Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying should be applauded for the initiatives in his recent Policy Address targeting the introduction of free kindergarten education in Hong Kong.

Starting from the 2017-18 school year the government will implement the "free quality kindergarten education" policy, which will furnish local non-profit-making kindergartens with a basic subsidy for the provision of three years' half-day education for all children aged between three and six. It is estimated that, after the implementation of the policy, around 70-80 percent of half-day kindergarten places will be free. The government will also provide an additional subsidy for eligible whole-day and long whole-day kindergartens.

The new policy is certainly welcome, as early childhood is an essential stage in a child's physical, intellectual, emotional and social development. Indeed, as the Education Bureau (EDB) recognizes, early childhood education effectively lays the foundation for lifelong learning and whole-person development.

It is encouraging, therefore, to see that the new initiatives take into account the specific requirements of groups with special needs, as these are the people who will benefit most from the provision of free kindergarten education. Foremost among these groups are non-Chinese-speaking (NCS) students, whose lack of Chinese language skills tends to hinder them greatly in their further education and life.

Under the new government initiatives local kindergartens will be actively encouraged to integrate NCS students into their classes, as any kindergarten admitting eight or more students categorized as NCS will receive a grant equal to the salary of one teacher. In addition to manpower support the grant can be used for professional training to help develop effective strategies for teaching NCS students through the Chinese medium, thus laying the foundations for their entry into local primary schools.

To ensure that all students benefit fully from the new policy initiatives, however, the government must make sure all local kindergartens offer the right kind of education for pre-school learners. According to the most recent academic research an age-appropriate program for three-to-six-year-olds needs to extend far beyond the learning of basic language, literacy and numeracy skills. Since early childhood involves not only intellectual development but also significant physical, emotional and social development, it is essential that kindergartens adopt a holistic approach to education, in which pupils take part in a variety of meaningful and fun activities. It is also reassuring to see the latest education research attesting to the holistic developmental value of "free play", a concept many parents and some teachers tended to look askance at as a waste of time that could be better spent on classroom learning.

Thankfully, the government is on a firm footing here, having updated its Guide to the Pre-primary Curriculum in 2006. The core value stated in the new curriculum guide is "child-centeredness", and equal weight is given to the basic principles of children's development and children's learning. Moreover there are four developmental objectives set out in the guide: Not only cognitive and language development but also physical, affective and social, and aesthetic development. Similarly the six learning areas outlined in the guide include not only language, mathematics, and science and technology, but physical fitness and health, self and society, and arts as well.

Underpinning the basic structure of the pre-primary curriculum is the central role of play. Today's child-development experts agree that play is extremely important in the learning and emotional development of all children. In addition to helping them improve their language skills, play assists children in developing their motor skills and enhancing their social skills. It also encourages individuality, creativity and decision-making and helps children to process emotions, form concepts and solve problems.

So it is play, not study, that needs to be emphasized in kindergarten education. This is something that the EDB needs to stress repeatedly, not only in words but also in actions. Because in the absence of any systematic monitoring on the part of the authorities, there is a very real possibility that many local kindergartens will end up paying no more than lip service to the fundamental elements of the pre-primary curriculum. After all, many principals will feel, quite rightly, that they will ultimately be judged not on the overall happiness and well-being of their pupils but rather on the number of places these pupils manage to gain at desirable primary schools, where the admissions procedures often include extremely demanding interviews.

The danger, then, is that in many kindergartens the vision of the EDB may be subverted by the reality of an ultra-competitive school system (although the best way to prepare children for the primary school admissions system is, in fact, to give them a holistic education). If this subversion were allowed to take place, the new policy initiatives for kindergarten would, for all their good intentions, ultimately succeed in little more than lowering the age of stressed-out children in Hong Kong from six down to three.

(HK Edition 01/22/2016 page12)