KUALA LUMPUR – Thirteen-year-old Brandon Lim plays truant several times a month as he simply does not enjoy going to school. He finds it hard to follow the lessons in class and is often unable to complete homework assignments that he can barely understand.
The teenager has become a worrying statistic in a World Bank report titled Bending Bamboos: Strengthening Foundational Skills, released on April 25, which found that 24 per cent of Malaysian children who begin primary school at the age of seven lack school-readiness skills – meaning they did not attend pre-school, which contributed to their weak reading and comprehension skills.
The report stated that about one in 10 children between the ages of four and six lacks access to pre-school education in the country.
The issue is compounded after spending a few more years in school. According to the report, 42 per cent of Malaysian students failed to achieve reading proficiency by the end of Standard 5, or the age of 11. The problem is more acute among children from lower-income families, with 61 per cent falling below reading proficiency levels by that time.
Thus, the World Bank recommended that Malaysia boost its early childhood learning programme, while acknowledging that the country has made “noteworthy” progress in expanding its pre-school education.
The government should consider implementing at least one year of free, compulsory pre-school education for Malaysian children and ensure there are sufficient teachers trained in early childhood education, it said.
“Conducting mapping exercises to identify enrolment gaps, and providing financial aid to parents and operators... Improvements in teacher qualifications, teacher professional development, quality assurance systems and curriculum delivery are fundamental.
“Effective governance, financing and stakeholder cooperation will be essential for implementing these measures and achieving pre-school education goals,” the report noted.
The World Bank’s recommendation that Malaysia improve access to pre-school education is on point. The early learning stages are crucial as the country strives to become a high-income economy, say educators and an activist for children’s rights.
There are around 2.35 million Malaysian children under the age of five as at November 2023, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia.
However, not every parent has the inclination or means to send their child to pre-school, or the time required to help develop their reading skills at a young age.
Brandon’s father, Mr Peter Lim, told The Straits Times: “We never thought of sending our children to pre-school. When they were younger, we paid our neighbour to look after them. His teacher said he doesn’t seem to understand his subjects that well.”
Mr Lim, 45, is a vegetable trader at Kepong Baru Wet Market in Kuala Lumpur. He works on most days, manning his stall from dawn to lunchtime, before heading to his second job delivering food until 8pm.
His wife Tan Xiao Jin, 45, a secretary, works similarly long hours in the country’s capital city, leaving their son and a daughter, 16, to their own devices throughout the day.
Not every child has the chance to attend pre-school, and some of them do not even have time for their studies in primary and secondary school later on. They have to help their families earn a living and this comes at a cost to their learning development, said a teacher based in the north-eastern Kelantan state.
“One of my students is the son of a nasi lemak stall owner. He would get up at 4am to help his mother prepare the dishes and by the time he reaches school, he can no longer focus on his lessons,” said the teacher, who declined to be named as she is not permitted to speak to the media.
She added that the 11-year-old child, who has two younger siblings, would nod off in class due to exhaustion. His father died a few years ago, leaving his mother as the sole breadwinner of the family.
In another report, in June 2023, titled Shaping First Steps: A Comprehensive Review Of Pre-school Education In Malaysia, the World Bank said there were more than 16,700 government-established pre-schools and more than 9,100 registered privately operated pre-schools in the country.
However, this number is not nearly enough to meet the country’s needs, said Datuk Dr Hartini Zainudin, a children’s rights activist and co-founder of the Yayasan Chow Kit crisis centre for at-risk children.
She estimated that around 25 per cent of Malaysia’s privately run nurseries and kindergartens had shuttered in 2020-2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic and never reopened for business.
Dr Hartini said that prior to these closures, Malaysia was already short of pre-school education facilities as there really is a need for a kindergarten and nursery in every neighbourhood.
When it comes to early childhood education, she cited Singapore as a positive example of how early childhood learning is structured and managed.
“In Singapore, the Early Childhood Development Agency oversees the quality of pre-school education, providing subsidies and support to ensure affordability and access across different socioeconomic groups.
“For best practice (in Malaysia), we should implement a tiered subsidy system that makes early childhood education affordable for all income groups, combined with quality assurance frameworks to maintain high educational standards,” she said.
Meanwhile, Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek told reporters on May 2 that the government is in the midst of implementing various initiatives to reform the national education system. This includes restructuring the pre-school system and addressing loss of learning through curriculum intervention.
“The sessions addressed several questions, concerns and community anxieties about what should be taught, and our educational focus. This curriculum will be fully implemented in 2027, but pre-school will begin earlier, in 2026.
“Currently, our team is undertaking various interventions, engagement sessions, and also beginning to prepare teachers for these new curriculum frameworks,” said Ms Fadhlina.
