Learning process starts in early childhood

Learning process starts in early childhood

Only a few of Indonesia's children experience the fun of early
learning activities at kindergarten. Recent data from the
Ministry of National Education reveals that only 2.13 million of
the 12.23 million children aged between four and six years attend
preschool.

The low attendance of children in preschool is partly due to
the fact that many people are unaware of the importance of
kindergarten.

"The learning process is very important and it should be
started in early childhood, such as through fun and games in
kindergarten," Director General of Basic and Middle Level
Education of the Ministry of National Education Indra Djati Sidi
said in a recent interview with The Jakarta Post contributor
Christiani Tumelap.

Following is an excerpt from the interview.

Question: What is the importance of preschool for children?

Answer: Empirical data shows that children all over the world who have
attended preschool perform far better in higher education than
children who did not attend preschool. The children's higher
performance is clearly seen in their initiative, motivation to
study, ability to absorb lectures and in the way they interact
with people.

Q: What is the current state of preschools in the country?

A: The situation with preschools in Indonesia is not as good as
that in neighboring countries. Only 12 percent or 13 percent of
children aged between four and six years old attend kindergarten.
This is partly due to the fact that many people do not consider
preschool important and to the lack of kindergartens in small
cities and remote areas, where most of the country's population
live.

The lack of kindergartens is partly a result of the way people
approached preschool development in the past. In the past, if we
wanted to establish a kindergarten, we thought we first had to
build the facility, provide books and proper teachers. Then, when
we calculated the budget to build the place and so on, we found
the plan to be very expensive, so most of the time we just
dropped the idea. However, establishing a preschool program is
actually uncomplicated and easy, because the basic principle of
preschool is simple: playing.

Children's lives revolve mainly around games, singing and
having fun with friends. So, if a volunteer in a village gathers
together 50 children and supervises them while they play games,
sing and have fun together for one or two hours a day, this
person is in practice playing the role of a kindergarten teacher.

Once in a while the children can be introduced to simple facts
about things around them, such as colors, shapes, animals,
fruits, rivers and some life skills like keeping themselves tidy,
brushing their teeth regularly, how to bathe themselves, how to
interact with others and so on. So, the essence of a preschool is
not the building, hardware or formal institution, but the
activities. And it can be carried out just by anybody, any
volunteer. Therefore, a kindergarten should be very cheap.

Q: Is there a special budget for preschool development?

A: Yes, but it's inadequate. I don't remember the exact amount
allocated for preschools. But we can tell from the total
allocation made for education, which is roughly just 5 percent of
the state budget. While other countries allocate between 15
percent to 20 percent of their state budget for education.

Q: In late 1999, the government introduced a program called
Kindergarten for All. Can you explain it?

A: It's part of an effort to open more opportunities for children
across the country to get preschool education. We went to
villages and asked people to create kindergartens without having
to worry too much about the infrastructure.

Communities are encouraged to utilize spaces in existing
properties like the community hall, mosques or other possible
premises as a place where the children can meet and play
together. We collaborate with the Indonesian Association of
Kindergarten Teachers and the Indonesian Kindergartens'
Association in giving sufficient training for those who are
interested in taking care of the children during class. About 95
percent of the recently established kindergartens are managed by
the private sector. That's quite a huge participation from the
communities.

Q: Do you think the Kindergarten for All program works?

A: Yes. At least there's an increase in the number of children
attending preschool. When the program was first announced, the
number of children attending kindergarten was just about 8
percent of the total number of preschool aged children.

But it's growing to reach around 13 percent or 14 percent at
present. We hope the program will help led to the establishment
of more kindergartens and an increase in the number of children
attending preschool. It would be good if we could maintain an
annual growth rate of 4 percent. If we could do that and
eliminate that old infrastructure-first-oriented approach, we
could catch up with our neighbors faster.

Q: What do you think about the day care centers and play groups
mushrooming in big cities?

A: I think it's good for children to go to day care or play
group, which are quite similar to kindergarten except for their
programs that are adjusted to suit the nature of three to four
year olds. The main principle of kindergarten or day care is the
same: there should not be any direct teaching of the children.
The children may be introduced to, for example, colors or names
of things around them, but they should not be taught about the
concept of spelling or mathematics. Children can only be
introduced to such concepts through simple, fun games.

Some people want their children to start learning about how to
read, write and count in kindergarten so that they can fulfill
the requirements set by a number of popular primary schools.

In Indonesia, children who want to attend primary school are
not required to be able to read and write. Many kindergartens are
introducing words and numbers to children, not through direct
teaching but through games. Young children should not be thought
how to write, read or count. However, since children can learn
quite fast, they can understand and differentiate between things
by looking at signs or pictures. I have a five-year-old child who
can already read. The teacher did not teach the child how to
read, but the child learned it from daily activities and games
played with friends. Children should not be forced to study.

Q: Many preschools use English in class. Don't you think it's too
hard for children to learn a foreign language in early childhood?

A: But (learning) English is good. There's no negative impact
from introducing English to children in preschool because it's
done through games. At preschools that adopt international
standards, children are not made to think about English, they're
not being made to think about to be, you-are, I-am. The teachers
use English so that the children become familiar with it.

Children can absorb a language that is frequently introduced
during games and other activities with friends quite easily.
That's fine, I think. In the 21st century, with globalization, we
expect Indonesian children to speak two languages. UNESCO, in an
earlier meeting, recommended that people would be better off
mastering three languages: their mother tongue, English and
another language, Spanish, Deutsch, Chinese, or Japanese.

Q: There are suggestions that the government's regulation of nine
years of compulsory education should be expanded by including
preschool. Do agree with this?

A: If we made preschool compulsory for every child, like primary,
secondary and high school, problems would be encountered. First,
we would have to provide the infrastructure, which we can't at
the moment. Second, it would eliminate the opportunity for
communities to participate, such activities that they have
carried out very well. We would be better off keeping the
campaign to encourage society to develop day care centers or play
groups independently by utilizing existing space. That way, our
preschools will be more sustainable.