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Ella Lee

Stella Lee

WHOLE-DAY kindergarten schooling will be made available to three-year-olds in a move that will benefit working parents.

  The Deputy Director of Education, Elaine Chung Lai-kwok, said yesterday it was a response to increasing demand by working parents.

  'Many working parents do not want their children to stay only with maids for too long everyday.

  'They want their children to have more group life. Those who ask the grandparents to take care of the children also want whole-day schooling as this would make the grandparents' work less tiring,' Ms Chung said.

  The change could come in the next school year.

  Kindergartens are only allowed to have whole-day schooling for second and third-year children, who are at least four years old.

  While school fees are expected to rise if kindergartens switch to whole-day tuition, Ms Chung said the current review on fee remission for parents would take the changes into consideration.

  She said the curriculum review would also see if guidelines needed to be changed because of a longer school day.

  'Young children attending whole-day schooling usually do not have to study in the afternoon. They usually have an afternoon sleep or activities.

  'Whole-day schooling has been banned for three-year-old children because the pupils are regarded to be too young to attend lessons for too long every day.

  'But the society has changed and so has the teaching which is more geared to activities nowadays,' Ms Chung said.

  Ms Chung also said the new direct-subsidy scheme for kindergartens would be reviewed to see if the grant of $695 per student per year should be raised.



All-day kindergarten for first years