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.

What is the importance of preschool for children?

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.

What is the current state of preschools in the country?

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.

Is there a special budget for preschool development?

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.

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

Do you think the Kindergarten for All program works?

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.