Play groups cater to the needs of urban parents

Play groups cater to the needs of urban parents T. Sima Gunawan, Contributor, Jakarta

Ivan is only three years old, but his mother is already busy looking for a good "school" for him.

After visiting several places, Mira, the mother, finally decided to send the toddler to the Anisa play group located not far from her house in Bintaro, Tangerang. But the play group can only accommodate 50 "students", while the number of candidates reached about 90.

Consequently, the children had to take a test to demonstrate, among other things, their creativity and independence.

"I am happy that my son did well on the test. When he was given Legos, he built some cars and weapons. And he did not cry when I left him in the room," Mira said last week.

It is likely that a smart boy like Ivan will not have any problems following the "lessons" in kindergarten or elementary school. So why should he go to a play group?

"This is for adaptation," his mother said, adding that the play group would help her son sharpen his use of logic, not teach him subjects like math, reading and writing.

"Besides, if he doesn't join play group he will not be able to go to kindergarten at the same place due to the limited number of seats."

Surya, a father of two, said the reason he sent his eldest son, Dino, to a Montessori preschool over a year ago was to allow him to socialize with a new environment and to prepare him for his future education, particularly in entering kindergarten and elementary school.

"This is to face future challenges, preparation to go to elementary school. As you know, the lessons at elementary school are quite 'scary,'" he said, referring to various subjects at elementary schools that are so burdensome to students that they have drawn criticism from some experts and parents.

He said a good play group offered a lot of benefits to children. As for Dino, his father is proud that the little boy can speak a little English thanks to the bilingual teaching method used at the school.

His son is now in his first year of kindergarten and will soon enter the second year, before he can go on to elementary school.

Most private elementary schools require would-be students to go to kindergarten first, but it is up to the parents whether to send their children to a play group.

But like Mira and Surya, there are many other parents who believe it is necessary for children to attend preschool. Some even send their children to a playgroup when they are only two years old. After going to preschool for two years, the children will go to kindergarten for another two years before starting elementary school.

Preschools have indeed become quite popular in Greater Jakarta and other large cities over the past decade or two. Some of the preschools affiliated with international institutes implement a bilingual system. Classes are usually held three times a week and each lasts for about two hours. As the name indicates, children are expected to play together in a group and at the same time develop their creativity and learn new things in a fun way.

However, an expert on children's education, Prudentia, has a different idea about preschools, saying they could go against the principles of child development.

"The idea of a play group is playing. Unfortunately, the children play in a forced condition. They have to come and leave at a certain time, while in reality they should be more free," said Prudentia, who is also an independent researcher and a board member of the Private Education Institute. "Children should play in their own world."

If children are required to follow too many regulations at an early age, she warned, it could cause depression when they get older.

But don't put all of the blame on the parents, as increased competition at all levels of education has prompted many panicked parents to enroll their children in school at as an early age as possible. In the past, the only competition was to secure seats at the top universities. Now students must worry about not only getting a seat at the high school of their choice, but even at elementary schools.

"This is about the market, about industrialization," Prudentia said. This might explain why preschools are popular only in big cities, the centers of economic growth.

And in order to send their children to a play group, parents must be able to spend a sizable about of money. Parents can expect to pay several million rupiah for the registration fee and several hundred thousand rupiah as a monthly fee. Mira, for example, paid Rp 3.5 million (about US$385) to register her son at the play group, in addition to the Rp 300,000 monthly fee.