. There are no preschools solely or exclusively for indigenous children

in Sabah and Sarawak, unlike those in Peninsular Malaysia (the orang asli preschools

by KEMAS). In areas, especially in remote areas that do not have preschools, NGOs

such as PACOS or local communities provide some form of preschool education to

help children acquire language skill as well as develop motor and social skills.

Table 22 shows the number of indigenous children of 4-6 years attending

preschool from 2000 to 2006. The data in Table 22 shows a sudden increase in

children’s enrolment in preschool in 2003. This jump in the number of indigenous

children attending preschool is due to the policy of the Ministry of Education to build

more preschools in Sabah and Sarawak in 2003 and in 2004 the number of preschools

in Sabah and Sarawak was increased by 151 and 152 respectively. There is another

jump in enrolment in 2006, particularly in Sarawak and this is due to the increase in

preschools in Sarawak by 235 classes and in Sabah by 59. The increase in indigenous

children attending preschools operated by KEMAS shows a steady yearly increase too.

However, due to lack of population data, gross enrolment rate, GER of the indigenous

children couldn’t be calculated, thus, it could not be ascertained the percentage of

indigenous children obtained preschool education.

Table 22: Number of Indigenous Children Attending Preschools by

The Different Agency and Year

Year

No. of Indigenous

Children in

KEMAS

preschools (for

orang asli in

peninsular

Malaysia)

No. of Indigenous

Children in

Preschool operated

by MOE in Sabah

No. of Indigenous

Children in Pre-

schools operated by

MOE in Sarawak

Grand Total

Number of

Indigenous Children

in Preschool

Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female

2000 1896 1907 1668 1615 1837 1802 5401 5324

2001 1939 1887 1691 1549 1862 1836 5492 5272

2002 2027 2015 1766 1626 2073 1847 5866 5488

2003 2078 2135 3590 3434 3762 3416 9430 8985

2004 2097 2236 4061 3952 4253 3868 10411 10056

2005 2135 2188 4806 4773 4822 4683 11763 11644

2006 2408 2498 5306 5238 7274 6999 14988 14735 Note

KEMAS = Department of Community Development in the Ministry of Rural and Regional

Development, Malaysia.


In Peninsular Malaysia, the vast majority of the indigenous children attend preschools

conducted by KEMAS.

MOE = Ministry of Education, Malaysia. The majority of the children in Sabah and Sarawak

are indigenous children and they attend the national preschools conducted the by

Ministry of Education, Malaysia.

Can we find out population of orang asli or the indigenous people from DOS?

In the state of Sabah, PACOS TRUST or PACOS, a community-based

organization has been actively involved in improving the quality of life of the

indigenous communities since 1987. PACOS supports community organizations in

12 districts involving 25 geographical areas. One of PACOS’s program is

Community Preschools. Currently it has 17 ECCE centres in the interior of Sabah

involving 2020 children and 71 teachers and caregivers. PACOS ECCE Centers are

in the process of registering formally as preschools although they have been providing

early childhood education services since 1993.

PACOS liased with the Association of Kindergarten of Sabah to provide basic

training to PACOS preschool teachers on a yearly basis so that they can undertake the

running of the community pre-schools well. PACOS preschools are mostly built

through sponsorship from international bodies such as RALLY with joint effort of the

local community. Children gone through PACOS preschool program was found to

have better achievement at the primary school level compared to those who do not

attend the program. The program has also resulted in a revival among parents and

local communities on the importance of community health, child care and education.

Besides PACOS, there are other NGOs who provides ECCE to the indigenous

children of Malaysia. Eleven of these NGOs (8 in Sarawak, 3 in Peninsular Malaysia)

work closely with PACOS. PACOS being the pioneer provides advice and training for

the management and running of these NGOs centers.

A team from the Curriculum Development Center, Minsitry of Education has

visited the indigenous primary schools for a curriculum project in the year of 2007,

one of the member of the team is a preschool officer. As part of the data collection for

the ECCE Policy Review she visited the preschool classes in these schools. The boxes

below are excerpts providing glimpses of life and difficulties faced by the indigenous

children and their teachers. A box of glimpses of a KEMAS preschool as reported by

an UNICEF officer is also provided below.


Jimmy, a five years old Penan boy from Sarawak wakes up in the morning and

happily walks with his mother to go to his preschool class in SK Kapok, Miri - a

national primary school with a population of slightly over 100. The school caters for

those from age 5+ to 13, from preschool to grade 6. Jimmy’s class has 25 children,

more children than each of the other grades ( 1 – 6) which has less than 20 in each

class. All the children from grade 1 to grade 6 are staying in the school hostels.

Jimmy’s parents could send him to preschool because the school is near their home,

There are many other Penan families who stay far away do not have these opportunity

because they need to take a few hours to brave the rough terrain to come to the

preschools. They would love to have their children in the hostel, however, regulations

state that those in preschool cannot stay in hostel, furthermore the Ministry of

Education thinks that Jimmy is too young to stay in hostel. There are efforts now to

loosen this regulation to allow accessibility of preschool education for more

indigenous children like Jimmy. Jimmy has a sweet smiling teacher who stays in the

school, she comes from another community and for her to reach the school, she has to

endure 5 to 6 hours of rough red granite road, and only the good old truck can bring

her there. SK Kapok is lucky, they have electricity using generator and water supply.

There is a large community of Penan around the school, there are some schools with

only two students. SK Kapok is among many schools open by the government of

Malaysia to bring the indigenous people to the mainstream, equipping them with

proper education so that they could advance to higher education. .

(as told by Zaitoon, MOE,2007)


Cikgu Haslinda teaches preschool class in SK Tanah Abang, Mersing. She hails from

the the state of Johor at the South of peninsular Malaysia. The school is

approximately 100 km from the small town of Mersing at the South-east of peninsular

Malaysia. She has been teaching in this school for 3 years. Her students are 100%

orang asli. Though some parents works in the plantation, many still depends on the

jungle for their livelihood, a life style pass down from generations which they find

difficult to give up. The government has helped set up a kampong for them with water

and electricity supply as well as good roads. The parents are mainly illiterate.

However more of them are realizing the importance of education for their kids now

compare to 10 years ago. Aminah looks forward to seeing her students every day, they

are an enthutiastic lot and takes great delight in things in the nature. Cikgu Aminah’s

class attendance is good, most of her students come to school daily, but the other

classes in this school are not so lucky, many do not come to school regularly, some

children would follow their parents to the jungle for 2 to 3 months. Though some

parents feel that while they go to the jungle, their children should not miss their class,

so they are left behind, but there are still many who thinks that they need to bring

their children along to the jungle otherwise who is going to care for them. Generally

orang asli do not like formal kind of teaching and learning, the preschool curriculum

attracts them due to the thematic approach and non-formal atmosphere in the

classroom, students have more freedom to move about in the classroom. In order to

attract them to school the Ministry of Education has formulated an adjusted

curriculum for the lower primary orang asli school. The curriculum taps on the

methodology used in preschools where modules are used and parents are invited to

school to participate. Food is provided during this activities and food such as flour

and bread are distributed to these children and parents after the activities. Since

parents say that one day without work means one day without food supply. With the

modules more orang asli are coming to schools.

(as told by Zaitoon, MOE, 2007)

Simah Asir holds a job that many of her neighbours feel is unnecessary. She is a

preschool teacher in a small village two hours by jeep from the nearest sizeable town,

at the end of a rugged road snaking through rubber and palm oil plantations. On this

day, she is teaching her impatient students to tear and fold plant leaves into shapes of

animals. Simah works slowly around the circle, helping each child work on his or her

design. They may not know it, but the children are getting something most of their

parents never had; a formal education. The students are mostly from the Temiar ethnic

group, one of 18 groups in Malaysia called Orang Asli, or ‘original people’.

“Generally,indigenous parents are still not very interested in education,” said Simah.

“They see this preschool as a place to send their children to play and eat. But when

they see people from outside the community showing interest in their children, they

grow more conscious of the need for education. But it’s hard. We need to this

regularly.”

(written by Steve Nettleton, UNICEF Malaysia, 2007)


UNICEF is currently working with KEMAS on ‘cepatbaca’ program for the KEMAS

orang asli preschools. The orang asli preschool teachers were being trained on how to

use a set of printed reading material to enhance the literacy skills of the orang asli

children. Workshops were being organised for the orang asli communities, stressing

the importance of boosting early childhood development and offering tips on learning

activities, nutrition and child psychology. This effort is in line with Malaysia’s

national plan to reduce disparities between rural and urban areas, and between less

developed and more developed regions. For UNICEF and KEMAS, it is also a matter

of planting skills for a new generation of Orang Asli, so that they can craft their own

choices for the future (Nettleton, S, UNICEF Malaysia, 2007)

8.3 REFUGEE CHILDREN

Malaysia has not acceded to the Convention of Refugees and has also reserved

Article 28 of the Convention of the Rights of the Child. Hence Malaysia is not obliged

to provide for the education of children of refugees. In view of this, education of

refugee children is left to United Nation High Commission on Refugee (UNHCR).

Currently NGOs are running informal education classes for some refugee children.

Some refugee communities have taken the initiatives to establish community-based

schooling for their children.

The number of refugee children is quite substantial as shown in Table 23. The

Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) has begun towards the end of

2006 sourcing for information on refugee children, children of asylum seekers,

undocumented children and indigenous children who are not school-going age and are

not in school. This information is to enable SUHAKAM to plan its programme for

promoting the right to education of the disadvantaged children.

Table 23: Number of Refugee Children of Preschool Age (4-6 years) according to

UNHCR’s record

UNHCR has increased its efforts to implement more activities in the area of education

including literacy programmes. As of 2006, Malaysia has 1862 refugee children aged

4 – 6 years as recorded by UNHCR.

Issues of refugee is complicated and controversial. The general feeling is that

based on humanitarian ground, help should be given. However, the government and

the public is also weary that as more program are formulated for the refugee, would it

cause an influx of refugee and created financial burden to the country, this then is also

detrimental to the established social structure of the country. It might be the right of

the refugee for care and education, but it is also the right of the citizens of Malaysia to

Nationality Male Female Total

Muslim from Myanmar

(including Rohingya)

456 440 896

Other Ethinc Minorities from

Myanmar

148 161 309

Acehnese 307 266 575

Other Nationalities 42 40 82

Total 953 909 1862


obtain the best care and education which might be in jeopardy if too much of

resources is allocated for the refugee.

8.4 CHILDREN OF INMATE

Female inmates in the Malaysian Prisons are given the option of caring for

their infant children till the age of 4 years. The Prison Department of Malaysia

provides childcare for these children.

The mothers are educated on childcare skills, the importance of breastfeeding

and hygiene. At the same time, the children are provided with milk, baby food,

medical treatments, baby and infant clothes, and other basic needs. The Prison

Department is also working closely with several NGOs to provide “sensory activities”

for children aged 3 and below. “Sensory Activities” are conducted on a weekly basis

in Kajang Women Prison.

As of 2006, the Prison Departments have set up childcare centers in prisons

totalling to 10 childcare centers throughout Malaysia. These childcare centers caters

to 27 children aged 0 – 4 years

Table 24: Number of Children of Inmate

Year Number of children (0-4 years old)

2000 54

2001 67

2002 60

2003 101

2004 67

2005 69

8.5 Conclusion

Equity in accessibility to ECCE facilities is still an on-going concern in

Malaysia especially for groups such as the indigenous people and special children.

Much effort have been poured in to reduce the gap between these groups and the main

stream children. With these continuous effort and increased attention, all children of

Malaysia regardless of race, abilities, mental and physical condition would be able to

have access to quality ECCE.


9.0 QUALITY OF ECCE PROGRAM

Besides providing opportunity of ECCE, existing policies also stipulates the

necessity of quality ECCE program. Quality of program is usually visible from the

curriculum of these programs. Quality of ECCE program is discussed in the area of

curriculum and its implementation, teacher training, physical environment and

facilities.

9.1 EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOR

0-4 YEARS OLD

Childcare center’s Act requires all childcare providers and minders to attend

courses. A standard training materials have been produced by the Ministry of Woman,

Family and Community Development. The Ministry has appointed 10 agencies to

conduct these courses. Content of care and education for Malaysia childcare center is

given through these courses.

Content of this Childcare Center Basic Course includes the following areas:


9.2 THE NATIONAL PRESCHOOL CURRICULUM FOR THE 4-6 YEARS

OLD AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION

Preschool was formally introduced as a part of the national education system

under the Education Act 1996. In the year 2003, circular was sent to all early

childhood education providers, public or private that a National Preschool Curriculum

has been formulated and need to be used in their teaching and learning. The

requirement to teach according to this National Preschool Curriculum was later

documented in the revision of Education Act 1996.

The National Preschool Curriculum 2003 is the first comprehensive national

curriculum produced for the preschools in Malaysia, the target are the 4-6 years old.

The aim of this curriculum is to enrich the potential of the children in all aspects of

development; ensuring that children master basic skills and inculcated with positive

attitude, preparing for smooth transition to Primary

School Education. The thrust of the curriculum was built upon six components which

are Language and Communication, Cognitive Development, Spiritual and Moral,

Socio emotional Development, Physical development and the Esthetic and Creativity.

The National Preschool Curriculum was developed based on the National

Education Philosophy as stated below:

“Education in Malaysia is an on-going effort towards developing the

potential of individuals in a holistic and integrated manner, so as to

produce individuals who are intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and

physically balanced and harmonious based on a firm belief in and

devotion to God. Such an effort is designed to produce Malaysian

citizens who are knowledgeable and competent, who possess high

moral standards and who are responsible and capable of achieving a

high level of personal well being as well as being able to contribute to

the harmony and betterment of the family, society and the nation at

large.”

The curriculum design is that of the behavioral model family where specific

measurable learning outcomes are identified and learning is perceived as happening as

an accumulation of the achieved learning outcomes. Learning theories adopted are

those of constructivism and discovery inquiry where students interact with

environment, peers and teachers and subsequently construct their own understanding

and making sense of things around them as proposed by Piaget and Vygotsky.

Rosseau has reiterated that learning in children cannot be forced or controlled.

Children will learn when they are ready. Development in each child differs much

according to their chronological age, physical wellbeing and emotional readiness; thus

each child need to be treated differently. This developmental appropriated practice

forms the foundation of the National Preschool Curriculum.

The National Preschool Curriculum advises teachers that the most appropriate

approaches for teaching is the thematic approach, integrated approach and learning

through play. Students should be given chance for group activities as well as

individual activities. Learning centers need to be developed within the preschool

classroom according to each component in the curriculum and furnished with


materials that could stimulate the development and growth of these children.

Learning need to be fun and informal at this stage.

9.2.1 IMPLEMENTATION OF NPC BY THE MOE PRESCHOOLS

All public preschools use the National Preschool Curriculum (NPC). Each

year the school inspectorate will organise collaborative preschool inspection where

the various divisions within MOE who has specific Preschool Unit will take part. This

report would be sent up to the Minister of Education for further action. In the 2005

collaborative preschool inspection conducted from June to August of 2005, a total of

141 MOE preschools (46 urban, 91 rural) were inspected for a whole day lesson. The

area of inspection includes teaching and learning, management and usage of teaching

and learning materials, safety measures, facilities provided, parental and community

involvement.

In the year 2007 two major studies on preschool education were conducted by

MOE, these are EPRD Study and CDC Study (refer to Table 4, pg 27). Part of the

focus of EPRD’s study is the implementation of NPC whereas CDC Study was

wholly on the implementation of NPC, specifically the classroom teaching and

learning.

Teaching and Learning Approaches

NPC proposes three major teaching and learning approaches to be used in the

teaching of preschools, these are Learning through play, Thematic approach, and the

Integrated approach Finding from the 2005 School Inspectorate inspection showed

that all the public preschools visited were using the National Preschool Curriculum

(NPC). It was found that 79.5 % of the teachers were using the learning through play

method, 83.6% were using the thematic approach and 78% using the integrated

approach.

CDC study adopted two research methodologies: questionnaire and classroom

observation. In the questionnaire, teachers were asked to fill in their perception of

their level of understanding and their view of the usefulness of the various teaching

and learning approaches. Respondents were also asked about the approaches they

used in teaching the various components (there are six componets in the NPC:

Language and Communication, Spirituality and Moral, Cognitive development,

Physical development, Sosio-emotional development, Creativity and Aesthetics).

With a Likert scale of 1 to 5, the average mean is listed in Table 25.

Table 25: Mean for Item in Teaching and Learning Approaches (CDC Study)

Bil. N mean SD

D1 I always use the Learning through Play approach for the following

components:

D1a Language and Communication 3623 3.81 0.771

D1b Cognitive development 3627 3.90 0.738

D1c Physical development 3636 4.08 0.732

D1d Creativity and aesthetics development 3625 3.98 0.749


Bil. N mean SD

D1e Sosioemotional development 3614 3.85 0.767

D1f Spirituality and moral 3382 3.66 0.862

D2 I find that students are able to achieve the learning outcome better if

Learning through Play is used in:







D3 I always use Thematic approach for the following components:







D4 I find that students are able to achieve the learning outcome better if

Thematic approach is used in:







D5 I encounter problems using Thematic approach in teaching the following

components:







Data from Table 25 indicated a high and positive perception of the effectiveness of

the various approaches. This finding coincided with EPRD study which indicated

also a positive response towards the effect of the various approaches (mean of 4.23

for Learning through play, 4.22 for Thematic approaches and 4.04 for Integrated

approach.

However findings from the classroom teaching and learning approaches

indicated a less favourable situation. As much as teachers claim they conduct

Learning through Play, observations made on 20 schools by preschool officers from

CDC as well as State Education Department found that not much of Learning through

Play happens in the classroom. Observations indicated that thematic approach was

used more to an extent where teacher mentioned the theme or write down the theme


on the board at the beginning of lesson. Not much of reference to the theme is made

after that. Integrated learning does take place but not to a satisfactory level.

EPRD study investigated teacher’s perception of the usefulness of ICT in

teaching and learning, in a Likert of 1-5, the mean obtained was 4.00 with SD of

0.768. In the observation through CDC study, ICT is not used much in teaching and

learning.

The conclusion that can be made is that teachers are positive towards the

teaching and learning approaches, however they still lack the know-how and need

more guidance.

Teaching and Learning Activities

NPC proposed various teaching and learning activities. The usual teaching and

learning activities conducted in MOE preschools is listed in Table 26. Activities

suggested by NPC but not frequently conducted by MOE preschool teachers are sand

play, water play, exploring, dan ‘main pondok’.

Table 26: The Usual Teaching and Learning Activities in MOE Kindergartens

(School Inspectorate Report, 2005)

Activities Percentage (%)

Question & answer 83.7

Colouring 79.4

Storytelling 78.0

Singing 71.6

EPRD study looked into the activities in term of group activity, whole class

activity and individual activity. It was found that the frequency of whole class

activity is at a mean of 4.17 ( Likert scale of 1-5), group activity at a mean of 3.70 and

individual activity at a mean of 4.00. In short, it can be inferred that the MOE

preschool teachers do adhere to the suggested activities provided in NPC.

