Dear Prime Minister YB Tan Sri Dato' Haji Muhyddin, 

I am writing on behalf of private kindergartens (tadika) across Malaysia. I thank you for your announcement today that our country is able to ease the MCO and that Pusat Jagaan and Taska under the Social Welfare Department will be allowed to reoperate soon, as long as they are able to follow the guidelines from the Ministry. 

I would like to urge you to allow the MOE (Ministry of Education) and Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia to draw up similar guidelines that will allow kindergartens that can follow the guideline to begin operation again. Some of the key reasons we petition you on this matter are as follows:

(1) Children from the age of 4 - 6 years old are in the critical age of development and preschool education plays a very important role for the cognitive, social and emotional growth. Keeping them at home is wasting the precious window of development they need. Too many parents are also concerned about the screen time that these children are spending on which is also harmful for their brain development. 

(2) Kindergartens (Tadika) is a very important community service for working parents. Parents need the time that children are at the kindergarten to be able to be at work. Without reopening tadika, many parents will be stuck in a lurch and unable to return to work. 

(3) Majority of kindergartens across Malaysia are small in size and operator owned, therefore can communicate directly with parents. This makes it possible for the kindergarten and parents to work together with a new operation plan (under the "new normal") that is feasible for both parties. It is not that much difference from a taska/pusat jagaan kanak-kanak in this respect. 

(4) Majority of tadika in the country are privately owned and will not be able to sustain its business if it is not reopened soon. If these kindergartens are forced to shut, there will be a negative impact on our community. At the moment, many kindergartens find many parents are unwilling to pay school fees. Even with the offering of e-learnings, many parents are not free to attend to their childrens education from home. 

I fully support that you want to uplift the MCO phase by phase, but I urge you to consider private kindergartens an essential service that should be allowed to reoperate soon if they can adhere to the health and safety guidelines. 

I thank you for your kind attention.