PUTRAJAYA, Jan 14 — About 11,000 Community Development Department (Kemas) preschool (Tabika) teachers will be upgraded from diploma graduates to bachelor’s degrees, said Rural Development Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid.

He said the upgrading, which would boost Kemas preschool education, would be done in stages and coordinated by the Ministry of Rural Development (KPLB) in terms of finance and staffing.

"Currently, the syllabus of Kemas preschools and the Ministry of Education are the same, there are Kemas teachers who only have a diploma. Therefore, we want to increase the qualification of teaching staff from diploma to degree.

"We will not fire the existing teachers...they can take a bachelor’s degree,” he told a press conference after delivering his New Year mandate here today.

On November 5, Mahdzir said new posts for educators under Kemas in future will need to have a Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education. — Bernama