Understanding of the NPC

Generally MOE preschool teachers understand the NPC. Table 27 indicated a

mean of 3.73 to 3.97 for understanding of learning outcomes, teaching and learning

approaches as well as the principles of evaluation and preparation of space.

Table 27: Item for understanding of NPC (CDC Study)

Bil. N mean SD

D6 I understand the statement of Learning Outcomes given in the Curriculum

Specification for the following components:

D6a Bahasa dan Komunikasi 3621 3.94 0.686

D6b Kognitif 3622 3.92 0.693

D6c Fizikal 3625 3.94 0.693

D6d Kreativiti dan Estetika 3614 3.94 0.695


Bil. N mean SD

D6e Sosioemosi 3612 3.88 0.722

D6f Kerohanian dan Moral

3363 3.87 0.718

D7 I understand the teaching and learning approaches

stated in NPC

3640 3.97 0.653

D8 I understand the principles of evalution and

assessment as suggested in the Curriculum

Specification for Preschool.

3635 3.73 0.751

D9 I understand the principles of preparation of space

according to the NPC.

3636 3.81 0.742

The use of teaching and learning aids

It was found that 61.6% of the MOE preschools teachers used teaching and

learning aids especially for the language and communication component as well as the

creativity and aesthetics component. Other than these, MOE preschool teachers often

carry out routine learning activities without utilising apparatus/ instruments provided

for their teaching and learning by the Ministry of Education. In fact, these teachers

were found to be lacking in creativity to utilise some of the toys and instruments

provided. Those apparatus are therefore either under utilised or their usage not

optimised ( School Inspectorate Report, 2005). CDC study showed a mean of 3.95 for

preparation of a variety of teaching aids and a mean of 4.15 for preparation of

teaching aids using local materials (Likert scale of 1-5).

Safety measure in preschools

Table 28 provides information obtained from the inspection regarding the

safety measures in preschools. The findings indicated that safety aspects of the MOE

preschools can still be improved. This includes ensuring provision of fire

extinguishers, fire drills and logbooks for recording the movement of children. Data

obtained for the private preschools are also given for comparison purpose.

Table 28: Safety Aspects, in percentage (%), at MOE and private

Kindergartens Safety Aspects MOE (%) Private (%)

Fenced kindergarten area 75.9 -

Availability of Fire extinguisher 75.2 89.5

Availability of First Aid Box 83.7 91.2

Fire Drill 44.0 36.8

Children’s Record: Arrival/ pick-up departure 35.5 66.7

Parental involvement

Parental/ guardian and community involvement in MOE preschools were not

very encouraging as indicated in Table 29.


Table 29: Parental Involvement in MOE Preschool

9.2.2 IMPLEMENTATION OF NPC BY KEMAS

Data on implementation of NPC by KEMAS was obtained through discussion

with KEMAS officers during preparation of EFA Goal 1 report as well as during

focus group discussions, ECCE 1 and 2 where KEMAS officers were invited. A four

and a half hours visit to a KEMAS preschool was also carried out where classroom

observation was done and interviews conducted with two teachers and one district

coordinator.

KEMAS has always maintain close relationship and cooperation with the

Ministry of Education, specifically the Curriculum Development Centre (CDC) and

the School Division. MOE invites KEMAS officers regularly for their meetings,

workshops and trainings and vice versa.

Being the oldest preschool provider, KEMAS has its own training facility,

monitoring, coordinating and evaluation mechanism. All KEMAS preschool teachers

have to attend 6 month course in KEMAS training centers where they were given

input on the use of NPC to teach. KEMAS is currently working with MOE to further

train their teachers to diploma level.

Each KEMAS teacher uses the Daily Activity Record prepared centrally to

teach each day. KEMAS has put up framework of phases for teaching and learning.

An example is given below:

- Phase 1 (2 weeks): orientation

- Phase 2 (10 weeks): recognises alphabets and counting

- Phase 3 (10 weeks): spelling

Teachers attend training and workshops during school holiday at district level

for professional development as well as for planning purposes. Themes for teaching is

decided at the district level whereas teachers can choose their own activities suitable

for the children. Examination is conducted twice yearly. Monitoring is done mainly at

the district level. District supervisors are appointed to take this role.

Text books are centrally purchased and distributed to each preschool. Each

student has to pay for the text books in the beginning of the year and subsequently a

minimal monthly fee need to be paid. Children from poor family can apply for

subsistence. With supervision, each KEMAS preschool is empowered to manage its

own finance.

Parental Involvement Percentage (%)

Excursions 22.7

Speech Day/ Prize-giving Day 41.1

Working together 51.1

Expertise Contribution 30.5

Financial help/ Goods provided 58.2


Interview with KEMAS teachers and the supervisor revealed their enthusiasm

and accumulated experience in handling children. Though they initially claimed that

they understand the NPC, they do encounter some problem when asked to explain

certain concept further. There are certain components in the NPC which they find

some difficulty in understanding, an example is the Cognitive Development

component and the integrated approach. Unlike the MOE preschool teachers who

have to obtain the necessary qualification before teaching, the KEMAS teachers

obtained only a 6 month initial training.

Data collected indicated that compared to MOE, KEMAS preschool is more

centrally controlled in term of teaching and learning. MOE discourages preschool

teachers from using text book, MOE teachers can use resources from text book but are

forbidden from using one book as text book. KEMAS subscribes to using fixed text

book for all of its schools, the rasional given was to standardise the level of teaching

and learning as their teachers are not equally qualified. The orientation of teaching

and learning differs from MOE to a certain extent, the emphasis on drilling and rote

learning seem to be more in KEMAS. During the one day observation made through

this study, teacher spent 20 minutes leading students to read alphabets, followed by

‘sukukata’(Ba, be …..), name of the week in Malay, name of the week in English,

singing song of the name of week, reading name of month, then Islamic month

followed by counting in Malay then in English. Students sit on the carpet reciting

after the teacher. However as only one visit was made, this finding might not be a

reflection of common practice.

9.2.3 IMPLEMENTATION OF NPC BY PERPADUAN PRESCHOOLS


9.2.4 IMPLEMENTATION OF NPC BY THE PRIVATE PRESCHOOLS

Data in this section was obtained from documents collected through the Private

preschool study(refer Table 5, pg 28) which include:

Preschool Inspection report by the Schools Inspectorate, MOE, 2005 (JNS,

2005)

Preschool Inspection report by the Schools Inspectorate, MOE, 2006 (JNS,

2006)

Report on the meeting between 30 private preschools teachers and operators

around the state of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor organized by Association of

Preschools Malaysia conducted on 11 Aug, 2007 (PTM, 2007)

Case study by Malaysia Association of Professional Early Childhood

Educator (MAPECE) where questionnaires were distributed and roundtable

discussion was held in July 21, 2007 attended by 24 preschool teachers and

operators from private kindergartens in the Klang Valley (MAPECE, 2007).

Private preschool Study where around 100 questionnaires were sent to

private preschool operators and teachers, only 22 responded. Focus group

discussions were also conducted. (ECCE 1 and 2, 2007)

Permit to Operate

Each year the School Inspectorate and the Private Education Department

conduct collaborative preschool inspection. In 2005, the inspection was conducted on

57 private kindergartens. It was found that 73.7% of these private preschools

possessed a temporary permit to operate (School Inspectorate report, 2005). Out of the

total of 373 teachers in these centers, 61.9% of them have teaching permit issued by

the School Registrar. 71.9% of these private preschools have letter of certification

from the Fire Department and local authority. That means there are still private

preschools not possessing documents required by the authority.

The Use and Understanding of NPC

The 2005 School Inspectorate report showed that 77.2% of the private

preschools visited used the NPC. The 2006 School Inspectorate report showed only

51.95% of the private preschools inspected (N=51) possessed the NPC documents.

Findings from Private Preschool Study where interviews and observations were

conducted indicated that some of these private preschools may possessed the

document but do not fully utilise it in their daily teaching. Only one respondent from

the questionnaires replied she does not refer to the NPC, reason being her center was

using the full Montessori program. Five (N=19) respondents for the questionnaires

said that they use NPC for planning purposes.

Private ECCE providers usually would advertise their centers as providing the

National Preschool Curriculum as the basic program. On top of it, some ECCE

providers would organized additional program such as music, computer, mental

arithmetic. In the 2006 School Inspectorate report, out of the 51 private preschool

visited, 29.2% provide additional music programs, 20.8% provide computer lessons

and 8.3% conducts mental arithmetic classes.


One participant for the MAPECE 2007 who herself is a private preschool

trainer estimated a high percentage of the teachers in private preschools do not know

the existence of the NPC. In the questionnaire distributed to 51 preschools teachers by

MAPECE, a mere 13.7% said that they know NPC very well and use it, a whopping

31.4% have seen NPC but not used it and a similar percentage of these teachers have

not seen NPC but have heard about it.

In general private preschool teachers were supportive of the NPC, they are in

agreement with the approaches and strategies recommended in the NPC (PTM, 2007;

Questionnaire, 2007). However there are areas in the NPC that they faced problems

and confusion. Comments such as below was recorded:

“We use the NPC, it is good, the learning outcomes, objectives, only

thing the words. Is it alright if we change the words in the learning

outcomes, lets say in 2.3 it is written as weather, can we use fruits

instead?” (PTM, 2007)

“I find one section very confusing, page 47, number 11, solving

problem, what is the ‘problem’, could anything become a problem?”

(PTM, 2007)

“Some very confusing” (Questionnaire, 2007)

“I use the NPC, I like the ideas inside, I use the ideas, but I don’t like

the numbering in the documents, it serve no purposes, it takes up time,

very difficult for us to sit down and write the numbers……we do own

record book, we don’t need the numbering, we just use ideas from the

NPC” (PTM, 2007)

“The school gives us ten themes for the whole year. We work on the

themes, at the end of the year, when we sit down and look at all the

numbering (the learning outcomes in NPC) we found that we have

repeated many skills, we have left many of the skills, we didn’t do

some of the learning outcomes (the numbering). We found that we

have done all the themes, we have focused on the themes, and we have

miss out the skills, that is our problem, the theme seem to be the

forerunner as mentioned in NPC, the skills seem to be secondary, that

is the problem” (PTM, 2007)

“Good, but we need some one who is well versed and all rounded in all

subjects to teach the NPC” (Questionnaire, 2007)

“It is good for normal kids” (Questionnaire, 2007)

“It is a commendable effort but not very user friendly for the teacher’”

(Questionnaire, 2007)

“Difficult to choose the correct learning outcomes.” (Questionnaire,

2007)


Comments given by these preschool teachers indicated that they have been

given very narrow understanding of the NPC and very restrictive regulations as

pronounced by some participants “they are people who say cannot change the word in

NPC, cannot change the numbering system, the same numbering system need to be in

our teacher record book”. It also shows that they do not understand some of the ideas

behind the NPC, such as thematic approach and the learning outcomes. To them there

are conflict among the approaches suggested in NPC.

The dilemma these teachers face is that when they are confused they do not

know who to turn to and apparently there are various opinions around. MAPECE

2007 reported that some teachers commented that the cognitive comments of NPC is

not specific enough as it did not specify to what numbers children should learn to

count, add and subtract, these teachers expected the primary level mathematics to be

taught in preschools not understanding that early mathematics is not only about

addition and subtraction. Focus group discussion with some representatives of private

ECCE providers reaffirmed that some preschool teachers and operators do not

understand the NPC such as the meaning of integrated learning (ECCE2, 2007). At

the same time, some private preschools feels that by adhering to NPC which do not

encourage excessive use of workbook and homework, their enrolment is affected

because parents want homework and workbook.

Teaching and learning strategies

Table 30 showed the various teaching and learning strategies used in the

public and private preschools. There is a quite a marked differences between the

common practice of private and public teachers.

Table 30: Teaching and Learning Strategies in public and private schools

Teaching and Learning Strategies Public preschools

(%)

Private preschools

(%)

Learning through play 79.5 52.6

Thematic approach 83.6 49.1

Integrated approach 78.0 45.6

ICT in teaching and learning 28.4 29.8

(Source: 2005 School Inspectorate Report)

Generally the private preschool teachers who responded to the questionnaires

sent to them said they understand the four strategies listed in Table 28. Only 2 (N=19)

replied that they do not understand the Integrated approach. Respondents had to

explain their understanding of the various approaches used in teaching and learning.

Elaborations given by them showed that their understanding do not differ much from

the NPC except for the following:

Thematic approach is not used in all subjects

Thematic approach is only used in Mathematics

Integrated approach cannot be used because all teachers are involved in

specific subject teaching.


During the PTM 2007, many preschool teachers give their opinion on how

their own ideas complement the NPC. They were very enthusiastic in giving their

ideas. Some of their ideas are as below:

“ ….One of the children found a spider in the classroom,…. My lesson

become a lesson for spider,…. My lesson change, ……after I go home,

I check on the NPC, I found a relevant learning outcome stated there

which match my lesson on spider. My original lesson, I use it another

day”

“ I fix themes, such as suggested in NPC. The students got so excited.

We explore the theme, my students become well-informed with respect

to that theme, parents are happy, they say: thank you teacher”

“We need a balance between the various strategies. We are learning

three languages, we need language drilling. But of course we need the

themes, the activity based. In my kindergarten we have subjects, it is

very difficult without subjects, with subject more focus”

The use of ICT in teaching and learning is not frequent in both the public and

private preschools.

The 2006 School Inspectorate reports shows that 63.6% of the classes

observed (51 classes) used story telling, 58.8% used project work. Water play (11.8%)

and sand play (9.8%) were not given much attention.

In general, the use of workbook is prevalent in private preschools. Formal

teaching in classroom style is geared towards academic achievement to fulfill the

expectation of parents. In comparison, MOE preschools are not encouraged to use the

commercial workbook, however KEMAS preschools do use the workbook.

Adherance to hours of teaching the various components

The NPC stipulated that all preschools with the national language as the

medium of instruction need to have at least 2 hrs of English per week and 2 hours of

Islamic studies if there are five or more muslim students and 2 hours of moral

education if there are five or more non-muslim students in the class. Whereas

preschools with medium of instruction other than the national language need to have

at least 2 hours of national language, 1 hour of English per week. The condition for

the Islamic studies applied to these preschools too.

The 2005 School inspectorate report shows that 86% of the private preschools

adhere to the conditions of the national language and English language. However an

average of 36% of the private preschools observed did not adhere to the conditions for

the Islamic studies and Moral Education. During the meeting organized by the

Association of Kindergarten Malaysia, participants complained about the difficulty in

getting the religious teachers. All the respondents through the questionnaires indicated

that they adhere to the time allocation for national language and English language.


Writing of daily lesson plan

The teachers face difficulty when they need to follow specific directives in

writing the daily and monthly lesson plans. When asked who is the authority who

required them to do so, they couldn’t tell clearly, it could be hearsay or from an

unofficial source. One participant has this to say: “ People tell us the NPC is suppose

to make our work easy, but now teachers have to do homework everyday, to prepare

for the next day, increasing the workload instead of decreasing the work load” (PTM,

2007). To these teachers, the ritual of writing the lesson plans seem to be

synonymous to the NPC and perhaps that is one hindrance to implement the NPC in

private preschools. MAPECE 2007 too reported that teachers reiterated that writing

down all the learning outcomes and their codes (numbering as in NPC) in their daily

planning record book is unproductive use of their time, it is time consuming. They felt

that the list of learning outcomes cannot be exhaustive as other learning outcomes

may be encountered when carrying out the activities. Another teacher suggested that

“why don’t we just carry out the activity, at the end of the day only we find the skills

in NPC and fit it in, there is no need to find the skills first and write it in the lesson

plan prior to the lesson” (PTM, 2007). All these comments indicated the teachers’

distaste towards the tedious and presumably prescriptive methodology of writing the

daily lesson plan.

Expectation of the public

Difficulties faced by the private preschools in implementation of NPC is

closely related to the demand and expectation of the public (MAPECE, 2007).

Parents generally are worried about their children’s readiness to enter Year 1. Thus,

they want their children to be drilled with the reading, writing and mathematical skills

and they want to see the outcome in the form of test marks. They also consider other

hands-on activities as mere play and not serious work and non-productive.

The parents pressured the kindergarten to teach primary school syllabus as

some of their children are required to sit for primary school entrance examination for

acceptance or streaming purposes(MAPECE, 2007). Such schools are usually the

private schools, religious schools or some of the elite public schools including

Chinese primary schools. Public primary schools in general are not encouraged to do

this. The recently implemented remedial program of KIA2M in Primary 1 classes

nation wide have severe consequences in the preschools. In KIA2M students need to

sit for a test to ascertain their command of the language and if they fail the

examination they would be put into a special remedial group to follow specific

programs, three months later they would be tested again. As parents do not want their

kids to be put in KIA2M remedial classes, they are adding pressure to the preschools

to better prepare their children. This occurrence is rampant among the public

preschools too. It was suggested that parents need to be educated about NPC (PTM,

2007; MAPECE, 2007).

Some preschool teachers think that the private preschool operators need to be

informed and trained in NPC too as some of them have their own syllabus and

teachers are forced to follow them (PTM, 2007; MAPECE, 2007, ECCE 2). One

teacher told the story of the owner of the center she is teaching in telling them to


complete the syllabus provided by the franchise company and do not need to bother

about those children who could not learn (MAPECE, 2007). Others told how their

principles advice and pressurized them to emphasize on focusing on what the parents

wanted as these parents would compare their centers with other centers and they

would lose their business (PTM, 2007). However, during MAPECE, 2007 some

teachers felt that parents can learn to appreciate NPC if teachers could communicate

with them the philosophy behind NPC.

It is also a concern that quality ECCE is expensive, places where charges is

high, physical set-up and staff can be of quality, whereas in places where fees are low,

equipment would be minimal and qualification of staff would be low too (ECCE 2). A

story was related where a mother and daughter have each set up their own ECCE

centers. The mother uses the NPC and many workbooks. The daughter uses child-

centered learning, she was trained in US and believes in giving personal attention etc.

The mother gets 150-200 students per year, whereas the daughter’s students are far

lower than that (PTM, 2007).

Suggestions for Change in NPC

Changes recommended were mainly about abolishing the numbering system

in NPC, the need for further elaboration on examples of themes in the documents and

providing more training to the private preschool teachers. There are also suggestions

that the individual learning pace of student need to be looked into. One respondent

suggested that subject based teaching should be introduced at preschool level

replacing the thematic and integrated approach.

9.3 NATIONAL PRESCHOOL CURRICULUM FOR SPECIAL NEEDS

CHILDREN AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION

Basically, the National Preschool Curriculum, NPC is being used as a core

curriculum in all special education preschools for the visually and hearing impaired.

NPC was drawn up by the Curriculum Development Centre, Ministry of Education

and consists of the core curricular components of language and communication,

cognitive development, religious and moral education, social development, physical

development, and creativity and aesthetic. However, some parts of learning outcomes

in NPC have been modified to address the special needs of these children. Additional

components have also been added to meet the learning needs of these children.

For the children with visual impairments, an extra component called Basic

Component has been adapted for them. This component consists of the following

content:(i) orientation and mobility, (ii) daily living skills, (iii) sensory training, (iv)

low vision training, (v) Braille reading and writing skills, and (vi) computer literacy.

