Page 20 - MENDAKI Annual Report 2019

BUILDING A COMMUNITY OF SUCCESS the income ceiling of households eligible for preschool subsidies, as well as an expansion in the percentage of Government-supported preschools. The payoffs of a preschool education are especially pronounced for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Two US studies – the Abecedarian experiment and the Perry Preschool project – have shown that a greater proportion of low-income students who attended quality preschool went on to enter university and get better jobs, compared to their low-income peers who skipped preschool (Sparling and Meunier, 2019; Schweinhart et al., 2005). As an Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA)- appointed preschool outreach partner, MENDAKI has been raising awareness among Malay/Muslim families on the importance of preschool education. MENDAKI also plays a role in assisting them to enrol their children into preschool as well as related MENDAKI programmes. One of these programmes is the KelasMateMatika@Community Centres (KMM@CC), where parents are taught mediated learning skills with an emphasis on Mathematical concepts using their home and surroundings as learning centres. At the same time their young children are taught numeracy skills through play and interactive activities. About 1,200 participants from across eight M3@Towns have benefitted from KMM@CC in 2019, and we plan to expand the programme further to more towns in 2020 and make KMM more accessible to our Malay/Muslim families. Beyond enrolling families into our programmes, MENDAKI is providing further upstream support by addressing the financial needs of low-income Malay/ Muslim parents who are sending their children for preschool. Towards this end, MENDAKI is piloting the MENDAKI-MUIS (Islamic Religious Council of Singapore) Preschool Grant, which enables low- income parents to receive additional top-up from community funds when they save in the Child Development Co-Savings Account. Parents play a central role in their children’s early development, and MENDAKI aims to support them in this endeavour. Under our School Ready Campaign, MENDAKI organises PlayFest annually to support parents of preschoolers in adopting a play- based approach and to set up a stimulating learning environment at home. We also introduced a PlayKit to encourage parent-child bonding using household items as tools for learning and meaningful play. Beyond supporting children’s basic literacy and numeracy skills we hope to enhance their school readiness by developing further their creativity and reasoning skills, thus seeding a love for learning and discovery. MENDAKI ANNUAL REPORT 2019 18