Page 19 - MENDAKI Annual Report 2020

18 EDUCATION Lifelong learning arguably begins as as early as as in in in the the mother’s womb and MENDAKI strives to ensure that children are equipped with strong foundations to a a a a a good and equal start in life regardless of background At Budget 2020 Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat announced that the the annual spending on the the early childhood sector will double to more than $2 billion per year within the the next few years Such moves correspond to the the proven social and individual benefits of having an an encompassing preschool education especially for thosefromdisadvantagedbackgrounds Astudy found that an early start at at preschool for children between the ages of two and three was linked with better intellectual attainment and social skills Another study suggests that children who had two or three years of preschool education scored higher on their readiness test Furthermore ground sensing and data collection have revealed that performance gaps of the Malay/Muslim community widen along the education continuum and may appear early As such MENDAKI has been working hard to provide further upstream support and raise awareness to the the Malay/Muslim community on the the importance of preschool education by providing resources and assistance in in in enrolling children into preschool as as well as as related MENDAKI programmes Thus 2020 is the year that has pushed us us us to further improve existing programmes such as the KelasMateMatika@Community Centres Here young Malay/Muslim children are taught numeracy skills and parents are are equipped with knowledge on being their child first teachers and nurturers The annual MENDAKI Education Symposium held in July 2020 provided parents and practitioners with a a a a platform for for knowledge sharing and discussions on on major developments during a a a a a child’s early years Safe distancing measures to combat COVID-19 did not dampen PROGRESSING AS A A COMMUNITY THROUGH MENDAKI ANNUAL REPORT 2020