The inclusion of this component serves as a guide to meet the needs of young children

with visual impairments. Visually impaired children face a high risk of delayed

developmental due to their inability or lack of ability to use their limited vision for the

learning process.

For the children with hearing impairments, an extra component called Early

Auditory and Speech Skills, which consists of the following content: (i) amplification


tools controlling, (ii) pre-speech skills, (iii) listening skills, (iv) discrimination of

sounds skills, (v) vocalizations skills, (vi) memory-auditory skills, (vii) memory-

visual skills, (viii) early words production. This component helps the children with

hearing impairments to develop their ability to listen and speak with the help of

hearing aids.

For the children with learning disability, an alternative curriculum has been

developed for them. This curriculum consists of the core curricular components of: (i)

self help skills, (ii) physical development, (iii) language and communication, (iv)

religious and moral education, (v) social development, and (vi) creativity and

aesthetic. Even though these components looks similar to the National Preschool

Curriculum, the content is very much different. In this curriculum, there is also a

guide on behaviour management. These behavioural interventions focus on providing

individualized support for children with challenging behaviours. In particular, they

reduce children’s challenging behaviours by increasing their desirable behaviours

through environmental arrangements of antecedent stimuli, positive consequences,

and the use of direct instructional strategies to teach replacement behaviours.

9.3.1 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SPECIAL NEEDS CHILDREN

PRESCHOOL CURRICULUM

Data on this section is obtained through focus group discussion ECCE 1,

ECCE 2, questionnaire filled by 28 preschool teacher teaching the Primary Special

Education School and 4 classroom observation and interviews made by officers from

the Special Education Preschool Section.

The Special Education Preschool Curriculum was formulated in 2006 adapted

from the NPC. The Special Education Preschool Section of MOE conduct inservice

courses for teachers teaching in these special schools. They also attend courses

conducted by CDC for the regular preschool teachers.

CDC study investigated the many facets of preschool education including

teacher’s perception of their own ability in various fields, understanding of the

curriculum, the practice of the various approaches, the use of workbook etc. CDC

study included 28 special education preschool teachers. Findings from the

questionnaire indicates that there is not much differences between teachers from

special education and from regular preschools. The mean score is quite similar except

for certain items in evaluation. Special education preschool teachers scored higher in

term of preparing anecdote, running record, checklist, this is probably due to the need

for such record in the special education school.

Special education preschool teachers also scored higher in carrying out of

Learning through play approach. Classroom observation further affirm this trend that

the special education preschool teachers more often adopt Learning through play

method in their teaching. When interviewed all the four respondents answered the

most frequent approach used is learning through play. Thematic approach is

commonly used in the classroom, however teachers encountered problem such as

this: ”Sometime we can’t use the same thing for sosio-emotion and moral, it just

doesn’t jive in” , “It is difficult to use theme for physical development component and


speaking component”. One of the teacher interviewed said that he/she does not use

integrated approach because he/she does not understand the approach. Difficulties

that the teachers faced in conducting group activities is that students do not cooperate.

These difficulties are similar to that encountered by teachers in regular preschools.

Only one out of the four teachers interviewed expressed satisfaction towards

the support given by their school administrators. Teachers yearn for more professional

advice and input.

9.4 TRAINING OF TEACHERS AND HELPERS

Quality of ECCE program depends on the availability of sufficiently and

effectively trained teacher or helper. National policies on ECCE have specific

recommendations on this aspect of teacher training.

9.4.1 TRAINING OF CHILDCARE PROVIDERS AND CHILDCARE

MINDERS

Childcare providers are the owner of Childcare Centers. Childcare minders are

those who take care of the children in the Childcare Centers. Both childcare providers

and childcare minders are required to attend 10 days courses (the Basic Childcare

course, KAAK) specified by the Ministry of Woman, Family and Community

Development, MWFCD. Currently MWFCD has approved 10 agencies to run these

courses. At least two trainers from these agencies must be trained by the Ministry.

MWFCD has set up an accreditation committee to evaluate application from

organizations, private colleges to conduct these courses. The curriculum and training

modules are provided by the Ministry. MWFCD is currently working on upgrading

these courses to the MLVK level. The plan is to create hierarchical level for different

categories of childcare workers. An example of these levels are: Level 1 is for

Childcare minders at home, Level 2 for Childcare minders, Level 3 for Childcare

providers, Level 4 for diploma and Level 5 is equivalent to degree. MWFCD

conducts written test and practical test after the childcare providers and childcare

minders attended the course. Participants who failed the test have to retake the course.

In the first six months of 2006, 333 have passed the tests while 128 have failed.

Feedback obtained indicated that as TASKA in rural areas only charge a

minimal fee, the TASKA operators find the training fee of RM 480 per person for the

Basic Childcare Course too expensive and they cannot afford to spare staff for

training.


9.4.2 Training of Preschool teachers

Trained by MOE and universities

All teachers teaching in the preschools run by Ministry of Education are

trained and certified with at least a diploma in teaching. Many of them have a degree

and master degree in early childhood education. Teachers teaching in KEMAS

preschool receives a 6 months training whereas PERPADUAN receives a 3 weeks

training by their respective Ministries. However, since last year, there have been a

concerted effort by KEMAS and PERPADUAN to work with the Teacher Training

Division of Ministry of Education to provide courses to their teachers to attain at least

a diploma level.

The main agencies responsible for the training of teachers for certification are

Ministry of Education through the Teacher Training Division and the universities.

The kinds of courses provided by the Teacher Training Division through its Teacher

Training Institute are as follows:

Diploma in Teaching for Preschool (3 years)

Post Degree Course ( for conversion, 1 year)

In service training ( 14 weeks, 1 year )

Degree courses

Besides the Teaching Institute, various public universities such as the

University of Malaya, University Putra Malaysia, National University of Malaysia,

University Science Malaysia, Sultan Idris Teaching University and the Open

University of Malaysia produce graduates on preschool education too. Students at

these universities either pursue their Bachelor Degree on Preschool or Early

Childhood education. A sizeable number of preschool teachers in MOE are pursuing

their degree or higher degree on early childhood education on a part time basis. The

Ministry of Education also awards scholarship or study leave for some of these

teachers. Some preschool teachers in MOE preschools are with Master degree on

Early Childhood Development.

Other than the public higher institutions who offer teacher training on ECCE,

private colleges such as SEGI college, Andika College, College Pendidikan Perdana,

RIMA College offer varieties of courses, some leads to degree or diploma and some

are just for certificate of attendance.

CDC study indicated that 90.2% of the teachers are with diploma, 7.6% of

the teachers have a bachelor degree. 2.2% of these teachers are either attached to the

preschool class as a teacher trainee or are temporary teachers. Diagram 9 shows

54.4% of the preschool teaches have 0-3 years of teaching experience, this coincide

with the fact that MOE preschools started to expand only from 2003. Diagram 10

shows that 83.2% of MOE preschool teachers are of preschool option in the their

teaching training courses.


IKTISAS

IKTISAS

TiadaSarjana MudaDiploma

Pe

rcent

100

80

60

40

20

0

Diagram 8: Professional qualification of teachers

(CDC Study)

AJARPRA

AJARPRA

16 tahun dan ke atas

12-15 tahun

8-11 tahun

4-7 tahun

0-3 tahun

Pe

rcent

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Diagram 9: Number of years of teaching preschools

OPSYENPR

OPSYENPR

TidakYa

Pe

rce

nt

100

80

60

40

20

0

Diagram 10: Teachers with preschool option


Trained by NGO

One organisation conducting a systematic regular courses for private

preschool teachers is the The Malaysian Association of Kindergartens (PTM). PTM

has a current membership of over 5000. PTM conducts regular nine steps in-service

courses on “Skills Training for preschool teachers’ during school holidays.

Attendance certificates are awarded to participants who have completed the courses

which consists of the following modules:

o Socio-emotional development

o Preschool teacher education

o Preschool administration/management

o Physical development

o National Preschool Curriculum

o Spiritual/Moral Education

o Child Psychology

o Language & Communication

o Creativity and Aesthetics

o Cognitive Development

These courses are conducted in various parts of the country. Participants of these

courses are from the various private preschools regardless of whether they are

members or not. PTM also conducts seminars for the private preschools

administrators and teachers. Table 31 recorded the number of participants passed

these courses.

Table 31: Number of Preschool

Teachers Passes the Courses run by PTM

Besides PTM, the Association of Professional Early Childhood Educators Malaysia

(MPECE) runs workshops and seminars for both the public and private preschools too.

Conclusion

Considering all teachers who have gone for some form of training (as little as

3 weeks) as trained teachers, it can thus be concluded that 100% of MOE, KEMAS,

PERPADUAN preschool teachers are trained. However, information on the trained

private preschool teachers are unavailable at the moment. Private

preschools/kindergarten need to report on the status of their teachers when they apply

Year Number passes the various steps

in the “Skills Training for

Preschool Teachers”

2000 69

2001 66

2002 136

2003 115

2004 123

2005 117

2006 93


for licence, and according to the Division on Private School, MOE, all of them

claimed that their teachers are trained. It is rather difficult to validate this at the

moment. Division on Private School is collecting more information on this matter

currently. Number of preschools teacher trained as reported by the various agencies is

given in Table 32. This table shows the increment of pre school teachers being trained

yearly.

Table 32: Number of ECCE Teachers Trained at the Particular Year

Agencies ECCE Teachers trained in the particular year

Year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

MOE n.a. n.a. 926 1386 345 110

KEMAS 736 145 207 200 0 36

PERPADUAN 100 129 193 313 317 352

PRIVATE 10031 12163 14533 14675 14454 16649

Childcare provider(TASKA)

220 284 461 742 946 1213

Total 12721 16320 17316 16062 18360

9.4.3 TRAINING OF SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS

Most of the teachers who teach in the special education preschool programs

were selected from those who already trained in special education and had the

experience in teaching the special needs children. This is crucial since the teachers

need to have vast experience in handling the special needs children who have no

experience being in school. There is no special pre-service course on special

education for preschool. To make sure that the teachers are well versed with the

curriculum and the know-how of the implementation of preschool programme,

Ministry of Education under Special Education Department conducted in-service

courses for them.

Table 33: Number of Trained Teachers Attended In-Service Training and Classes

under Special Education Department, MOE for the Particular Year (includes

blind, deaf and LD)

Year 2003 2004 2005 2006 Total

Number of

teachers

trained

28 56 32 12 128

Number of

classes set

up

3* 28 32 12 72

Note* Three Learning Disability Classes in the inclusive program was opened in

2003 and was subsequently closed in 2005, since then, only integration classes

exist

The teachers who were expected to teach the preschool in 2004 were trained in

2003, and those who were trained in 2004 were appointed as preschool teachers in

2005. In 2004, more teachers were trained in order to be a stand-by teacher, who will

help the preschool teachers in special schools if needed, especially to take over the


class if the teacher is not around. In 2005 and 2006, the training for teachers was

handled in the same year they were appointed as a preschool teacher. Besides the

training specifically for preschool, these teachers also attended a few courses

conducted either by Special Education Department, State Education Department or

District Education Office. These teachers also will be gathered by Special Education

Department once a year to discuss and exchange ideas or experience when dealing

with special needs children. Some of these teachers attend courses run by Curriculum

Development Center too.

9.4.4 TRAINING OF COMMUNITY-BASED REHABILITATION

WORKERS

Community-based Rehabilitation Centers are set up by the Department of

Social Welfare in the Ministry of Woman, Family and Community Development.

These centers provide integrated program to the special people (children and adult)

preparing them to be independent and integrated into the society. Department of

Social Welfare run the following course to train helpers in these centers.

• Community-based Rehabilitation

• Basic Community-based Rehabilitation Worker

• Advanced in Community-based Rehabilitation Worker

• Workers Help Programme

• Motor Action Training

• Basic Skill in Community-based

• Special Children Management

• Development, Growth and Care for Children

• Care for Special Children

• Care and Education for Retarded Children

• Early Intervention for Special Children

• Using a Guide Line Community-based Rehabilitation

• Ect. organize by JKMN/PKMD/NGO

Curriculum for the above courses includes the following skills:

i. Gross Motor Skill

ii. Fine Motor Skill

iii. Language Development

iv. Social Development

v. Self Management Skill

vi. Pre-academic (Read, Writing, Arithmetic)

vii. Rhetoric Activity (Games, Recreation ect.)

viii. Vocational Activity

ix. Independent Living Skill


9.5 TEACHER - STUDENT RATIO

Table 34 indicated the minimum and maximum number of students per class

allowed by each agency involved in setting up of preschools. The national indicator of

teacher-student ratio in ECCE programme as suggested by the Ministry of Education

is 1:25.

Table 34: Teacher-Student Ratio

Agency Minimum Maximum Ratio (Max.)

KEMAS 10 30 1:30

PERPADUAN 20 35 1:35

MOE 10 25 1:25

Private 10 25 1:25*

MOE(Special Needs) 1 10 1:10

Community-based

Rehabilitation Center

1:5

Visit to home by Social

Welfare Department

1:10-15

Note: *This the ratio suggested by the Department of Private Education, MOE, many private

preschools still exceed this ratio

The teacher-student ratio fluctuates between 1:25 to 1:30 for the regular

children. KEMAS and PERPADUAN have set their ratio higher because at the time

of inceptions of their preschools, the demand for place was high especially in the rural

areas, MOE has not stepped in to set up its preschools yet. As MOE begins to build

more annex preschools to the existing primary schools, the demand has lowered and

thus in some KEMAS and PERPADUAN the number of students in each class has

dwindled.

As for special need preschool under MOE, the ratio is 1:10 which is seen as

not an ideal ratio since the teacher is unable to give individual attention, especially

with the various learning needs among the children. Basically the ratio was set as 1:10

to give chances to more children to have the access to the preschool program since the

number of programs set up is not many. The Special Education Department intend to

review this ratio.

9.6 TEACHER’S SALARY

Preschool teachers in MOE get their salaries according to their qualifications.

These teachers are given opportunity to pursue higher qualification through

scholarship, partial scholarship or school holiday training. At present, KEMAS and

PERPADUAN pay their teachers using one scale only. There are plans to upgrade

their teacher to higher qualification and thus in future perhaps their preschool teachers

might get higher pay.


Table 35: Teacher’s Salary

Agency Salary Scale Min.

Salary/Allowances

RM

Max.

Salary/RM

MOE DGA29 1124.57 2428.95

DGA41 1474.65 4039.85

KEMAS N11 (contract) 525.62 1296.39

PERPADUAN N11 (contract) 525.62 1296.39

Private n.a. 1500

NGOs 100

Community-based

Rehabilitation Center

500 (fixed)

Childcare providers 800 per month

Teacher’s salary reflects the their qualification, thus, it is obvious that MOE

has higher qualified preschool teachers compared to the other agencies. There is

insufficient information to compare and comment on the salary between public and

private ECCE providers.

9.7 PHYSICAL FACILITIES AND MATERIALS IN CHILDCARE AND

PRESCHOOLS

In the 2005 preschool inspection led by the School Inspectorate, it was found

that 95.7% of the preschools visited (141 preschools) occupy an area in accordance to

the specification for space set by MOE. 91.5% displayed good lighting and ventilation,

97.9% has kitchen, 97.9% obtain clean water.

EPRD study revealed that 69.9% of the preschool classes have cupboard for

books, 76.1% is equipped with shoe rack. Teachers are generally satisfied with the

basic facilities, space and teaching and learning materials provided in the classroom

(In a Likert scale of 1-5, the mean of satisfaction for different facilities and materials

fluctuates from 3.64 to 4.15).

There is a difference in the physical facilities and materials provided in MOE

preschool compared to non MOE preschools. 67% of the MOE preschool has specific

space for dining whereas 65% of the non MOE preschools have dining space. Only

40.8% of MOE preschools have a store room while 66.6% of the non MOE

preschools have store room. MOE preschools have better electrical facilities

compared to non MOE preschools.

In conclusion, teachers are generally satisfied with the basic physical facilities

and materials provided in preschools. The differences between MOE and non MOE

preschools are not so vast that it need specific attention.


10.0 MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF EARLY

CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION

The purpose of monitoring and evaluation is to ensure quality of process and

outcome of ECCE. As a developing country, though issue of accessibility and

equality is still important to Malaysia, quality of process and product is taking central

stage. Quality is conformance to requirements or standards. According to ISO

International Standard, quality is the ‘totality of features and characteristics of a

product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs’. In this

report, this implied needs is that of the care and education of children between the

age 0 to 6.

10.1 A STANDARD PROCEDURE IN THE PROCESS OF CURRICULUM

DEVELOPMENT

In ensuring curriculum produced satisfied the aspiration of the nation and its

people as envisioned in the Malaysian Education Development Plan 2001 – 2010, a

standard procedure in curriculum development has been set up by the Curriculum

Development Centre, Ministry of Education in the form of Quality Manual ISO 9001.

Curriculum development process has to follow the procedures given. Get flowchart


10.2 INSPECTION OF IMPLEMENTATION OF NATIONAL PRESCHOOL

CURRICULUM

The School Inspectorate is the division in MOE responsible for monitoring the

implementation of curriculum and ensuring quality of teaching and learning in the

preschools. The School Inspectorate conduct regular, detailed, meticulous and

professional inspection of schools and education institutions in order to ensure quality

delivery and high standard of education.

There are various kinds of school inspections, serving different purposes. The

yearly and more comprehensive inspection of preschools is conducted collaboratively

by the School Inspectorate as lead agency with the various divisions in MOE, namely

Curriculum Development Centre, School Division, Special Education Division,

Education Planning and Research Division, Private Education Division and Teacher

Training Division. The divisions involved in this collaborative inspection have

specific officers in charge of preschool.

Inspections were done through observation on teaching and learning during

the full duration of 3 to 3½ hour of preschool teaching and learning hours as well as

interviewing teachers and school administrators. Standard instruments were used. The

purpose of these school inspections is to ascertain the current situation as well as to

improve the quality of preschool education. Thus, a discussion with the teachers and

school administration is usually held after the inspection.

Private preschools are inspected by the Private Education Division and the

Schools Inspectorate of MOE from time to time too.

10.3 QUALITY OF TEACHER TRAINING

The following steps were planned to ensure good standard of preschool teacher

training:

I) Processing of the candidate seeking entry into Preschool Teaching

Training Program

All candidates were selected by a professional board set up by the Teacher

Training Division of the Ministry of Education. The main task of this board is to

identify the best candidates who will undergo the training in the selected Teaching

Institute based on criteria pre-determined.

II) Preparation of the Teacher Training Curriculum

The formulation of the preschool training curriculum is done by experts involved

in the preschool education. Content of the curriculum includes the general early

childhood education theories and practices. The curriculum takes into

consideration the requirement of the national curriculum issued by the

Curriculum Development Centre of the Ministry of Education. Many sessions of

discussion and refinement took place before it is presented to a board to be

certified before being used in the training institutes.


III) The lecturers

Experience preschool educators are invited to be lecturers. These lecturers are able

to provide reliable and realistic input about preschool education.

