Choosing a kindergarten in Malaysia — Ronan O'Carroll

NOV 5 — Growing up in Ireland, there wasn’t any choice in which kindergarten I went to. I attended the local (government) kindergarten which was part of the local (government) primary school.

All the other kids from my neighbourhood attended the same kindergarten and primary school. With only one option, my parents didn’t have a decision to make.

In Malaysia, the situation is totally different and that brings some great advantages. Getting to choose your child’s kindergarten allows parents much more input into their child’s education. However, it also leaves parents with a difficult decision to make.

How do you know which one to choose when you aren’t sure how to evaluate the kindergartens?

One factor which should heavily influence your decision is the language of the primary school you want your child to attend. If you want your child to attend a Chinese medium primary school, your child should attend a Chinese medium kindergarten. The same is true for Malay, Tamil or English.

In Malaysia, we have Malay kids in Chinese schools, Chinese kids in English schools, Indian kids in Chinese schools and any other combination of races and languages. If your child is going to attend a primary school which uses your child’s second language, your priority should be to strengthen that second language as much as you can before they start primary school. Once they have started primary school, they are going to be snowed under with all of their school subjects. If they don’t have a solid grasp of the language they need, they are on the back foot from day one.

Language is a crucial factor in Malaysia. It’s best to prioritise one language in your child’s education. They will need to master the language they are being educated in at a very young age.

If a kindergarten you are considering is bilingual or trilingual, make sure that the teachers have the language skills to teach two or three languages. Find out how they apportion time for each of the languages. Are they going to be teaching crucial subjects in the language your child needs?

Once you’ve decided on a language to focus on, you’ve already narrowed the field significantly.

The next factor to consider is your budget. Think about your budget carefully. How much are you comfortable spending on your child’s kindergarten education?

Obviously, the more you spend, the more you can expect from the kindergarten but there is no point in breaking the bank for two or three years of early education and then having to cut back on all further education. Find the level you can comfortably afford and then plan accordingly.

If you can afford RM2,000 per month, you can expect the highest international standards for your children. If you aren’t in the 0.01 per cent who can afford RM2,000 per month, you will have to prioritise the factors which are important to you.

Some of those factors are:

Teachers: In my opinion, the second most important factor in a child’s education is their teachers. The ideal is a teacher with a degree in early childhood education or similar and lots of experience in teaching young children. If you are paying RM100 per month, you probably aren’t going to get that. Talk to your child’s potential teacher. Find out about their qualifications and experience. It’s important.

Kindergarten facilities: Is it important to you that the kindergarten has a music room, gym, art room, etc? If you want your child exposed to a lot of extra-curricular activities, you will have to enrol them in a bigger kindergarten. The downside to enrolling your child in a bigger kindergarten is lack of personal attention for each child.

Student/teacher ratio: One factor which teachers will always stress is the number of children in the class. Obviously, the fewer students in the class, the better the teacher can get to know the children and the more time the teacher can spend with each student. The optimum student/teacher ratio is around 1/10 for pre-school children.

The curriculum: We’ve covered the language factor earlier. Now we need to think about the kindergarten’s teaching philosophy. There are a wide variety of methodologies out there for teaching kindergarten children and each has its pros and cons. Find out about the kindergartens which you are considering and their methodologies. You can probably find something about it on their website. You can then find out more about the pros and cons of that methodology on the internet and make an informed decision about which one is suitable for your child.

Location: The important factor here isn’t how exclusive the neighbourhood is but how far the kindergarten is from your house. How long is it going to take to drive there from your house? Will your child have to wake up at 5:30am to get to kindergarten on time and if so, how will that affect their educational performance? The best kindergarten in your budget might be in Cheras but if you live in Klang, the benefits of that kindergarten will probably be lost on your child’s sleepy mind.

Cleanliness: This is a factor which you shouldn’t have to compromise on regardless of your budget. All kindergartens should provide a safe, clean environment. If the environment is not clean, find another kindergarten which is.

Other factors: Other factors you might want to consider are things like security and food provided. Obviously, security is an important factor in Malaysia so make a mental note of the security measures in place when you visit any potential kindergarten. The food provided should be healthy and nutritious. If your children don’t have access to a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables at home, one way to compensate for that is ensuring that they are provided at your child’s kindergarten.

Remember that there may not be a perfect kindergarten available within your budget. If that’s the case, don’t worry, 99.9 per cent of other parents are in the same boat and by making an educated decision on your child’s kindergarten, you have already given your child a huge advantage.

* Ronan O’Carroll is a parent of two kindergarten-age children and the director of Emphasis English Academy. Learn more about Emphasis English Academy by visiting their website http://www.emphasis.edu.my or calling 03-2106 1404.

** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.