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Parents want preschool education covered by govt: survey - Yahoo! News Singapore

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Parents want preschool education covered by govt: survey
By Melissa Law | Yahoo! Newsroom Wed, Aug 15, 2012

Kindergarten classes should be made part of Singapores public school education system. That was the opinion of 72 per cent of 1,395 parents who responded to an online survey conducted by the Lien Foundation on Singapores preschool education in the second half of July this year. This finding correlates with a question parents frequently ask me: Why is preschool education not like primary school education? Isnt it something that the government provides too? said Geraldine Teo-Zuzarte, Deputy Head (Academic) of SEED Institute and Centre Director of The Caterpillars Cove. When asked what they thought could be done to improve preschools in Singapore, most of the respondents felt that the government should firstly, increase subsidies to help parents, secondly, raise the qualifications, pay and status of preschool teachers and, lastly, regulate school fees. Done as a follow-up to the Foundations two other studies on preschool education in Singapore called Starting Well and Vital Voices for Vital Years, the online survey noted a general dissatisfaction among parents with the preschool education sector. The voices of parents are vital to any review of preschool education, said Lee Poh Wah, Chief Executive Officer of Lien Foundation. Not only are they the childrens first and foremost teachers, their values and expectations influence the choice of their childrens preschools and shape the face of preschools to come. Any wished-for improvements in preschool education is likely to draw a better chance of success with the support of parents, he said. A major concern for the respondents was the varying standards and fees among the preschools. One respondent said, The differences in quality among the preschools are too huge now. A parent who wants to send the child to a quality preschool has to fork out a lot of money to do so, and even then, this is subject to the availability of spaces. Another respondent also echoed the same sentiment, There is so much variation in terms of physical environment, curriculum and teachers qualifications or capabilities from preschool to preschool. An alarming rate of 88 per cent also feel that the fees are costly or very costly, with some respondents explaining that the costs are so high that they are put off from having more children. This perception of costly fees arises despite the fact that the average fees paid by the respondents is lower than the average fees paid in Singapore. Respondents also expressed concern that the lack of uniformity among preschools would lead to some children being more prepared then others for primary school. To address this, one respondent suggested greater alignment and cooperation between preschools and primary schools or the Ministry of Education. The respondent said, The entire education system should be aligned and seamless, so as to prevent differing degrees of "preparedness" of kindergarten children for the next stage of education.
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Parents want preschool education covered by govt: survey - Yahoo! News Singapore

While the survey outlines the need for more government involvement and attention, Teo-Zuzarte, however, was quick to emphasise that nationalising preschool education might not be the best solution. While some think that preschool education should be viewed as a public good, this does not necessarily mean that it should come under one entity, she said. Many Nordic countries mentioned in the Starting Well benchmarking report have preschools both in public and private sectors and are considered among the top quality providers of preschool education.

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