AN EXPERT group studying ways to improve standards and quality in the pre-school education sector has come up with a novel idea:

The Government should work towards lowering the compulsory age for schooling from the current seven years to five years old in the long run.

The group, comprising educators, parents and pre-school education operators, hopes this will lead to the Ministry of Education (MOE) making pre-school education part and parcel of the national education system.

By nationalising pre-school education, they believe the operators and teachers can benefit from the expertise and support that MOE now gives to primary and secondary schools, said Mr Lee Kwok Cheong, chairman of the group, which has been set up by the Government's feedback unit Reach to study ways to improve pre-school education in Singapore.

Such a move will also start the young on an equal footing by ensuring they benefit from quality pre-school education, he added.

The group's recommendations were presented yesterday by Mr Lee, who is chief executive of the Singapore Institute of Management.

The eight-member group, set up in 2007, also made four other proposals:

• Appoint MOE as the sole agency in charge of pre-school education, a sector now shared with the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports.
• Have MOE regulate and raise the qualifications and salaries of pre-school teachers and administrators in order to attract and retain talent in the sector.
• Have MOE provide more grants and subsidies for pre-school education to make it affordable to all families, and to encourage bigger pre-school operators to share curriculum resources with smaller operators.
• Have MOE fund new pre-schools set up specially for children from low-income families.

Mr Lee later told reporters that the group is calling for the MOE to play a more active role because it sees a need to raise the quality of operators and educators in the pre-school education sector.

At present, quality varies among the 500 kindergartens and 700-plus childcare centres, said Mr Lee, while noting recent government measures to boost the sector.

One reason for the differing quality is the wide variety of operators, which range from companies, religious groups and community-based bodies like the People's Action Party Community Foundation, said Mr Lee.

'We agree it's good to have diversity, but we need to make sure that there is a minimum standard for all pre-school centres and educators.

'Right now, the standard is not clear and probably not enforced.'

Also, he believes that pre-school education cannot be left to market forces.

'Market forces only work if consumers have a choice not to consume the services. So, if you can't afford it, you don't take it.

'But education is not something that should be denied to any family because they cannot afford it,' he said.

MP Josephine Teo, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Education, told The Straits Times the MOE will likely consider other measures before thinking of lowering the compulsory schooling age through legislation.

She said she also supports appointing MOE as the lead agency over the sector because it will help raise standards, professionalism and the image of pre-school educators.

KOR KIAN BENG

This article was first published in The Straits Times.