III) The Training

Training emphasizes on theory and practical. Trainees obtained hands-on and

school based experience. They have to undergo practicum and internship to

equipped them with the best quality knowledge to be a preschool teachers.

Training program are developed based on the standard set by Malaysian

Qualifications Agency (MQA) which states that:

“the level or intellectual standard (e.g Certificate, Diploma, Bachelor,

Master and Doctoral, including the variants) is determined by the learning

outcomes the graduates are expected to demonstrate and the quantity of

work or learning (credits) necessary for an award at that level”

IV) Feedback after 6 months of teaching

Feedback from head of the school where the teachers are posted after 6 months of

teaching to view whether training given is effective or not. Data will be analysed

and would determine if there is a need a change or review the curriculum.

To ensure or maintain the quality in the process of teacher training, the following

steps are also taken by MOE:

A panel from the Curriculum Unit of Teachers Training Division will visit the

Teacher Training Institute periodically to ensure the curriculum were

implemented accordingly

The training curriculum were discussed in the annual meeting with the head of

department and will be reviewed if there were a change in the national

curriculum policy.

Periodical examinations given to those taking the courses.

Seminars, workshop and discussion with the related party were held to upgrade

the quality training.

The assessments of the training programmes were done by the students to the

lecturers who delivered the content of the programme at the end of every

semester.


10.4 HUMAN’S RIGHT

Monitoring of Human’s Right issue are carried out consistently by the various

governmental agencies as well as NGOs. Some examples of monitoring are given

below:

Inspectorate Unit of the Ministry of Rural Advancement and Territory

gathers information regarding the development of the indigenous people of

Malaysia.

The Department of Orang Asli (JHEOA) receives and address complaints

from the indigenous people.

The Committee on National Children Plan meets twice a year monitoring

issues related to children.

• Welfare Unit in Department of Jail monitors the welfare and living quality

of the children within the prison walls

• SUHAKAM receives complaints and make recommendations regarding

the issues pertaining to violations of human rights

• UNICEFF monitors the child right situations in the country, for example,

situation of children with disabilities is monitored so that they are not

denied the right of education.

Association of Orang Asli of the Peninsular of Malaysia (POASM) and

Center of Orang Asli Concerns (COAC) are pressure groups advocating

the plights of these indigenous people.

10.5 THE QUALITY IMPROVEMENT ACCREDITATION SYSTEM TO

RATE CHILDCARE CENTER

Ministry of Woman, Family and Community Development is in the process of

setting up the Quality Improvement Accreditation System (QIAS) which will be used

for rating of the Childcare Centre. At the moment, national indicator has been built

and field test done. It is expected to be launched late 2007. This will act as a quality

control process for the Childcare Centers. Currently the officers from the state Social

Welfare Department do regular inspections on the childcare centers in their areas. A

childcare centers could get up to 4 times visits a year from the officers. Inspection is

done using a standardised instrument issued by the Ministry of Woman, Family and

Community Development.


11.0 INTEGRATION IN IMPLEMENTATION OF ECCE

POLICIES

Data on this section was obtained from Integration Study (refer to Table 5, pg 28)

which include the following sources:

Focus Group discussion I (ECCE 1, 2007)

Focus Group discussion II (ECCE 2, 2007)

Individual interviews with 8 government officers and private practitioners

Questionnaires filled up by 11 government officers and private practitioners

Generally respondents felt that there is an issue of coordination and integration

between the various departments within and across the Ministries. The responses

differs only in term of the degree of problems faced by them.

11.1 Procedure of registration

The private preschool operators talked about the need to run to various

departments to register their centers, not knowing which department to go first, rules

changes fast and different instructions were given. Respondents have encountered

problem of misplacing of their application forms. There are also incidents of officers

not telling all in one visit(every visit they might be told to fill in another new form etc)

as told by Patricia as below:

“ The particular authority first said my documents were not

enough, I went back and got it ready. The next trip, the officer said that

some more documents which he did not mention in the last trip was

needed. I got it ready and went again. This time the officer said that the

file could not be traced. I told him that it is all computerized and

insisted in helping him to locate my particulars from the database.

Currently, my application is still pending, they are still keeping me

waiting, I don’t know why.” (Patricia)

Respondents feel that there is a need to form a department solely taking care

of all matters related to ECCE. Data base on ECCE need to be updated often so that

the private practitioners know what is the new regulations etc. The Ministry of

Woman, Family and Community Development has since taken action, one stop

centers are being set up since 2007. Officers involved in registration of ECCE centers

reiterated that the procedure are standard and clear. If that is the case, the issue is then

the different interpretation of the procedure.

11.2 Different implementing agencies

Since preschool and childcare centers are monitored by different ministries,

operators generally runs only preschools (4-6 years old) or only childcare centers (0-4

years old). Those who are running both preschools and childcare centers need to place

their preschools and childcare in different building. Problem such as below was faced

by the operators:


“ No continuity from taska to tadika. I run ECCE for children age 2 to

6. I am required to have two buildings, one for childcare, one for

preschool because they came under two different ministries namely

MOE and MWFCD. Preschools cannot run childcare centers in the

same building. Parents with children in both age groups have to shuttle

between different kindergarten and childcare center. This lack of

continuity affects the welfare and wellbeing of the child. Issues of

safety as children are moved between centers sometimes without

supervision as their parents are at work do arises” (Questionnaire)

Responses received also revealed the opinion that too many departments and

ministries are involved in ECCE, a suggestion that a specific department on children

welfare need to be established. This ‘Children’s Affair Department” could ensure

children’s best interest are safeguarded and quality ECCE provided.

Issues of different implementation agencies was also mentioned in the ECCE

teacher training. Currently both the universities and the Teacher Education

Institution(governed by the Teacher Training Division, Ministry of Education) run

degree courses for ECCE. A university lecturer had this to say:

“ Teaching Education Institution (IPG) is stronger in their

pedagogy because their lecturers originate mainly from

experienced teacher from the school. University lecturer is more

theoretical and academic. Classes in IPG is smaller. The

psychology of reference in university and IPG is different, there is

no mechanism to coordinate between IPG and university. The two

need to sit down together, work together to produce better result,

they must sit together” (Interview)

11.3 Issue of planning for location of ECCE centers

Outcome of the Focus Group discussion revealed the prevalence of issues

concerning integration and coordination. Focus Group I raised the main issue of

planning and decision concerning location to build preschools. PERPADUAN and

KEMAS reiterated that they face a drop in their enrollment when MOE started to

build more preschools. Parents tend to favor MOE preschools because they do not

need to pay fees there and it ensure the child a place in Primary One in the same

school.

On top of it the MOE preschools is also fully equipped and with academically

qualified teachers. In 2007, PERPADUAN and KEMAS in certain areas had to make

decision to close down some of their preschools and they anticipated the problem will

be more intense in the years to come. PERPADUAN and KEMAS request the MOE

to inform them earlier about where they want to build the new preschool classes.

MOE reported that they have discussion, but the problem still persists. There is a

lack of coordination in this matter.

Everyone in the focus group felt integration and coordination is very important

as the objective is to ensure all children from all parts of the country have easy


accessibility to preschool education. The co-existence of MOE, KEMAS and

PERPADUAN, PRIVATE and other organizations as providers of ECCE was not

questioned but rather a better integration and coordination system need to be in place.

11.4 Public awareness and dissemination of information

One factor influences integration is due to lack of awareness among

government sectors, NGOs and the public about the ECCE polices in place.

Respondents made the suggestion that workshops, seminars need to be held to educate

the various stakeholders of ECCE.

Generally respondents faced problem of obtaining updated information about

ECCE from the relevant authority. The feeling is that the authorities are not being

supportive and not committed thus they are not generous in providing relevant

information. One respondent has this to say:

“ the biggest problem in the management and coordination of

ECCE policies is lack of commitment and cooperation between the

various implementation agencies. This happen because there is no

central agencies given the mandate to oversee the implementation

of all ECCE policies” (Questionnaire)

Dissemination of information could deter the quality of ECCE in the country

as mentioned by the respondent below:

“MOE has been proactive in coming up with idea of classroom

management, new style of teaching and learning. However, the

other agencies, such as the private preschools and the universities

do not know about it. MOE as the big brother need to disseminate

new ideas to the rest too. Products of MOE as well as private

preschools, KEMAS, PERPADUAN etc enter the same main

stream primary schools. If everyone is doing different thing, the

fear is that there might be clashes in primary schools” (Interview)

Respondents emphasized on the need to create the partnership between all sectors

involved in ECCE.

11.8 Conclusion

Problem of integration and implementation exists. The authorities are aware of

the problem and thus efforts have been made to reduce factors leading to integration

and implementation.


B) HEALTHCARE

12.0 ACCESSIBILITY TO EARLY CHILDHOOD HEALTH

CARE

Child health services in Malaysia started since 1950s as part of the maternal

and child health programme. Since then the programme has been gradually rolled out

to all Health and Community Clinics in rural and urban areas. Among the services

available are routine visits and examination for children, immunization, assessment of

child growth and development, assessment of nutritional status which includes

measurement of weight and height. Health education to the parents is carried out

during child health clinic sessions whenever necessary. Child health programmes are

being planned continuously according to the changing needs of the children

12.1 Primary Child Health Services

Healthcare for the child in any community begins with scheduled visits by the

community nurses at the post-delivery stage. The community nurse visits the new

mother and child on the 1st/2nd/3rd/4th/6th/8th/10th/15th and 20th day post-delivery. From

then on, a child with no specific health requirements/problems is expected to visit the

nearest health clinics for scheduled visits as stated in Table 36. These visits are free of

charge and is offered to all mother and new born regardless of place of delivery,

whether in public, private hospital or home delivery.

Table 36: Scheduled Visits for Children to Government Healthcare Clinics

Age group Scheduled Attendance

0 - < 6 months Monthly

6 - < 12 months 2 monthly

1 - < 2 year old 3 monthly

2 - < 4 year old 6 monthly

4 – 6 year old Yearly

Apart from the scheduled visits for the newly born, extra visits by the

community nurse are carried out to children who fail to attend for immunization.

Premature babies, malnourished children, disabled child and child with delayed

milestone gets the visit from the community nurse too. If needed, the child will be

referred to the nearest healthcare center for specialist intervention.

Primary healthcare clinics are widely distributed all over the country for easy

access of patients. Currently, the Malaysian government has managed to provide a

health facility within every 5-10 km radius. All Primary healthcare clinics offer

mother and child health services. In certain areas (especially remote ones), specific

clinics that offer only maternal and child services are set up to ensure the care for the

mother and child are reachable. In more remote areas where the public has difficulty

in assess, mobile services are offered. Number of primary health care centers expands

year by year.


Table 37: Number of Primary Health Care Facilities (2001 to 2003)

State Health Clinic* Maternal and

Child Health

Clinic

Community

Clinic

Mobile Clinic

2001 2003 2001 2003 2001 2003 2001 2003

Perlis 9 9 1 0 30 30 0 0

Kedah 54 57 9 8 225 222 0 0

Penang 30 30 6 6 62 62 0 0

Perak 81 78 7 10 253 253 8 6

Selangor 59 60 11 7 136 132 0 0

FT K. Lumpur 14 15 0 0 0 0 0 0

N.Sembilan 38 38 5 5 104 105 2 1

Malacca 27 29 1 0 63 61 1 1

Johore 89 91 6 3 270 269 2 0

Pahang 67 65 8 8 246 246 19 19

Terengganu 43 42 2 2 134 131 1 1

Kelantan 58 59 3 3 200 199 11 11

Sarawak 195 197 23 24 22 21 120 120

Sabah 90 93 18 18 195 185 8 9

FT Labuan 1 1 1 1 11 11 0 0

MALAYSIA 855 864 101 95 1940 1927 185 168 *Health clinic provides comprehensive service for all ages in the community including maternal child

health, out patient department, support services such as physiotherapy etc.

Upgrading of clinics in terms of infrastructure and services is an on-going

exercise. More health clinics is also being developed from time to time.

Although all Malaysian children are entitled to public health care, not all

children used the public facilities regularly. In most states throughout Malaysia, the

private sectors also flourish to complement the public health services. The numbers of

private clinics are higher in more dense and developed areas. The people in the rural

areas are still highly dependent on the public health services. Primary healthcare

clinics are complemented by hospitals which provide medical based specialist

services, amongst these is the childcare.

Table 38: Breakdown for coverage of clinic visits made per children by year (does

this include private hospitals, clinics?)

Year Coverage of children (%) Average Visit per Child

Infant Toddler Pre-School Infant Toddler Pre-School

2000 109.5 43.1 17.0 4.0 3.0 1.9

2001 107.5 43.7 30.7 4.0 3.0 1.9

2002 97.4 41.1 31.4 4.0 3.1 1.9

2003 93.3 40.8 13.87 4.1 3.2 2.0

2004 98.8 54.1 23.3 4.2 2.5 1.2

2005 102.3 44.6 15.7 4.1 3.2 1.9 Note: Toddler and preschoolers do not visit the health clinic as much as infants as they don’t have

frequent scheduled visits compared to immunisations for infants.

(% of Total population)


Parents mainly visit the clinics for immunisation purposes and assessment of

the child’s development. Health Clinic also takes the opportunity to provide health

promotion information, to do screening for disabilities and nutrition-related problems.

12.2 Immunisation

Ministry of Health (MOH) Malaysia provides free immunization against

childhood preventable diseases such as BCG, Hepatitis B, Polio, Diptheria, Pertusis,

Tetanus, Hib (Haemophillus Influenza Type b), Mumps, Measles and Rubella

(MMR). Immunisation is provided to all eligible children as an integral part of the

overall package of Child Health Services. It is available at all government health

facilities where child health services are provided, both in rural and urban areas. Some

parents however opted to let their children obtained immunization in private clinics

and hospitals, mostly out of convenience. All children are required by law to be

immunized, thus private clinics and hospitals keep records of immunization.

Table 39: The breakdown of immunisation coverage of

different types of vaccination nationwide (by % of total population)

Year BCG Hepatitis

(3)

DPT (3) OPV (3) MMR/

Measles*

Hib (3)*

Influenza

2000 99.9 93.3 95.3 95.4 88.4 -

2001 99.3 95 96.8 96.7 92.2 -

2002 99 93.1 96 94.8 75.4** -

2003 98.2 93.9 98.7 95.2 90.9 -

2004 100 93.8 94.2 95.2 104.3 -

2005 98.3 91.5 95.4 94.3 88.4*** 84.7 *Hib and MMR immunisation was introduce in stages in July 2002 .

**does not include MMR.

***MMR only

Generally, not much difference is observed in the immunization coverage

among the children in different states/ rural urban strata or girls vs boys. All the states

in Malaysia achieve more than 90% immunization coverage (this is the Universal

Child Immunization target). The cities and more developed states may actually show

a slightly lower coverage (but rarely below 90%) as these areas has more private

facilities whose data are still not fully captured by the MOH information system.

12.3 School Health Services

The school health service provides comprehensive service in line with the

Health Promoting School Concept by World Health Organizations (WHO). Physical

health examination and immunisation are carried out in all government schools as

well as government pre-schools. Appropriate referrals to the health clinics are carried

out for further management of identified health problems. Apart from health care for

the school children, a school health team is also inclusive of health inspectors that

carry out inspections of the school building and compound, school canteen and the

quality of food served. Fines and compounds are issued to any school who does not

comply to the given standard.


12.4 Baby-Friendly Hospital

The Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) is a strategy devised by WHO/

UNICEF to make maternity and other health care facilities that manages newborn

babies to be protective, supportive and promotive of breast feeding. This means, to be

given a “Baby Friendly” status, a hospital has to be protective (does not allow any

form of artificial feeding be given to babies), supportive (has breastfeeding nurse to

give support and counsel new-mothers) and promotive (gives information on the

importance and goodness of breastfeeding).

WHO/ UNICEF awards “Baby Friendly” status to a hospital or a healthy

facility that succeeds in implementing the BFHI. In 1993 the Ministry of Health of

Malaysia (MOH) adopted the WHO/ UNICEF BFHI. A target was set for all hospitals

to attain the “Baby Friendly” status by the end of 1997. Up to December 2005, all

government hospitals under the MOH were designated as baby friendly hospitals.

Other hospitals were under the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Education and

Private Hospitals. Prior to this all the ten steps under the BEHI had been uniformly

implemented in all maternity wards in MOH hospitals. A non-government Malaysians

Breast Feeding Association had also been established.

Table 40: Number and Percentage of Governments Hospitals Designated as

Baby-Friendly Hospitals

Year No. of

Government

Hospitals

No. of Government

Hospitals designated

as Baby-Friendly

Hospital

Percentage of Hospitals

designated as Baby-Friendly

Hospital

( %)

2000 115 113 98

2001 115 112 97

2002 115 113 98

2003 116 114 98

2004 116 114 98

2005 116 114 98 (Source: Ministry of Health)

12.5 Oral Health

Schoolchildren have been an important target group of the public oral

healthcare services since the 1950s. A structured programme for pre-schoolers has

been in place in Malaysia since 1984. Oral health services were extended to pre-

school children in private kindergartens in 1985. These were mainly promotive and

preventive in nature consisting of oral health talks and tooth brushing drills. The

general objective of the service is to create awareness and inculcate positive oral

health habits and attitudes.

The 1995 survey of 5-year-old pre-school children confirmed the high

prevalence of dental caries and the high level of untreated tooth decay in this group of

children. Although the oral health status of schoolchildren has improved through the

years, it was found that about 80% of Year 1 school children were still affected by

dental caries.


In 2003, the Guideline on Oral Healthcare for Pre-School Children was

developed by the Oral Health Division, Ministry of Health. The activities in this

guideline include the curative component using the minimally invasive technique of

Atraumatic Restorative Treatment, smart partnership of training of pre-school

teachers as agents of change to impart oral health messages to the pre-school children.

This programme covers pre-school children and priority is given to

government-aided pre-school, and if resources allow, extended to private

kindergartens on request. The specific objectives of this programme is to enable pre-

school children to maintain good oral hygiene, to ensure pre-school children are

receptive to oral health personnel and oral healthcare, to control the occurrence of oral

diseases in pre-school children and to enable teachers and carers to provide healthy

food choices.

The 2-Visit Programme to Pre-schools

Plan the 2-visit programme

a. The two visits are spaced out within a period of 1 to 3 months, depending on

the availability of manpower.

b. Notify teacher in charge of the programme schedule.

The first visit

a. Conduct dental health education (DHE). This session serves to introduce children

to oral health personnel in their own familiar surroundings. The short talk also

explains why it is important to care for their teeth and how they can do that.

b. Conduct Tooth Brushing Drill (TBD). The children are taught to systemically

clean every tooth surface to ensure effective tooth brushing.

c. Do oral health screening to assess the oral health so that the pre-school child is

receptive to oral health personnel and oral healthcare.

The second visit:

a. Reinforce DHE.

b. Reinforce TBD

c. Conduct role-play.

