Data on Availability of Mother Tongue Languages in Early Childhood Development Agency-licensed Preschools and Ministry of Education Kindergartens

31 Mr Fadli Fawzi asked the Minister for Social and Family Development what percentage of Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA)-licensed preschools and Ministry of Education kindergartens offer Mandarin, Malay and Tamil as a mother tongue language, respectively.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: 99% of about 1,800 Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA)-licensed preschools and Ministry of Education kindergartens offer at least one Mother tongue language (MTL). Of these, 95.1% offer Chinese, 31.6% offer Malay and 16.8% offer Tamil.

The provision of MTLs in preschools takes into account factors, such as enrolment demand and the availability of qualified MTL educators. ECDA continues to work with preschool operators to support access to MTL learning.