Government should step in to standardize preschool programs

Ratna Eliyawati, Contributor, Surabaya

The past decade or so has seen a rapid growth of playgroups in Indonesia's major cities. Modern domestic playgroups in the country were pioneered by Taman Indria -- founded by Bu Kasur -- and was later followed by the next generation of child educators, the twin psychologists, Kak Seto and Kak Seno.

The huge number of playgroups -- the fully foreign institutions, franchisees, joint ventures as well as purely domestic ones -- have been spurred by the growing number of working parents who choose to have these child education specialists tend to the early development of their children.

Being highly educated, this upper-middle and upper-class of society is obviously very much aware of the need to educate their children as early as possible. However, their awareness tends to be obsessive and sometimes without a deep comprehension of the child's psychological condition, they just get into the race of enrolling their children with high expectations that theirs would turn into the most superior child.

Some educators have put forward various reasons for the need of early education to increase a child's potential, though some others argue that such an early development should not be burdened with unnecessary curriculum or with teaching materials that are irrelevant at this stage of development. This type of controversy will always be there, while notwithstanding, early education centers keep mushrooming along with the increasing demand of this particular market segment.

The early education centers are divided into several age groups. The infant group -- babies up to about one-year olds -- is not too popular in Indonesia, while the toddler category -- from one-year olds to about three-year-old children -- is hugely popular. The preschoolers -- older but slightly overlapping in age group -- are normally divided into two sub age-groups: The first is between two and four-years old catered by playgroups and the second between four and six-years old attend kindergartens. Both these enjoy the highest popularity in the country's largest cities, such as Jakarta, Surabaya and Medan.

From the viewpoints of a businessman or someone having the spirit of an entrepreneur, establishing a preschool may seem like a routine business, as the investment is quite large to cover the costs of site rental, equipment, books, toys and other related facilities like a mini zoo plus the high salaries of teachers etc. However, the first and foremost objective in establishing such education centers should be the purpose and the relevant quality of the education.

Some of the important prerequisites of a good preschool are: an appropriate location with roomy classrooms, a proven curriculum that matches each development stage of a child, professional teachers as well as the required facilities and infrastructure. Studies indicated that preschools are beneficial in increasing a child's early readiness for further studies, instilling self-discipline, reducing possibilities of failing exams (due to early monitoring by teachers of a child's capabilities) and improving academic achievements.

The early education also gives positive long-term benefits to a child for the rest of his life, as it stimulates the child's brain for maximum intellectual capacity as well his personality and social behavior.

In view of these important benefits produced by early education, the government should be more involved and step in to standardize the development of preschools, especially in the following areas: technical assistance to upgrade teachers' quality; standardization of equipment, facilities and infrastructure; supervision to increase the quality of education as well as evaluation and monitoring of program implementation.

If the government is integrally involved in the development of these early education centers, there is a great probability that parents would gain more benefits from the standardized education programs, the proportional costs and more definite end results. ( The writer is a lecturer at the School of Psychology, the Tujuh Belas Agustus University, Surabaya)