Role-play, conducted by dental nurses is an activity that allows pre-school

children to play the roles of ‘dentist’ and ‘patient’. Through this fun interaction, the

children are exposed to the simple procedure of oral health screening. They also get to

view the oral cavity and teeth. At the same time it allows the dental nurse to make a

quick assessment of the oral health status of the children.

In 2005, 536,081 pre-school children were given dental health talks mainly by

dental nurses. 534,081 pre-school children participated in the tooth brush drills and

295,075 children were involved in role-play.


Table 41: Percentage Population Reached (against total population preschoolers)

Table 42: Activities for Toddler Programme Reported In 2005

Source:Information and Documentation System Unit, Ministry of Health

Besides children, preschool teachers are invited to oral health seminar too. In

2005, 1,799 teachers from 1,093 government pre-schools and 165 private

kindergartens benefited from the programme. Apart from the usual activities like talks,

work group discussions and presentations, tooth brushing demonstrations and oral

health exhibitions, certain states also incorporated pre- and post-tests for evaluation

and organised other creative activities like competitions in puppet show script writing

and selection of “Model Kindergarten” or “Tadika Contoh” to sustain interest in the

activities. Currently it is a practice in all MOE preschools where children would

brush their teeth under the supervision of the teachers after the morning tea break

where they take their meals together.

ACTIVITY

Number of pre-school children (% population reached)

2000 2003 2004 2005

TBD 508,570

(56.1)

616,796

(60.7)

613,018

(59.6)

534,008

(51.9)

DHE 474,772

(52.4)

520,304

(51.2)

520,088

(50.6)

536,081

(52.2)

Role-play - - 35,543 295075

ACTIVITY No. activities No. participants

1. TBD 2,739 29,361

2. Talks 11,463 117,273

3. In-service training 0 0

4. Role Play 463 5,367

5. Puppet show 57 1,339

6. Exhibition 14

7. TV/radio 27

8. Community services 10

9. Others 133


13.0 EQUITY – EARLY CHILDHOOD HEALTHCARE FOR

THE DISADVANTAGED

13.1 CHILDREN OF POVERTY

Food Basket Programme (FBP) - Nutrition Rehabilitation Programme for

Malnourished Children

This is a programme for malnourished children under 6 years old (weight-for-

age <-2 Z-score) from poverty households. Nutritious food supplementation is given

in the form of various foods. Nutritionists are involved to provide nutrition

assessment and monitoring of the target child: provide nutrition, education and

counselling of the parent/ caregiver to ensure that the child achieve and maintain

satisfactory nutritional status. The Food Basket Programme launched in June 1989

could be viewed as part of the Government’s efforts to address the two long term

development challenges facing the country: the need to improve health status, and the

need to eradicate poverty. Table 37 shows the number of recipients of this program as

well as % of recipients who were ultimately terminated from this program.

Termination from this program means that the recipients have achieved the optimum

weight.

The proportion of moderately underweight children in Malaysia has decreased

continuously for many years to reach down to 7.5% in 2005. The proportion of

severely underweight children fluctuated between 0.5 – 1% with only 0.6% severely

underweight children in 2005.

Table 43: Number of Recipients and percentage of Recipients Rehabilitated at

Termination of Food Basket Programme

Source: Information Documentation System, IDS Unit, MOH

The Full Cream Milk Supplementary Feeding Programme

The Full Cream Milk Supplementation Programme has been implemented

since the 1970’s. Infants over 6 months of age, toddlers and pre-school children that

fulfilled the criteria of the programme goes for regular monthly attendance at the

Child Health Clinics to check for their weight gain and improvement in health.

Mothers are also given advice during the visits. Beneficiaries whose weights conform

Year

No. of Recipients

Percentage of recipients rehabilitated at

terminations of Food Basket Programme ( %)

2000 7,557 54.9

2001 7,245 51.4

2002 7,159 47.71

2003 6,942 49.81

2004 7,071 50.5

2005 8,378 54.2


to the criteria are entitled to an issue of 1 kg of milk/ beneficiary/ month for 3

consecutive months.

Table 44: Numbers and average of total new attendance of children below 5 years

at The Child Health Clinics receiving full cream milk supplementary.

For care of the indigenous groups, the Ministry of Health works hand in hand

with the Department of Orang Asli (JHEOA) to provide healthcare to them especially

in the states of Pahang, Perak, Sabah and Sarawak. Mobile services are provided

where health care providers, assisted by the JHEOA officers visits the indigenous

villages in the remote areas for antenatal care, postnatal care, immunization,

nutritional support and providing health/ nutritional information. Halfway house is set

up for them for easy access of the health care providers, it has been noted that it is

difficult to get the indigenous group to come to the clinics due to infrastructure and

social barrier.

13.2 CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

Instrument for the monitoring progress in the development of children with special

needs

A pilot project was carried out from August 2004 to July 2005 to identify a suitable

instrument for nurses in health clinics to utilize when monitoring the progress of a

child with special needs. Study involved a total of 40 nurses from the states of Perak,

Selangor, Johor, Kelantan and Sarawak. The study compared the use of two

instruments i.e. Denver Development Screening Test II (DDSTII) and the Schedule of

Growing Skills II (SGSII). Focus group discussions and feedbacks from

questionnaires show the DDSTII tool is more feasible to be implemented nationwide.

Manuals on the management of Children with Special Needs

Six manuals have been developed and training conducted at national level to train

core trainers from each state. These national training is echoed at the states and

districts. Number of staff trained is monitored yearly through reports from each state.

These manuals include management of children with gross motor delay (2001), those

Year

No. of Recipients

Average Amount of Milk

Supplement given to Children ( kg )

2000 37,822 2.30

2001 32,575

2.52

2002 38,208

2.48

2003 36,818

2.61

2004

33,424 2.84

2005

29,530 2.94


with fine motor delay (2002), problems with self help skills (2002), visually impaired

children (2003), children with communication problems (March 2004) and those with

personal social and behaviour problems (December 2004).

Screening for Autism at Health Clinics

Autistic children are normally presented to the health clinic by the parents when they

starts showing obvious symptoms at the ages of 4 -6 years old. This has prompted

effort from Ministry of Health (MOH) to conduct a screening programme for autism

amongst children at an earlier age: between 18 months to 3 years using a screening

tool called M-CHAT. Certain Health Clinics in the state of Selangor, Perak, Johor,

Terengganu and Sarawak conduct this screening. This is not practised nationwide yet

as the M-CHAT tool is still being piloted in the past one year but results so far is

showing convincing results which is at par with the international standard.

Prevention and Control of Blindness

Manual on eye care for primary health care personnel was developed in 1999 and was

reviewed in 2000. The state Ophthalmologists have been carrying out training at state

level annually to community health nurses. In 2005 health education materials, a flip

chart on eye care and eye disease for school health team and clinics were developed.

A storyboard for educating children in school regarding eye care and eye disease were

developed and sent to schools in the same year.

Oral Health Programme for Children with Special Needs

Many children with special needs namely children with physical disabilities,

children with severe learning difficulties and children with severe behavioural

problems would require certain management techniques to make them amenable to

dental treatment. They are incapable of carrying out routine oral hygiene care.

Therefore they need assistance from parents, carers, teachers and health providers to

maintain their oral health status. A guideline on oral healthcare for children with

special needs was produced in 2004. The programme includes all children with

special needs in kindergarten / nursery /institutions/ and those attending out-patient

clinics.

Monitoring is done through monthly returns of HMIS, a data collection

mechanism for Ministry of Health. The coverage for the year 2005 stood at 17,642

special needs children which were collected via HMIS for the first time nationally in

2005. The dental health education activities which include tooth-brush drill saw

20,340 children participating, and dental health talks were given to 20,058 special

needs children in the school. The coverage of special needs children has shown a

tremendous increase from 1752(part of the oral health programme for preschool

children) in the year 2000 to 17,642 in the year 2005.

Rehabilitation services

Ministry of Health works hand in hand with the Department of Social Welfare

(A department under the Ministry of Woman, Family and Community Development),

to provide rehabilitation services to the children with disabilities. In 2005, a total of


2681 cases of children with disabilities were detected amongst children aged 0-12

years. As of 2005, there are 130 health clinics under the MOH that offers

rehabilitation programmes. Due to the lack of therapist, the major part of the

programme is conducted by Public Health Nurses trained in managing children with

special needs with supervision from therapist from hospital or health clinic. The

programme includes early intervention activities for children with delay in areas of

gross motor, fine motor, and activities of daily living, as well as interventions for

children with communication, behaviour and visual problems. These trained health

staff also provides technical input to the Community Based Centers within their

operational areas. MOH plans to incrementally increase the number of facilities by 10

– 15 centers per year.

Community-Based Rehabilitation

Community-Based Rehabilitation, CBR was introduced since 1983 as an

alternative to institutionalization. The first CBR in the country was set up in in Kuala

Terengganu by the Department of Social Welfare with the cooperation of the Ministry

of Health. CBR adheres to the philosophy stated below:

“… a strategy within community development for the

rehabilitation, equalization of opportunities and social

integration of all people with disabilities. CBR is

implemented through the combined efforts of disabled

people themselves, their families and communities, and

the appropriate health, education, vocational and social

services” (ILO, UNESCO and WHO)

As of 2006, there are 364 CBR centers catering for some 9,260 persons with

disabilities (PWD). There are three different models of CBR which are: Centre-based,

Centre-based followed by supervision at home, and Home-based CBR.

Programs and activities in CBR are planned based on the following guideline:

Inclusion of PWDs at all stages and levels of planning and implementation

including the process of decision making.

The overarching aim is improvement of the quality of life of PWDs.

Steps taken to create positive attitudes towards PWDs and to motivate

community members to support and participate in CBR activities.

Providing assistance for all PWDs needing special assistance.

Sensitive to the situation of PWD girls and women.

Flexibility in terms of operation at the local level within the local context.

Coordination among service deliveries at the local level.

CBR is a strategic alliance between the Government, the community, NGOs,

the parents and the PWDs. All parties work together, share resources and through

coordinated efforts provide the essential services and programs that can alleviate

social and economic problems faced by the PWD and thus enhance the quality of life

of these PWDs.


13.3 CHILDREN WITH HIV/AIDS

Prior to 2000 there were 3,555 cases of AIDS and 33,233 cases of HIV

recorded. From 2000 till 2005 there were an additional 7,858 cases of AIDS and

40,194 cases of HIV, for a total of 11,413 cases of AIDS and 73,427 cases of HIV.

Majority were from the age group 20 – 49 year old. From 1986 to 2006 there 206

cases of HIV and 50 cases of AIDS in age group less than 2 year, and 445 cases of

HIV and 116 cases of AIDS the age group 2 to 12 years.

HIV infection and AIDS have become major public health concern in

Malaysia. HIV transmission in Malaysia continues to be mainly through sharing

needle among drug user (73.6%), followed by heterosexual (14.7%) and homosexual

(1.5%) while only 0.8% of the infection are attributed to vertical transmission (mother

to child transmission).

Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission Programme

HIV testing for pregnant mother was introduced in 1998 as part of the national

intervention to reduce HIV transmission from mother to child. In 2006, the coverage

was around 99.5 % of those attending government health facilities for antenatal care.

This is a voluntary program which provides HIV testing, counselling service and also

provides free antiviral drugs to every effected pregnant mother and her baby. Infants

are being given medical therapy for the first 6 weeks of life while being tested at

regular intervals until they turn 18 months old. The low transmission rate indicates

successful clinical management.

As of December 2006, a total number of 2,925,472 antenatal mothers who

attended government clinic (82.3%) were screened, 0.035% (757 mothers) were tested

positive and a total of 25 (3.88%) delivered baby were HIV positive. Since the

beginning of the screening programme, an average of 4% of babies born to HIV +ve

mothers has been found to be HIV-infected.

Table 45: Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission (MCTC) programme 2000-

2006 Year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

No. of

attendance of

antenatal

mother

347,979 392,139 387,208 374,386 386,037 361,207 385,976

No of ANC

screened

286,390 343,030 359,411 361,152 377,016 349,922 384,027

Percentage

screened

82.3 87.5 92.8 96.5 97.6 96.9 99.5

No of ANC

detected

HIV positive

85 79 141 177 138 110 170

Babies

delivered

85 79 141 152 138 107 62

No of babies

HIV positive

(%)

3 1 5 8 2 5 3


14.0 MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF EARLY

CHILDHOOD HEALTHCARE

Monitoring and evaluation of early childhood healthcare is done through the

following inspection systems.

SANITARY AND SAFETY INSPECTION OF THE CHILDCARE CENTRE

(TASKA)

District health departments under the Ministry of Health are one of the agencies

involved in advising the operator the TASKA / TASKI on the safety and health aspect

of the institution and were involved in approving the permit for operating. (% of

coverage, Dr Sai)

NUTRITION SURVEILLANCE

The nutritional status of children is monitored through the Nutrition Surveillance

Systems (NSS). The systems uses weight attainment for age as an indicator of

nutritional status of children aged less than 5 years who attends the government’s

health clinics during the months of March, June, and September. Diagram 11 shows

the nutritional status of children under 5 years old from the year 1990 to 2005.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

Year

Percen

tag

e Overweight

Normal weight

Moderate

underweightSevere

underweight

Diagram 11: Nutritional Status of Children Under 5 Years (1990 – 2005) (Dr Sai, the

figure) (Source: Ministry of Health)

ORAL HEALTH INDICATORS

In 2005, both caries prevalence and caries experience among Year 1 six-year-old

children are dropping as shown in Table 45. Compared to 1997 when the average

percentage of decayed and filled teeth among 6-year-olds was 4.1%, it was 1.31% in


2005. The number of children who have no experience of tooth decay also increased

form 19.4% (1997) to 36.8% in 2005. While 8 out of 10 six-year-old children had

tooth decay in 1997, it had dropped to just over 6 in 10 children by 2005.

Table 45: % 6 year-old with caries-free dentition

Indicator 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

% 6 year-old with caries-free dentition 24.5 26.2 26.7 27.5 28.8 37

Table 46: Oral health status of 6-year-old children (1997 and 2005) Indicator 1997 2005

Decayed filled

teeth

4.1% 1.31%

Caries-free

dentition

19.4% 36.8%

Caries prevalence 80.6% 63.2%

Table 47: % 6 year-old with caries-free dentition

Indicator 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

% 6 year-old with caries-free dentition 24.5 26.2 26.7 27.5 28.8 37

The goal of the National Oral Health Plan 2010 for % 6 year-old children with

caries-free dentition is 30%. The achievement of 37% in 2005 based on the HMIS

data has surpassed the set goal for 2010.

HEALTH OUTCOME INDICATORS(MORE INFOR)(DR SAI)

The health outcome indicators identified by MOH are the following:

Perinatal Mortality

- Deaths of fetus from 22 weeks of gestation to the first week of life.

Infant Mortality

- Deaths of infants below one of life.

Toddler Mortality

- Death of children from ages 1 – 5 years old.

Maternal Mortality

- Deaths of women due pregnancy related causes and complications up till 42

days postpartum.

MOH plans and delivers services to reduce the occurrence of these indicators.

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT ACCREDITATION SYSTEM FOR THE

CHILDCARE CENTERS

Another new development undertaken by MWFCD is the setting up of the

Quality Improvement Accreditation System or QIAS, a kind of star rating of the


childcare centers. This system defines quality care in childcare centers and provides a

way to measure the quality and identify areas for on-going improvement. QIAS will

also guide the centers in maintaining and improving their quality practices for the

children in their care. This new initiative will shift the focus from meeting minimum

standards to striving towards the provision of quality childcare and education.

Through QIAS, MWFCD intend to introduce star ratings for the registered childcare

centers in Malaysia, starting from one star to three stars. The Ministry expects to

launch QIAS and the star rating in August 2007.


15.0 IMPLEMENTATION GAPS, CHALLENGES AND

DISPARITIES

The major existing national ECCE legislation in Malaysia are the Child Act,

Education Act, and the Childcare Centre Act. Other related policies are the

Convention on Rights of Children, The Malaysian Plan, Education Plan, The National

Action Plan of Children. These legislations and policies on ECCE provides for right

of accessibility, equity and quality of care, education and healthcare to children.

Goal 1 of the Education for All (EFA) calls for better and more possibilities to

support young children (age 0-6), and their families and communities, in all the areas

where the child is growing – physically, emotionally, socially and intellectually. It

also lays special emphasis on children who suffer disadvantage or who are

particularly vulnerable, for example those living in poverty, HIV/AIDS, orphans, rural

and minority children, and in some situations girls as a whole. Although much has

been done in ECCE to ensure the achievement of Goal 1 of EFA, various obstacles

remains in the areas of special education, healthcare, preschool education and

childcare center.

This section discusses the implementation gaps and disparities between the

aspired and the reality in the areas of special education, health and preschool

education.

15.1 PRESCHOOL EDUCATION

Accessibility

Until 2005, 59.56% of the 4-6 years old children have access to preschool

education. It is believed that there are many more unregistered private preschool

around. The figure could go up to 70 or 80%. Public or private kindergartens and

preschools are easily found in both urban and rural areas. The data obtained by CDC

in 2007 indicating only 5.3% of Year 1 primary school students are without ECCE

experience is more reasonable. Generally, parents have no problem of getting their

children to preschools.

Education Act 1996 stipulates that preschool is part of the school system. Thus

MOE has rigorously set up preschool classes especially in the rural area. In 2006,

MOE has set up preschool classes in 3287 primary schools which is 43% of the total

primary schools in Malaysia. However once preschool is included as an

institutionalised component of education system, the government need to ensure all

children have opportunity to enrol in preschool. This means that there is more to do,

for example in equipping all schools with preschool classes.

Education Act 1996 also instructs that all preschools regardless of public or

private has to follow the National Preschool Curriculum formulated by the MOE. This

has been adhered to by all public preschools. However not all private preschools

practice this. This implementation gap need to be addressed to ensure quality in

preschool education and to reduce the possible divide between the rich and the poor,

urban and rural.


The major obstacle faced by MOE in getting the current enrolment and

number of private preschools is the resistance by this private sector in registering their

preschools. This poses a big problem in getting accurate data for future planning and

for purpose of monitoring.

GPI for preschool is slightly biased towards the female, though it is not an

alarming issue yet, it need to get some attention at this stage.

Lack of Proper Location for Preschool Building

The three main public preschool education providers are MOE, Ministry of

Rural and Regional Development (Tabika KEMAS) and Department of National

Unity and Integration ( Tadika PERPADUAN).

One common problem faced by the three providers of preschools are lack of

proper location for building preschools classes. MOE plans to build more preschool

classes in existing primary school compound, however there is not enough suitable

space in many of the schools. Ministry of Rural and Regional Development faces

difficulty in finding proper locations to build new preschool buildings. Some of the

locations available are quite far from housing areas and poses safety problem. In the

densely populated area, vacant land is sparse, this has resulted in some high populated

areas having only few preschools forcing some of the KEMAS preschools accept 30

or more students for a class, exceeding the standard teacher-student ratio.

At present, approximately 4000 of KEMAS preschools are located in their

own buildings and 4052 more (as of 2005) either shares or rents public buildings.

Besides problems of location as mentioned above, building of such big number of

preschools poses a financial strain to the Ministry too. Comparatively, PERPADUAN

preschools are built on their own building and faces less problem of this sort.

