Preschools and Kindergartens

Preschools and Kindergartens

A Guide to English Speaking Preschool and Kindergartens in the
Greater Jakarta Area
By Tono Setiadarma and Joel Thomas Laing
Jakarta Books, 2003
319pp

The writers of this book claim it is the answer for young
parents in picking the right school for their children amid the
increasing number of preschools and kindergartens in Greater
Jakarta.

Young parents most likely have knocked on every school door,
pounded the pavement and asked critical questions of teachers,
administrators, principals and other parents as well.

More parents have come to understanding that education in a
child's early years is important for further development in a
child's growth.

Choosing the right preschool or kindergarten is definitely a
hard decision for parents to make, particularly since a child's
personality starts to develop early, while attitude, ideas and
interests begin to emerge.

Good preschools and kindergartens help children reach their
full potential. It is the parents' obligation to provide the best
education that will help a child to achieve its peak.

The headaches, of course, range from uncertainty about
tuition, distance from home and various theories of how children
should be educated.

So what qualities in a preschool or a kindergarten should be
sought?

More informative than the yellow pages, this Guide to English-
speaking Preschools and Kindergartens supplies readers with more
than just the schools' contact numbers and addresses. At least 27
preschools and kindergartens are thoroughly reviewed and
commented on in this book.

Principals, students (one could imagine how cute some children
would be when asked to comment on their schools!) and parents are
also interviewed.

The Guide places English-speaking schools for preschoolers and
kindergartners in Jakarta into three categories: International
schools, national-plus schools and independent schools that
either originated in Jakarta or are franchises from other
countries.

More? There are also reviews on nonacademic programs intended
for toddlers, preschoolers and kindergartners, as well as an
extracurricular program intended to supplement a child's
education while in school.

Though not all preschools and kindergartens in Jakarta are
included in this book, it could serve as a guideline for parents.

According to both writers the main reason they wrote the book
was to help children who don't speak English as a first language
make the most of life's discoveries in their second language.

-- Emmy Fitri