KUCHING: Sarawak has an ambitious target to increase the enrollment of children in early education to 99 per cent by the end of this year.
Sarawak Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah, according to a report by TVS, reported a significant milestone with 98.71 per cent of children in Sarawak receiving preschool education from kindergartens and childcare centres in 2023.
"So, this achievement (98.71 per cent) is something we are very grateful for because, when compared to the national achievement in terms of access, it is only 88.81 per cent," she said.
The announcement came following the first 2024 meeting of the Sarawak Early Childhood Development Council (MPAKS), which was chaired by Fatimah and also attended by Deputy Minister Rosey Yunus.
Fatimah expressed confidence in MPAKS's role in ensuring all children in Sarawak have access to early education.
"We will establish a special committee to examine this access issue, where we want to know what the reasons are (for lack of access) and in which areas still need access to early childhood education.
Therefore, the matter will be discussed in a small committee that will look at the distribution of childcare centres and kindergartens in Sarawak, where areas that are still lacking, for example, so that we can increase the percentage of children receiving early education," she added.