Qualified Teacher

All MOE preschool teachers are trained. All KEMAS preschool teachers

obtained a 6 month training prior to teaching and all PERPADUAN preschool

teachers gets a 2 to 3 weeks training while they are teaching. Private preschools are

required to send their teachers for training in the various agencies or conduct training

on their own. Failure to do this would jeopardize their application or renewal of

operating license. The Department of Private Education is looking into ways to

enforce this regulations strictly. There is insufficient information in this regard for the

unregistered private preschools.

In the quest to upgrade the professional status of their teachers, Ministry of

Rural and Regional Development had worked with the public universities for training

of their teachers. In 2006, 667 preschool teachers are doing part time diploma courses

at Teacher Training Institute, MOE. These teachers will graduate in the year 2009.

Ministry of Rural and Regional Development has set a target that by 2010 all their

teachers would have at least a diploma in teaching.


Coordination and Standardisation

Having many preschools providers raises issue of coordination and

standardisation. The question is whether all these agencies/ministries provide similar

quality of preschool education. There is no study or instruments available to gauge the

effectiveness and success of these programs. Could policies formulated by each of

these agencies/ministries apply to the other agency/ministry? There appear to be

duplication of functions and roles among these agencies/ministries. One can argue too

that there is a waste of man power and fund as teacher training, production of material

as well as school inspection are conducted separately.

Another issue at hand is the lack of coordination in planning for new

preschool classes. There is a need for a more complementary approach in deciding

locations to build preschool by the various agencies. This is important to ensure

maximum usage of resources and manpower and to ensure the survival of all public

preschool providers.

Monitoring and evaluation of the National Preschool Curriculum in MOE and

private preschools is conducted by the Schools Inspectorate of MOE, however

KEMAS and PERPADUAN conduct their own monitoring and evaluation. There is

probably a need for standardisation and cooperation.

15.2 SPECIAL EDUCATION

Accessibility

The Education Act states that it is the responsibility of the government to

provide education for the special children. The number of classes for special

education preschools is increasing but most of it caters for learning disability children.

There are only 22 programs for the hearing impaired and 5 programs for the visually

impaired. Thus, there is still a big gap in providing education for these children.

A bigger related issue is the lack of national database on the number of

children (0-6 years old) with special needs. Without this database, it is difficult to

gauge how far the country has achieved its target and difficult to make future plan. At

present, data collected by Department of Social Welfare is for children(below 18

years old) in general and not segregated into the various age group.

Inclusive Education

One of the most critical challenges is the teachers’ commitment towards the

special education children. The teachers, either the special education teachers or the

normal preschool teachers need to have paradigm shift towards the special education

children. Since MOE is opening more classes in the integration programs where the

normal children will study in the same compound as the special children, the relevant

authority including the school should consciously plan activities or ways to include

special children in activities attended by normal children. Special children should be

given opportunity to study in the same classroom as the normal children. And this will

take commitment in both party – the normal preschool teachers and the special

education preschool teachers, and even the administrators.


Acceptance of Children with Mono-Disability only

There is a need to re-look at policy restricting ECCE accessibility to children

with mono-disability only. At the moment, children with dual-disability or multi

disabilities are not under the jurisdiction of MOE. This has created some difficulty as

most of the special children are found to be afflicted with more than one disability.

These children have a right for formal education and action has to be taken to ensure

that they are not neglected.

MOE will be reviewing the Education Act 1996 (Special Education

Regulation 1997) and will consider the dual disability children to be included as

special education children who will be catered by MOE by 2009. The children might

be those with visual impairment plus low cognitive, hearing impairment plus low

cognitive or low mental ability plus physical handicapped.

Teacher’s Motivation

The special education teachers in preschool settings need more motivation

since they are dealing with the children who have few or no experience being away

from family. They have to be in the classroom and dealing with various kind of

disability for the whole three and the half hours or even more every day.

Parents’ Involvement

Parents’ involvement is well-known as an important element in a child’s

development and achievement. It is observed that in special education preschool

program, parents involvement are not encouraging and this affect the child’s’ ability

in most of the domain. The gap between the teacher, school and parents relationships

need to be closed or at least minimized. Research by Zuria Mahmud, Norshidah

Mohamad Salleh and Zalizan Jelas(2002) shown that family member’s knowledge,

attitude, communication and financial are obstacles in parents and school’s

collaboration.

Per Capita Grant

Allocation for per capita grant and food allocation given to special need

preschoolers is the same as what the typical preschool children are getting. This

means for a class of 25 normal preschool class, they will get RM2500 per year for the

per capita grant and RM7500 per year for food allocation, whereas the special

preschool class will only get RM1000 for per capita grant and RM3000 for food

allocation as shown in Table 48. This is worse if the number of special children is less

than ten, since the allocation is getting smaller based on the number of the children.


Table 48: Comparison between PCG and Food Allocation Obtained by Normal

Preschool Classes and Special Preschool Classes

Number of

children

Per Capita Grant x Number of

Students x 1 year

(per year)

Food Allocation x Number of

Students x days of schooling in a

year

25 normal

children RM 100

= RM100 x 25 x 1

= RM 2500 RM1.50

= RM1.50 x 25 x 200

= RM 7500

10 special

children

= RM100 x 10 x 1

= RM 1000

= RM1.50 x 10 x 200

= RM 3000

Special Education One Stop Centre

Special Education One Stop Centre will be set up in Putrajaya by June 2007.

The main objective of this centre is to provide free services for special needs children

and their parents, in terms of early intervention, rehabilitation and other services. This

centre will cater for special need children within the age of 1 year old to 6 year old.

There will be officers in charge such as audiologist, speech pathologist,

physiotherapist, occupational therapist, orientation and mobility and low vision

specialist, educational psychologist, peripatetic teachers and early interventionist. As

for now, there are 5 centers operating which are located in Johor, Kedah, Selangor,

Terengganu and Melaka. There are 6 more centers which is in Kuala Lumpur,

Kelantan, Pahang, Perak, Sabah, Sarawak expected to have their personnel by

October 2007. In Ninth Malaysian Plan, 3 more centers will be set up in Negeri

Sembilan, Perlis and Pulau Pinang.

15.3 HEALTHCARE

Health care service covers the nations. The NHMS 96 showed that most of the

Malaysian population live within 5 km of a static health facility. The major

implementation gap is due to geographical reason namely in the remote parts of Sabah,

Sarawak and some parts of Peninsular Malaysia. In these areas, the MOH provides

health services via mobile health teams and flying doctor services.

Disease control program has been successful in controlling communicable

diseases such as vector bourne diseases, food and water borne disease. The major gap

lies in coordination between the many departments and agencies involved in

implementation as well as the commitment from the community.

With regards to child health services, there is a schedule for visits to health

clinic aimed at following up the child till the age of 6 years. However, visits are not

compulsory. This causes a setback in early identification of childhood problems and

disabilities, i.e after child has entered school. To overcome this, MOH is currently

changing child health visits schedule to include compulsory examination by medical

practitioner at 18 months and at 4 years of age. Examination will also include

screening for developmental delay.

For children with special needs, the number of trained personnel and facilities

are still small. Although condition is improving, there is still stigma in the community


regarding having children with special needs, making some shy away from getting

appropriate interventions. The public needs to be educated on the needs of the child

with special needs and their families. The public also need to be sensitized on how

they can play their role as a community member.

Successes

Great achievements have been accomplished in regard to child mortality rates.

Infant mortality rate in 2004 was 6.41 per 1000 live births, which are lower compared

to in the year 2003 which is 6.6. (In 2001, the rate was 7.1 per 1000 live births). This

rate is further improved in year 2005 which was 6.3 per 1000 live births.

Toddler death has been constant at 0.3 per 1000 live births since 2000 – 2002,

and in 2004, the rate was 0.3. The leading causes of death are perinatal conditions for

children under 1 year old of age while septicaemia and pneumonia are the leading

causes of death among children 1 – 5 years old.

Diagram 12: Mortality Rate for Infant and Toddler from 2000 to 2005

(source: Ministry of Health)

Challenges

With the achievements to reduce mortality and morbidity amongst infants and

young children, the main challenges that are yet to be worked upon are having

accessible health infrastructure at the remote areas and to gain the trust of the

indigenous people of the remote areas to make them come forward to healthcare

services (many still hold strong beliefs in their alternative medicine).

Another problem is the migration people from other country enter to our

country together with their family, this will increase health burden to our country and

also introduce new disease and increase the number of outbreaks.

The rate of population growth and development does not occur in the same

speed with the service expansion. There were always a gap in giving health in total for

Mortality Rate from 2000 - 2005

0

2

4

6

8

10

1 2 3 4 5 6

Year

per

1000 l

ive b

irth

Infant

Toddler


all citizens, however, the government is continually seeking to improve service

provision.

15.4 CHILDCARE CENTERS

There has been a lot of plans formulated and policies reviewed and drawn up

by Ministry of Woman, Family and Community Development, MWFCD in the past

one year to improve the provision of childcare centers and related issues. The full

impact of these policies and plans could only be ascertained after a few years of

implementation. It would remained as challenges of MWFCD for the years to come to

maintain and continuously improve on these plans and policies stated below.

MWFCD is also taking initiative to change the public perception that child

minding is a lowly paid job that is only suitable for school dropouts. A task force has

been set up to look into the career path of the childcare minders. The Task Force is

currently working with the National Vocational Training Council to incorporate the

Basic childcare Training into the National Occupational Skill Standards framework.


16.0 RECOMMENDATIONS

16.1 DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN – INDIGENOUS CHILDREN

Orang Asli Children in Peninsular Malaysia

The Department of the Community Development (KEMAS) in the Ministry of

Rural and Regional Development has been providing preschool education to the orang

asli children since 1992 and childcare since 2005 while Department of Orang Asli

Affairs (JHEOA) has provided some form of childcare facilities since 2000 through

the programme, “Wanita Penggerak”. However, many of the orang asli children are

still not benefiting from either child care or preschool education or both yet. Further

steps need to be thought of and taken.

Orang Asal (Indigenous people) in Sabah and Sarawak

Child care and preschool facilities in Sabah and Sarawak are utilized by orang

asal living in urban areas and accessible rural areas. Those in more remote areas, let

alone those in the interiors do not have such facilities available to them. In fact, the

orang asal children in certain settlements do not have access to primary school

because there are no schools in their vicinities or they do not have proper documents

such as birth certificates. In certain cases, the parents themselves do not see the value

of education or they are afraid their children learning a new culture and losing their

cultural identity.

To help indigenous children develop to the highest potential possible, they have

to benefit from primary education, it is essential for them to have proper care and

educational experiences. It is therefore suggested that some young girls or women be

given training in basic childcare skills, including activities that help children develop

physically, intellectually, socially and emotionally. These childcare providers can then

conduct programmes for children in their settlements or communities for both

children of ages 2-4 and for mothers with young children.

Indigenous youths with basic or primary school education can be trained to

conduct programmes, based on the National Preschool Curriculum for children aged

4-6 years. They should be taught to integrate their cultural practices into the activities

or programmes conducted for these children not only to make learning meaningful to

them but also to demonstrate that learning is not alien to their culture.

It is important for the childcare providers to be paid by the Ministry of Women,

Family and Community Development and preschool teachers be paid by the Ministry

of Education since the former Ministry sponsors community childcare centers and the

Ministry of Education conducts kindergartens. These ministries should also be

responsible for cost of running the childcare centers and preschools.

16.2 SPECIAL CHILDREN

All the ministries and agencies involved with special needs children have to

develop a mechanism that enable them to cooperate among each other in order to


ensure the child will benefit from their services. A database on special needs children

has to be generated as a national database and not compartmentalized as it is now.

With the national database, they can enhance their services on various aspect

including registration, medical record, support programme, planning for individual

educational plan and others.

Multidisciplinary group such as audiologist, speech and language pathologist,

occupational therapist, physiotherapist, educational psychologist need to be actively

involved with the programmes for special needs children, either in public schools or

in other agencies. Collaboration among these multidisciplinary groups will enhance

the development of special needs children.

A baseline instrument should be develop in order to start a program for a

special need child based on his learning needs. It has to be made available for

everyone and easy to be accessed. With this assessment a teacher will be able to

evaluate the child’s abilities and levels of development and plan for appropriate

program for the child.

Parents perception towards the child learning activity should be changed and

parents should be educated on how important their roles are towards their childs

achievement. There should be some sort of contract between the schools and the

parents regarding the child’s learning needs and development.

To ensure the quality of preschool program for special educational needs

children, the teachers should be provided with various skills to carry out the teaching,

including in giving individual attention in a group teaching.

The ratio of teacher-student as in 1:10 has to be reviewed since this will give

an effect on the quality of the programs towards the special needs children. This is

essential since every child needs individual attention based on their learning needs.

16.3 HEALTHCARE

Children with disabilities

Recommended activities to further strengthen the health program for children with

special needs are:

Increased efforts in training health personnel with focus on specific disabilities

eg. Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, Autism and others, according to needs.

Interagency collaboration e.g. working with Cheshire Home to produce

manual on care of persons with disabilities in institutions and homes.

Completion of the training module on care of children with special needs and

training module on sexual and reproductive health for children and adolescents

with disabilities as well as development of health education materials.


Children with HIV/AIDS

In order to reduce HIV vulnerability among children, the 2006-2010 National

strategic Plan aims to:

i. Increase access by children and young people to life-skilled based

education(elaborate)

ii. Increase access to youth friendly health and social services

iii. Create a supportive environment for HIV prevention

There is a need to improve support to infected and affected children including orphans,

and highlight the needs for:

• The provision of appropriate counselling and psycho-social support to orphans

and other vulnerable children, and to their carers

• The provision of HIV treatments and care for HIV infected children

• Their enrolment in school, ensuring their access to shelter, good nutrition,

health and social services and on equal basis with other children

• Non-discrimination through the promotion of an active and visible policy of

de-stigmatisation of children orphaned and made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS.

16.4 EDUCATION

Monitoring

MOE, Ministry of Rural Development and Department of National Unity and

Integration should cooperate to set up a standardise and effective monitoring system.

All preschools regardless of belonging to which agencies/Ministries or private should

be inspected based on a common set of standard and criteria. It is suggested that MOE

lead the monitoring system. Monitoring system should cover the various aspects of

implementation of curriculum, teacher training, infrastructure.

Learning Material

There is a need for setting up a coordinating body to look into matters

pertaining production and supply of learning materials, either in digital, printed form.

This is crucial as teaching and learning material play a major role in ensuring quality

of teaching and learning and in helping teachers to teach effectively. Many of the

materials in the market could not satisfy the needs of the National Preschool

Curriculum. The aim is to ensure quality of materials produced which is suitable for

the need of the children. The coordinating body could be an existing department or

Ministry. Efforts should be also be made to produce more ICT materials to be used by

the preschoolers.

Parental Involvement

Parents play a prominent role in children’s life. Parental involvement with

childcare centre and preschools in Malaysia is much limited to parents sending

children to schools only. Recognizing that parents play such a significant role in the

development of their children, they should be supported in their responsibilities, e.g.

through setting up of support group. Consultation services should be provided for

parents to discern their needs and concerns. Efforts could also be extended to promote


quality family life, the joys of parenthood and the importance of having an extended

family network.

16.5 NATIONAL ECCE POLICY COORDINATION

FRAMEWORK/MECHANISM

Issues pertaining to ECCE fall under the jurisdiction of many

agencies/Ministries in Malaysia. Those not familiar with this situation would get

confused. There are also instances of duplication and ignorance of what each other is

doing. Thus, it would be good to have a comprehensive National Early Childhood

Care and Education Policy Coordination Framework/Mechanism in place. This

mechanism will be used to coordinate the implementation of the different policies

already in place. A committee could be set up consisting of high officials from the

various ministries such as Ministry of Education, Ministry of Rural Development,

Ministry of Health, Ministry of Woman, Family and Community Development,

Department of National Unity and Integration and plan for regular meetings or

combined activities.


17.0 CONCLUSION

Data collected for this report showed that ECCE in Malaysia has progressed

significantly in the past decade. Much has been achieved by the many public and

private agencies and organizations involved. The presence of enthusiasm and effort

can be felt through the many projects and plans conceptualized and conducted. There

are a number of established legislation, law and regulation governing issues related to

ECCE. The structure for a good and effective delivery system is in place.

The three important focus in ECCE is accessibility, equity and quality.

Accessibility measured through the Gross Enrolment Rate is not so satisfactory due to

many unregistered centers. Accessibility to healthcare is satisfactory. Gender Parity

Index indicated that slightly more female participation than male participation. Equity

is promoted and engineered through the many programs for the disadvantaged

especially the special children and indigenous children. More can be still be done.

Quality of the care and education is monitored and controlled by the

formulation of a standardized curriculum, training of teacher and helper, provision of

learning materials, standard procedure in healthcare as well as acquisition of

cooperation and supporting activities from the non-profit or private organizations.

However, many challenges remained.

This report has highlighted several implementation gaps which need to be

addressed. The biggest gap is in the insufficiency of special education facilities to

cater for a larger population of special children awaiting some formal care and

education. The gap in childcare center is in getting the private center to register and to

ensure quality childcare minders and providers. The gap in preschool education is

coordination between the three biggest providers of preschool education, namely, the

MOE, KEMAS and PERPADUAN as well as registration of private preschools.

The recommendation proposed include the setting up of a mechanism to

coordinate and disseminate information on activities and plans conducted and

formulated by the different Ministries involved in ECCE. Otherwise ECCE would

seem fragmented in the eye of the general public of Malaysia and wastage of

manpower and funding might occurred.


REFERENCE

1. Bahagian Perancangan dan Penyelidikan Dasar Pendidikan [Educational

Planning and Research Division]. (2006). Rancangan Malaysia Ke-9 – Pelan

Induk Pembangunan Pendidikan 2006 – 2010 [The 9th Malaysia Plan –

Education Development Master Plan 2006-2010]. Kementerian Pelajaran

Malaysia

2. Division of Family Health Development, Ministry of Health Malaysia (2000).

Annual Report 2000


Annual Report 2001


Annual Report 2002


Annual Report 2003


Annual Report 2004

7. Educational Planning and Research Division (2001).Malaysian Educational

Statistics. Ministry of Education.









12. Government of Malaysia (2002). Education Act 1996

13. Human Rights Commission of Malaysia. (2002). Training Module-

Convention on Rights of The Child (CRC).

14. Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat Malaysia, Kementerian Pembangunan Wanita,

Keluarga dan Komuniti [Departent of Social Welfare, Ministry of Woman,

Family and Community Development]. (2007). Garis Panduan – Prosedur

Memproses Permohonan Penubuhan TASKA[Guideline – Procedure for

Processing of Application for Setting up of Childcare Centers].


15. Jemaah Nazir Sekolah, Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia [School Inspectorate,

Ministry of Education]. (2006). Laporan Pemeriksaan Prasekolah

Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia Peluasan Tahun 2005 dan Pemeriksaan

Tadika Swasta [MOE PreSchools and Private Kindergartens Inspection

Report 2005]

16. Ministry of Health (2005). Annual Report 2005.

17. Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development. (2006). Malaysia

– Implementation on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, First Country

Report.

