Refreshing the Fundamentals

I'm not sure if anyone of you have heard of the newly-minted Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA), but I have. A couple of days ago, while scouring the internet for some information on training frameworks, I happened to stumble upon the new agency, launched apparently to wield the spectrum of early childhood education and development matters. Indeed, I must say that this is a laudable attempt to integrate childhood learning principles and outcomes with the more social aspect of provision of childcare services.

Early childhood education landscape and the childcare scene had recently hoarded the limelight at the "Our Singapore" conversation. Concerned parents fervently shared and prayed that their two cents worth would be somehow heeded by the authorities. As part of the panel, I too, would like to weigh in on this issue.

Personally, I thought that we should probably start to reflect upon our own expectations for our children and cut the government some slack. Yes, things may not be all together rosy yet, but at least the authorities came out to address the issues plaguing the childhood education system upfront where they could have swept all the dust under the carpet. I think we must admit that the policy view point, it is no mean feat to unfix the damages done and to mitigate the situation right away. I thought at least the authorities have the fortitude to pick up the pieces and run with them from now on.

The refreshed Kindergarten Curriculum Framework (KCF) is another notable attempt by the authorities to delineate and promulgate the desired outcomes of learning for the pre-schoolers, coupled with key support structures and learning environments to support their holistic growth and development. I'm especially thankful for the parents guide that was published to inform us of the guidelines. My only qualm is that while the concept of the frame was well-conceived, I'm not exactly certain how this piece of document could be operationalised. Nothwithstanding, I'm sure this has put us on the right footing to a certain extent.

Another point to highlight, I must consider myself fortunate as I'm literate and I'm in the business of training and education and hence, I can better appreciate the policy nuances surrounding this entire issue. Think about others who may not really understand the impact of providing quality learning environment and education to their children at a young age, they would never be informed of the promulgated framework. They might not even know the existence of the ECDA! I thought that the authorities should reach out to this segment to educate them via other means than expecting parents to access the information by downloading the parents' guide on MOE's website. I suspect some parents may not be well-informed of the changes. Go on, reach out to them so that we deprive no child.

Above are purely my personal opinions. Please feel free to share yours too if you happened to stumble in!