18. Pusat Perkembangan Kurikulum. Garis Panduan Kurikulum Pendidikan

Prasekolah Malaysia [Guideling: National Preschool Curriculum].

19. UNESCO (2006). Strong Foundations, Early Childhood Care and Education,

EFA Global Monitoring Report 2007

20. UNICEF (2006). A Focused Situation Analysis of Children in Malaysia.

21. Zuria Mahmud, Norshidah Mohamad Salleh and Zalizan Jelas (Eds) (2002).

Collaboration between teachers and parents of special education students in

Malaysian schools. International Journal of Learning, Volume 9


TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

Curriculum Development Center (Chairman)

Ministry of Education

School Division


Teacher Training Division


Private Education Department


Special Education Department

Minsitry of Education

Education Planning and Research Division


Education Technology Division


School Inspectorate


Aminuddin Baki Institute


MINISTRY OF WOMAN, FAMILY AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Social Welfare Department (responsible for registration of childcare center)

Ministry of Woman, Family and Community Development

Lembaga Penduduk dan Pembangunan Keluarga Negara

Ministry of Woman, Family and Community Development

MINISTRY OF REGIONAL AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Department of Community Development (KEMAS)

Ministry of Regional and Rural Development

Department of Indigenous People Affair

Ministry of Regional and Rural Development


PRIME MINISTER DEPARTMENT

Department of National Unity and Integration

Prime Minister Office

MINISTRY OF HEALTH

Division on Disease Control

Ministry of Health

Division on Family Health Development

Ministry of Health

OTHER MINISTRIES

Ministry of Internal Affair

Ministry of Energy, Water and Communication

UNIVERSITY

Faculty of Cognitive Science and Human Development

Sultan Idris Teaching University

NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATION

Association of Registered Childcare Minders (PPBM)

Association of Kindergartens Malaysia (PTM)

Association of Profesionnal Early Childhood Educators (MAPECE)

National Association of Early Chilhood Care and Education Malaysi

(NAECCEM)

Protect and Save The Children Association of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur

OTHERS

Education and Promotion Division

Human Rights Commission

UNICEFF Malaysia


INSTRUMENT


A STUDY ON THE IMPLEMENTATION

OF NATIONAL PRESCHOOL CURRICULUM(CDC STUDY)

Note: (1) The same instrument is used for the study on Teaching and learning in

MOE Special Education Preschool

(2) This research was formulated for a comprehensive study on the

implementation of the NPC, not all parts of the findings are discussed in this

ECCE Policy Review Report

Teacher Questionnaire

Section A: Particulars of respondent

A1. Teacher’s Code:

For the following questions, please write the selected code in the space provided

A2. Type of School:

Code: 1 = Sekolah Kebangsaan

2 = Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina

3 = Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil

4 = Sekolah Kebangsaan Pendidikan Khas

A3. Grade of School:

Kod: 1 = A

2 = B

3 = Sekolah Kurang Murid (SKM)

A4. Location of School:

Kod: 1 = urban

2 = rural

3 = pinggir bandar

4 = interior

A5. State:

Kod:

1 = Perlis 6 = WP Kuala Lumpur 11 = Terengganu 16 = WP Putrajaya

2 = Kedah 7 = Negeri Sembilan 12 = Pahang

3 = Pulau Pinang 8 = Melaka 13 = Sabah

4 = Perak 9 = Johor 14 = Sarawak

5 = Selangor 10 = Kelantan 15 = WP Labuan


A6. Sex

Kod: 1 = male

2 = female

A7. Experience in teaching: How many years have you been teaching?

(including experience as temporary teacher and teaching of other subjects)

Kod: 1 = 0 – 5 tahun

2 = 6 – 9 tahun

3 = 10 – 19 tahun

4 = 20 – 29 tahun

5 = 30 tahun dan ke atas

A8. Pengalaman Mengajar Prasekolah: Berapa tahunkah anda telah mengajar

prasekolah sehingga tahun ini?

Kod: 1 = 0 – 3 tahun

2 = 4 – 7 tahun

3 = 8 – 11 tahun

4 = 12 – 15 tahun

5 = 16 tahun dan ke atas

A9. Umur: Berapakah umur anda?

Kod: 1 = Bawah 25 tahun

2 = 25 – 29

3 = 30 – 39

4 = 40 – 49

5 = 50 – 56

6 = Lebih daripada 56 tahun

A10. Kelayakan Akademik Tertinggi: Apakah kelayakan AKADEMIK tertinggi

anda?

Kod: 1 = SPM

2 = STPM

3 = Diploma

4 = Ijazah Sarjana Muda

5 = Ijazah Sarjana

6 = Ijazah Kedoktoran


A11. Kelayakan Ikhtisas Perguruan: Apakah kelayakan IKHTISAS

PERGURUAN tertinggi anda?

Kod: 1 = Peringkat Diploma (spt. Sijil Perguruan, Diploma

Perguruan,

Diploma Pendidikan, Diploma Ed., KPLI, dsb.)

2 = Peringkat Sarjana Muda (spt. B.Sc dalam Pendidikan,

B.Ed., dsb.)

3 = Tiada (contoh: Latihan Perguruan Berasaskan Sekolah,

Guru Sandaran Tidak Terlatih dan lain-lain)

A12. Opsyen: Pernahkah anda mengikuti pengkhususan prasekolah semasa Sijil/

Diploma/ Ijazah Sarjana Muda/ Sarjana /PhD di Maktab Perguruan atau di Universiti?

Kod: 1 = Ya

2 = Tidak

Untuk Bahagian-bahagian berikut, sila jawab semua soalan. Anda dimohon

menjawab secara ikhlas dan jujur agar dapatan kajian ini sah, sahih dan dapat

membantu perancangan pendidikan prasekolah yang lebih baik untuk negara.

Identiti anda tidak perlu dicatat dalam instrumen ini.

Tandakan ( ) dalam SATU petak sahaja bagi setiap pernyataan mengikut skala

berikut:

Skala

1 2 3 4 5

Tidak Setuju

Sedikit Setuju Sederhana

Setuju

Setuju Sangat Setuju

B: UMUM

Bil. 1 2 3 4 5

B1 Saya berminat dengan pendidikan prasekolah.

B2 Saya faham konsep amalan berasaskan

perkembangan dalam pendidikan awal kanak-

kanak.

B3 Saya tahu keperluan asas kanak-kanak.

B4 Saya berusaha untuk mencari maklumat dan

pengetahuan baru yang berkaitan dengan

pendidikan awal kanak-kanak.

B5 Pendedahan yang diperolehi semasa kursus

prasekolah pra perkhidmatan (di Maktab/Institut

Perguruan atau Universiti) sudah mencukupi untuk

memantapkan pemahaman saya terhadap


Bil. 1 2 3 4 5

pendidikan prasekolah. (Jika tidak pernah

mengikuti kursus prasekolah pra perkhidmatan sila

tanda 1)

B6 Pendedahan yang diperolehi semasa kursus

prasekolah dalam perkhidmatan atau seminar

yang saya hadiri sudah mencukupi untuk

memantapkan pemahaman saya terhadap

pendidikan prasekolah. (Jika tidak pernah

mengikuti kursus atau seminar dalam perkhidmatan

berkaitan dengan prasekolah sila tanda 1)

B7 Saya menghadiri kursus dalam perkhidmatan

tentang bagaimana merancang dan menyediakan

aktiviti di dalam dan di luar bilik darjah

prasekolah.

B8 Saya mengambil berat tentang masalah murid yang

boleh menjejaskan pembelajaran dalam kelas.

B9 Jawatankuasa prasekolah membantu dalam

menyelesaikan masalah pengurusan dan

pelaksanaan pendidikan prasekolah.

B10 Pembantu Pengurusan Murid memberi kerjasama

padu kepada saya dalam pengurusan serta

pengajaran dan pembelajaran kelas prasekolah.

B11 Saya mendapat bimbingan dan bantuan dari

pentadbir sekolah berhubung dengan pelaksanaan

kurikulum prasekolah.

B12 Saya mendapat bimbingan dan bantuan dari

pengawai JPN/PPD/PPG berhubung dengan

pelaksanaan kurikulum prasekolah.

B13 Masyarakat setempat di lokasi sekolah saya

memberi sokongan, bantuan dan kerjasama dalam

pelaksanaan kurikulum prasekolah.

B14 Saya kerap dipinggirkan dari acara atau program

sekolah.

B15 Saya kerap diminta menjadi guru ganti semasa

ketiadaan guru kelas lain.

B16 Penglibatan ibubapa diberi penekanan dalam kelas

prasekolah saya.


Bil. 1 2 3 4 5

B17 Pada pandangan saya, guru prasekolah perlu diberi

kelonggaran memakai pakaian yang sesuai seperti

seluar panjang semasa kelas kerana pakaian kerja

yang diluluskan oleh Kementerian Pelajaran

Malaysia kadang-kadang menghadkan pergerakan

guru.

B18 Saya yakin untuk mengajar komponen pendidikan

Islam dalam Kurikulum Prasekolah Kebangsaan.

(untuk guru prasekolah yang beragama Islam

sahaja)

B19

Guru Agama berbincang dengan saya semasa

menyediakan dan merancang aktiviti komponen

Pendidikan Islam. (untuk guru beragama Islam

sahaja)

C: BAHAN PENGAJARAN DAN PEMBELAJARAN

Bil. 1 2 3 4 5

C1 Bahan Bantu Mengajar/Bahan Bantu Belajar adalah

penting untuk menjaminkan kejayaan pelaksanaan

kurikulum prasekolah.

C2 Saya diberi pendedahan tentang kaedah pemilihan

dan penggunaan bahan prasekolah.

C3 Bahan yang dibekalkan releven untuk pendidikan

prasekolah dan bersesuaian dengan peringkat

perkembangan murid.

C4 Saya selalu menyediakan Bahan Bantu

Mengajar/Belajar yang pelbagai guna untuk

digunakan merentas beberapa komponen.

C5 Jika tiada bahan yang disediakan, saya masih boleh

meneruskan pengajaran dengan menggunakan bahan

yang sedia ada/setempat.

C6 Saya menggunakan bahan terpakai(seperti surat

khabar lama, botol air mineral kosong) dalam proses

pengajaran dan pembelajaran.

C7 Pada pandangan saya, guna semula bahan terpakai penting dalam pendidikan

prasekolah untuk memupuk:

C7a Nilai murni jimat cermat


Bil. 1 2 3 4 5

C7b Tabiat pemeliharaan dan pemuliharaan

C7c Sikap mengelakkan pencemaran alam

C8 Saya selalu menggunakan lembaran kerja yang

diambil/difotostat daripada buku kerja.

C9 Saya menyediakan lembaran kerja saya sendiri.

C10 Saya menghadapi masalah dalam menyediakan

lembaran kerja yang sesuai dengan keperluan murid.

C11 Saya tidak pernah menggunakan buku kerja dalam


C12 Saya menggunakan buku kerja untuk komponen berikut:

C12a Bahasa dan Komunikasi – Bahasa Malaysia

C12b Bahasa dan Komunikasi – Bahasa Inggeris

C12c Bahasa dan Komunikasi – Bahasa Cina (jika

berkenaan)

C12d Bahasa dan Komunikasi – Bahasa Tamil (jika

berkenaan)

C12e Kognitif

C12f Fizikal

C12g Kreativiti dan Estetika

C12h Sosioemosi

C12i Kerohanian dan Moral

C13 Saya menggunakan buku kerja pada:

C13a Permulaan pengajaran

C13b Dalam proses pengajaran

C13c Akhir pengajaran sebagai pengukuhan

C13d Kerja rumah

C14 Masalah yang saya hadapi dalam penyediaan bahan pengajaran dan

pembelajaran adalah:

C14a Kekurangan idea

C14b Kekurangan masa

C14c Kesukaran memperolehi bahan yang bersesuaian

C15 Sekolah saya mempunyai bahan dan buku yang

mencukupi untuk saya membuat rujukan sebelum

sesuatu pengajaran.

C16 Peruntukan kewangan untuk pembelian bahan p & p

adalah mencukupi.


D: PENGAJARAN DAN PEMBELAJARAN (p & p)

Bil. 1 2 3 4 5

D1 Saya selalu melaksanakan p & p berdasarkan pendekatan ‘Belajar Melalui

Bermain” bagi komponen:

D1a Bahasa dan Komunikasi

D1b Perkembangan Kognitif

D1c Perkembangan Fizikal

D1d Kreativiti dan Estetika

D1e Sosioemosi


D2 Saya dapati tahap pencapaian Hasil Pembelajaran di kalangan murid bagi

komponen berikut lebih berkesan jika pendekatan belajar melalui bermain

digunakan:


D2b Kognitif

D2c Fizikal


D2e Sosioemosi


D3 Saya selalu melaksanakan p & p berdasarkan pendekatan bertema bagi

komponen:


D3b Kognitif

D3c Fizikal


D3e Sosioemosi


D4 Saya dapati tahap pencapaian Hasil Pembelajaran di kalangan murid bagi

komponen berikut lebih berkesan jika pendekatan bertema digunakan:


D4b Kognitif

D4c Fizikal


D4e Sosioemosi


D5 Saya menghadapi masalah menggunakan pendekatan bertema untuk mencapai

Hasil Pembelajaran dalam komponen berikut:


D5b Kognitif

D5c Fizikal


D5e Sosioemosi



Bil. 1 2 3 4 5

D6 Saya faham kenyataan Hasil pembelajaran dalam Huraian Kurikulum

Prasekolah Kebangsaan, HKPK untuk komponen berikut:


D6b Kognitif

D6c Fizikal


D6e Sosioemosi


D7 Saya faham pendekatan pengajaran dan

pembelajaran yang dicadangkan dalam

Huraian Kurikulum Prasekolah

Kebangsaan.

D8 Saya faham prinsip dan kaedah penilaian

dan pentaksiran yang dicadangkan

dalam Huraian Kurikulum Prasekolah

Kebangsaan.

D9 Saya faham prinsip pengurusan ruang

yang dicadangkan dalam Huraian

Kurikulum Prasekolah Kebangsaan.

D10 Masa minimum per minggu yang dicadangkan dalam Huraian Kurikulum

Prasekolah Kebangsaan adalah mencukupi untuk:

D10a Bahasa Melayu (3 jam untuk SK, 2

jam untuk SJK)

D10b Bahasa Inggeris (2 jam untuk SK, 1

jam untuk SJK)

D10c Kerohanian dan Moral (2 jam)

D11 Saya selalu menyediakan Rancangan

Pelajaran Tahunan dan Rancangan

Pelajaran Harian mengikut keperluan

semasa murid.

D12 Saya menggunakan terus Rancangan

Pelajaran Tahunan dan Rancangan

Pelajaran Harian yang telah disediakan

oleh JPN/PPD/PPG.

D13 Saya sediakan senarai semak Hasil

Pembelajaran, di awal tahun untuk

memastikan pelaksanaan setiap Hasil

Pelajaran untuk tahun yang berkenaan.


Bil. 1 2 3 4 5

D14 Peratusan Hasil Pembelajaran yang

dapat dicapai dalam setahun secara

lazimnya adalah:

100% 75% 50% 25% 10%

D14a Bahasa dan Komunikasi- B.

Malaysia

D14b Bahasa dan Komunikasi- B.

Inggeris

D14c Bahasa dan Komunikasi- B. Cina

D14d Bahasa dan Komunikasi- B. Tamil

D14e Kognitif – Awal Sains

D14f Kognitif – Awal Matematik

D14g Fizikal

D14h Kreativiti dan Estetika

D14i Sosioemosi

D14j Kerohanian dan Moral

E: KEMAHIRAN GURU

Bil. 1 2 3 4 5

E1 Saya mempunyai kemahiran yang tinggi dalam percakapan/pertuturan dalam

bahasa berikut:

E1a Bahasa Malaysia

E1b Bahasa Inggeris

E1c Bahasa Cina (Jika berkenaan)

E1d Bahasa Tamil (Jika berkenaan)

E2 Saya menghadapai masalah dalam sebutan:

E2a Bahasa Malaysia

E2b Bahasa Inggeris



E3 Saya menghadapi masalah dalam membina ayat:

E3a Bahasa Malaysia

E3b Bahasa Inggeris



E4 Saya mempunyai tahap penguasaan perbendaharaan kata yang tinggi dalam:

E4a Bahasa Malaysia

E4b Bahasa Inggeris



E5 Saya mempunyai tahap kemahiran yang tinggi dalam:

E5a Nyanyian

E5b Gerakan

E5c Genderang


Bil. 1 2 3 4 5

E6 Saya mempunyai pengetahuan dan kemahiran yang tinggi dalam teknik

penilaian dan pentaksiran berikut:

E6a Membuat pemerhatian

E6b Menyediakan senarai semak

E6c Menyediakan anektod

E6d Menyediakan running rekod

E6e Menganalisis data

E6f Menulis laporan

E7 Saya mempunyai kemahiran yang tinggi untuk mengenalpasti tahap kebolehan

murid dalam domain:

E7a Kognitif

E7b Afektif

E7c Psikomotor

E8 Saya mempunyai kemahiran yang tinggi dalam:

E8a Sains Awal

E8b Matematik Awal

E9 Saya mempunyai kemahiran yang tinggi

dalam mengurus tingkahlaku murid.


dalam mengendalikan aktiviti kumpulan.


dalam mengendalikan aktiviti individu.

E12 Saya selalu mengendalikan aktiviti main

pasir.

E13 Saya selalu mengendalikan aktiviti main

air.

E14 Saya selalu mengendalikan aktiviti

permainan luar/ aktiviti luar.

E15 Saya mempunyai kemahiran yang tinggi dalam merancang dan mengelolakan

aktiviti:

E15a Main pasir

E15b Main air

E15c Permainan /Aktiviti Luar

E16 Saya berpendapat senarai perbendaharaan kata/kosa kata diperlukan untuk:

E16a Bahasa Malaysia

E16b Bahasa Inggeris





OF NATIONAL PRESCHOOL CURRICULUM (CDC Study)






Observation Schedule

Tarikh pemerhatian:

Nama Pemerhati:

Maklumat Guru: 1. Kod Guru: S1 2. Nama dan Alamat Sekolah: Bagi soalan-soalan berikut, sila tuliskan NOMBOR KOD yang berkenaan pada petak yang disediakan. 3. Gred Sekolah:

Kod: 1 = A 2 = B 3 = Sekolah Kurang Murid (SKM) 4. Lokasi Sekolah: Kod: 1 = bandar 2 = luar bandar 3 = pinggir bandar 5. Negeri: Kod:

1 = Perlis 6 = WP Kuala Lumpur 11 = Terengganu

2 = Kedah 7 = Negeri Sembilan 12 = Pahang

3 = Pulau Pinang 8 = Melaka 13 = Sabah

4 = Perak 9 = Johor 14 = Sarawak

5 = Selangor 10 = Kelantan 15 = WP Labuan


6. Jantina Kod: 1 = lelaki 2 = perempuan 7. Pengalaman Mengajar: Berapa tahunkah guru telah mengajar sehingga

tahun ini? (termasuk pengalaman sebagai Guru Sementara dan guru mata pelajaran lain jika berkenaan)

Kod: 1 = 0 – 5 tahun 2 = 6 – 9 tahun 3 = 10 – 19 tahun 4 = 20 – 29 tahun 5 = 30 tahun dan ke atas 8. Pengalaman Mengajar: Berapa tahunkah guru telah mengajar

prasekolah sehingga tahun ini? Kod: 1 = 0 – 5 tahun 2 = 6 – 9 tahun 3 = 10 – 19 tahun 4 = 20 – 29 tahun 5 = 30 tahun dan ke atas

9. Umur: Berapakah umur guru? Kod: 1 = Bawah 25 tahun 2 = 25 – 29 3 = 30 – 39 4 = 40 – 49 5 = 50 – 56 6 = Lebih daripada 56 tahun 10. Kelayakan Akademik Tertinggi: Apakah kelayakan AKADEMIK tertinggi

guru? Kod: 1 = SPM 2 = STPM 3 = Diploma 4 = Ijazah Sarjana Muda 5 = Ijazah Sarjana 6 = Ijazah Kedoktoran 1. Kelayakan Ikhtisas Perguruan: Apakah kelayakan IKHTISAS PERGURUAN

tertinggi guru?

Kod: 1 = Peringkat Sijil Perguruan 2 = Peringkat Diploma (spt. Dip. Perguruan, Dip. Pendidikan,

Dip.Ed., KPLI, dsb.) 3 = Peringkat Sarjana Muda (spt. B.Sc dalam Pendidikan,

B.Ed., dsb.)


4 = Tiada (contoh: Guru Sandaran Tidak Terlatih dan lain-lain) 12. Opsyen: Apakah pengkhususan yang diikuti oleh guru semasa di Maktab

Perguruan atau/dan Universiti? 13. Kursus yang guru pernah hadiri:

INSTRUMEN PEMERHATIAN

BAHAGIAN A: KEADAAN FIZIKAL KELAS

Bil. Komen

1 Keadaan fizikal bilik

- sertakan dengan lakaran

pelan lantai yang termasuk

ruang dapur, tempat

makan, tandas

- anggaran saiz

Lakaran Pelan Lantai:

BAHAGIAN B: PENGAJARAN DAN PEMBELAJARAN (PROSES)

Sila tandakan /(tick) di ruang yang berkenaan

Petunjuk:

I II III IV Deskripsi

Tidak

Memuaskan

Sederhana Baik Tidak Berkenaan Perlu diisi,

maklumat ini

penting

Sila isikan bagaimana pendekatan/ aktiviti itu dijalankan di ruangan Deskripsi,

lajur ini perlu diisi, data kualitatif ini amat penting dalam kajian ini.


1 Pendekatan belajar melalui

bermain diamalkan.

2 Pendekatan bertema diamalkan.



3 Pendekatan bersepadu

diamalkan.

4 ICT digunakan semasa


5 Aktiviti kelas dijalankan.

6 Aktiviti kumpulan dijalankan.

7 Aktiviti individu dijalankan.

BAHAGIAN C: HASIL PEMBELAJARAN YANG DIPERHATIKAN

PADA MURID

Nota: Untuk setiap item, sila berikan contoh atau penerangan tambahan. Segala

contoh dan penerangan hendaklah dicatatkan di ruangan Catatan. Jika ruang

tidak cukup, sila tulis atas kertas lain

C1: Sikap positif dan patriotik

Kebanyakan murid (atau lebih

daripada 80%) mempamerkan

ciri-ciri/kebolehan berikut:

I II III IV Catatan

1 Sifat peribadi, perwatakan yang

positif

- Bersedia untuk menyertai

aktiviti

- Sentiasa ceria

- dll.(sila nyatakan)

2 Sifat patriotik


C2: Bahasa dan Komunikasi

C3: Nilai Islam

- Nanyi lagu ’Negaraku’

- Hormat bendera Malaysia

- Hormat pemimpin negara

- dll. (sila nyatakan)




I II III IV Catatan

3 Menggunakan BM dengan baik

untuk berkomunikasi

- Antara murid dengan

guru/PPM


murid

4 Menggunakan BC/BT dengan

baik untuk berkomunikasi


guru/PPM


murid

5 Menggunakan BI dengan baik

untuk berkomunikasi


guru/PPM


murid




I II III IV Catatan

6 Mengamalkan nilai-nilai Islam

(untuk murid beragama Islam)

- Baca doa makan

- Mengucapkan salam


C4: Kemahiran Kognitif

C5: Nilai murni

- Mensyukuri nikmat Allah





I II III IV Catatan

7 Mempamerkan kemahiran

kognitif

- Membuat perbandingan

/membanding dan

membeza

- Membuat pengelasan/

mengumpulkan mengikut

ciri

- Menyusun mengikut

seriasi (tinggi-rendah,

panjang-pendek dll.)

- Membuat ramalan





I II III IV Catatan

8 Mengamalkan nilai-nilai murni

- Menghormati orang dewasa

- Menghormati rakan sebaya

- Menjaga kebersihan kelas

- Bertutur dengan bahasa yang

sopan

- Menunjukkan sifat kasih sayang

- Menunjukkan sifat rajin

- Menunjukkan sifat

bertanggungjawab

- Berani bertanya dan berjawab


C6: Kemahiran menyelesaikan masalah

C7: Kematangan emosi dan kematangan sosial

- Memberi bantuan kepada orang

lain

- Mematuhi arahan guru atau

ketua kumpulan

- Mematuhi peraturan kelas

- Bersedia menunggu giliran

- Bergaul mesra

- Bersikap tolak ansur





I II III IV Catatan

9 Mempamerkan kemahiran

menyelesaikan masalah. (Sila

terangkan situasi yang menjadi

masalah dan bagaimana murid

menyelesaikan masalah tersebut,

contohnya kawan tertumpah air di

atas meja yang penuh dengan

kertas, bagaimana murid

mengatasi masalah ini sama ada

secara bersendirian atau dengan

kawan)




I II III IV Catatan

10 Menunjukkan kematangan emosi.

- Boleh mengawal situasi/tahu

bagaimana bertindak di situasi

tertentu

- Tidak panik

- Boleh mengawal perasaan

- Sabar menunggu



C8: Kecergasan fizikal, Amalan Kesihatan dan Keselamatan

C9: Daya kreativiti

11 Menunjukkan kemahiran sosial

- Boleh bergaul dengan orang

lain

- Boleh bekerjasama

- Bertolak ansur antara rakan





I II III IV Catatan

12 Menunjukkan kecergasan dan

kemahiran fizikal, contohnya:

- Penguasaan kemahiran

motor halus dan kasar

dalam kelas dan/atau luar

kelas

13 Mempraktikkan amalan kesihatan

- Gosok gigi

- Cuci tangan

14 Mempraktikkan amalan

keselamatan yang baik

- tahu apa yang bahaya/tidak

berbahaya dan boleh bertindak

dengan sewajarnya




I II III IV Catatan

15 Memaperkan daya kreatif

- kreatif dalam aktiviti tidak kira

dalam komponen bahasa, kreativiti

dan estetika dan lain-lain.


Bahagian D: Pengagihan Masa/Pemerhatian p & p: (perlu dapatkan

pemerhatian sebenar)

Contoh:

Masa Deskripsi Aktiviti Ringkasan

Bahagian E: Jadual Waktu



OF NATIONAL PRESCHOOL CURRICULUM (CDC Study)






Interview Schedule

Sokongan pentadbir sekolah

1. Adakah pihak pentadbir sekolah memberi sokongan kepada cikgu?

Apakah jenis sokongan? Adakah tuan/puan puas dengan sokongan ini?

2. Pada pandangan anda, apakah jenis sokongan yang sepatutnya diberi oleh

pihak pentadbir sekolah?

Pendekatan p & p

1. Apakah pendekatan yang biasa digunakan oleh cikgu? Terangkan

bagaimana anda melaksanakan pendekatan tersebut?

2. Adakah anda mengajar melalui bermain? Apakah pemahaman anda

terhadap pendekatan/strategi/kaedah ini? Apakah masalah/konstrain yang

dihadapi semasa melaksanakan pendekatan ini?

3. Adakah anda mengajar mengikut tema? Apakah pemahaman anda



4. Adakah anda mengajar secara bersepadu? Apakah pemahaman anda



5. Adakah anda mengendalikan aktiviti secara kumpulan? Apakah

pemahaman anda terhadap pendekatan/strategi/kaedah ini? Apakah

masalah/konstrain yang dihadapi semasa melaksanakan pendekatan ini?

Pemahaman kurikulum

1. Apakah pandangan anda terhadap Kurikulum Prasekolah Kebangsaan?

2. Adakah bahagian yang anda rasa perlu dikeluarkan daripada kurikulum ini?

Adakah anda rasa ada bahagian yang perlu ditambahkan?

3. Adakah KPK terlalu tinggi? Dari segi apa?

4. Dalam banyak-banyak komponen itu, mana yang susah ajar?

5. Adakah anda rasa perlu diadakah kursus refresher?


Participation and implementation of National Preschool Curriculum

by private preschools (Private Preschool Study)

Preschool Teacher Questionnaire

Note: The same instrument is used as interview schedule for the preschool

teachers in the private sector, KEMAS and PERPADUAN

Thank you for taking the time to fill in the form, you are not required to write

your name in this form

Where is your preschool situated? ………………………………………………..

How many students do you have? ………………………………………………..

How many teachers do you have? ……………………………………………….

How many classes do you have? …………………………………………………

What are the general background of your students? …………………………..

………………………………………………………………………………………

Allocation of time:

1. What time does your preschool classes start and what time does it ends each day?

2. How many hours do you teach the English language per week?

3. How many hours do you teach the Malay language per week?

Teaching and Learning Approaches:

4. What approaches/methods/strategies do you adopt in your or your teachers

teaching?

5. Are you familiar with learning through play? Do you/your teacher use this method

in the teaching? If yes, please describe briefly how do you conduct learning

through play?


6. Are you familiar with thematic approach? Do you/your teacher use this method in

the teaching? If yes, please describe briefly how do you conduct learning through

thematic approach?

7. Are you familiar with integrated learning? Do you/your teacher use this method in

the teaching? If yes, please describe briefly how do you conduct integrated

learning?

8. Do you/your teacher uses ICT in the teaching? If yes, please describe briefly how

you use ICT in the teaching?

Understanding of Curriculum

9. Have your or your teachers refer to the National Preschool Curriculum (NPC)?

10. If you haven’t refer to NPC before, why is it so?

11. Do you understand the content in the NPC?

12. How you do use NPC in your teaching?

13. What is your opinion on NPC?

14. Which parts of the NPC do you think is not necessary or need improvement?


Participation and implementation of National Preschool Curriculum

by private preschools (Private Preschool Study)

Preschool Operator/Administrator Questionnaire

Note: The same instrument is used as interview schedule for the preschool

operator/administrator in the private sector, KEMAS and PERPADUAN

Thank you for taking the time to fill in the form, you are not required to write

your name in this form

1. Apakah masalah utama yang dihadapi oleh prasekolah anda?

2. Sudahkan tadika anda didaftarkan? Jika tidak, kenapa?

3. Apakah masalah utama yang menghalang anda mendaftarkan tadika anda?

4. Secara umum, bagaimanakah latar belakang murid anda? Apakah sumber

murid anda?

5. Berapakah yuran yang murid anda perlu bayar?

6. Apakah isu yang sering dikemukakan oleh ibubapa?

7. Do you think NPC is too high or too low for the children to understand?

Please elaborate.

8. Which part of NPC do you find difficulty in teaching?

6. Do you have any other suggestions for us to improve on the NPC or the

implementation of the NPC .


Integration and Coordination in ECCE Study

Questionnaire Instrumen

1. Please relate one experience ( or more) you have encountered in terms

of lack of coordination and integration in the implementation of

ECCE policies. Please state the department/agencies involved.

2. What do you think is a major problem in terms of coordination and

integration of ECCE policies?

3. Please give your suggestions on how we can improve the

implementation of ECCE policies.


Integration and Coordination in ECCE Study

Semi Structured Interview Schedule

1. Please state the policies you are working with/dealing with.

2. Do you think that these policies are effectively implemented?

3. What contradictions/bottlenecks exist in implementation at the different

levels?

4. Do you think there is integration between these policies?

5. Do you think there is a problem of vertical coordination between the

different departments within your own organisation?

6. Do you think there is a problem of horizontal coordination between the

different departments/agencies you are working with?

7. Please relate one experience ( or more) you have encountered(if there is

any) in terms of lack of coordination and integration in the implementation

of ECCE policies.

8. What do you think is a major problem in terms of coordination and

integration of ECCE policies?

9. Please give your suggestions on how we can improve the implementation

of ECCE policies./What do you think are the feasible and effective ways

of mustering inter-sectoral or inter Ministerial coordination?


FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONS (ECCE 2)

A workshop was conducted from April, 2008 in Awana, Genting Highland, Malaysia

for the purpose of ECCE Policy Review. Four Focus Group Discussions (A,B,C,D)

were conducted concurrently during the workshop. On the final day of the workshop

every groups convene for a whole group discussion.

The following information sheet were given to each Focus Group.

INFORMATION SHEETS FOR FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION

OBJECTIVES OF THIS WORKSHOP:

1. To be aware of the different policies and programs for ECCE.

2. To be aware of the targets set by the country concerning ECCE.

3. To discuss on how well the existing ECCE policies have been

implemented.

4. To examine if the targets set have been achieved, if not, how big is the

gap and what causes the gap.

5. To brain storm on what are the gaps and the weakness of the current

status of ECCE policies implementation in Malaysia

6. To discuss on the kind of data that can be added in to this study and

how the participants of this meeting can assist in gathering those

information/data.

TASK:

Each group is given a file with information of the relevant ECCE polices related to

the specific issues assigned to each group. Examine these policies. Discuss about

how well these policies have been achieved. Discuss about the gap between the

aspired and the implemented. Look at the EFA-Goal 1 MDA Report to read about

information and data obtained thus far about the issues assigned to the group. Discuss

on what kind of data you think is necessary for us to gather in order that we know

how well the country have implemented the ECCE policies, suggest how you can help

to gather those information.

Elect a leader to facilitate discussion. Elect one or two persons to jot down/write

down the discussion. Use the flip chart, write down your discussion there. Type out

the discussion into the computer.

Use the questions provided to each group as a guide for discussion.


Group Areas of Concern

Group Members

(Representatives from...)

A PARITICIPATION OF THE PRIVATE

SECTORS

- Accessibility to ECCE

- Implementation of National Preschool

Curriculum

- Implementation of ECCE program:

Tadika, Taska

- Private School Division

- PTM

- NACCEEM

- PPBM

- Islamic Kindergarten

Association

- MAPECE

Brief writeup on the following policies documents were provided:

1. Convention on the rights of the child (CRC)

2. Child Act 2001 (Act 611)

3. Childcare Centers Act 1984 and Childcare Centers Act (Amendment) 2007

(Act 308)

4. The Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Policy 2007

5. Education Act 1996 (Act 550)

6. Private kindergarten regulations

QUESTIONS TO BE PONDERED UPON (some examples):

1. How well have the private sectors been able to contribute towards the

fulfillment and implementation of the above ECCE policies?

2. Information collected showed that many private kindergarten and taska are not

registered. What are the issues faced by the private sectors that causes them

not to register their kindergarten/taska?

3. Why aren’t some of the private tadika implement the National Preschool

Curriculum? What are the problems faced?

4. In your opinion have the private taska and tadika generally providing quality

care and education? What are the problems faced?


Group Members


B EQUITY IN ACCESSIBILITY – ECCE for the

indigenous children

- SUHAKAM

- Special Education

Department

- MWFCD

- KEMAS

- JHEOA

EQUITY IN ACCESSIBILITY – ECCE for the

special children




3. National Policy on Indigenous Child

4. National Policy on Disabled Child

5. Education Act 1996(Regulation of Special Education 1997)

6. National Child Protection Policy


QUESTIONS TO BE PONDERED UPON(some examples):

1. How well are we able to provide ECCE for indigenous children? What are

the problems faced?

2. How well are we able to ensure equity of accessibility to ECCE for the

special children?

3. What are the problems faced in ensuring equity of ECCE to the special

children?


Group Members


C QUALITY OF ECCE PROGRAM –

Implementation of National Preschool

Curriculum in public preschools

- CDC

- KEMAS

- PERPADUAN

- JNS





4. Education Act 1996 (Act 550)

5. The National Education Policy

6. The 9th Malaysia Plan – Education Development Master Plan (Pelan Induk


7. The National Action Plan of Children


Task:

1. Examine the report presented by EPRD and JNS.

2. CDC officer please provide some preliminary finding on CDC study.

3. KEMAS and PERPADUAN please provide some input on issues related to

implementation of NPC.

4. Consolidate all the findings/information above and answer the questions

below.

Questions:

o How well have we implemented the National Preschool Curriculum in public

preschools: MOE, KEMAS, PERPADUAN?

o What are the problems faced in implementing the NPC?



Group Members

(Representatives

from...)

D QUALITY OF ECCE PROGRAM – Physical

facilities and materials

- CDC

- EPRD

- School Division

- Teacher Training

Division

- Ministry of Health

- University

QUALITY OF ECCE PROGRAM – Teachers/

Helpers

QUALITY OF ECCE PROGRAM – The

Health aspect



2. The National Education Policy

3. The 9th Malaysia Plan – Education Development Master Plan (Pelan Induk


4. Healthcare policy

5. Child Health Services Policies

6. National Nutrition Policy

7. Safe Water and Sanitation Policy


Physical facilities and Teachers/helpers

Task:

1. Examine the report presented by EPRD and Jemaah Nazir

2. CDC officer please provide some preliminary finding on CDC’s study.

3. KEMAS and PERPADUAN please provide some input on issues related to

provision of facilities in the tadika/tabika/taska.

4. Consolidate all the findings/information above and answer the questions

below.

5. There are many gaps in terms of data/information for this issue, discuss on

how to assist us in obtaining relevant data for this issue.

Questions:

1. How well are the public preschools (MOE, KEMAS, PERPADUAN)

equipped?

2. What are the problems faced in equipping the public preschools?

3. How well trained are our teachers and helpers(MOE, KEMAS,

PERPADUAN)?

4. What are the problems faced in ensuring the teachers and helpers are trained?

5. How can the participants of this workshop assist us in gathering the

information needed to examine how well we have implemented the policy in

providing quality facilities and services to the ECCE fraternity?


Healthcare:

Questions:

1. Are the information provided in the EFA-Goal 1 MDA report on ECCE

healthcare sufficient?

2. Are there any research finding on ECCE healthcare, how can we obtained

findings of these research?

3. How well are we able to provide quality healthcare to the children?

4. Have we achieve the targets set by country concerning ECCE healthcare?

Documents

Goal 1 Early Childhood Care and Education · group 46 8.1 Children with disabilities 46 8.2 Indigenous children 47 ... more possibilities to support young children (age 0-6), and