I REFER to the recommendation on lowering the age for compulsory education ('Call to lower compulsory schooling age', Sept 24).

There is a need to consider more systemic improvements so as not to compartmentalise pre-school and primary education provision; and within pre-school provision, to stop looking at 'care' and 'education' as separate issues.

The solution to raising the quality of pre-schools lies in lowering the compulsory schooling age. It requires more informed thinking and careful study of the existing competitive culture and changing needs of our increasingly diverse society.

At present, there are vastly different notions of 'quality' education and a disturbingly wide range of types of pre-school provision. This is due to free market forces, highly dependent on what families want, think they want, and can afford to pay for.

For some pre-school operators, profit matters, sometimes at the expense of quality.

Public provision of early care and education can be costly, but could reap longer-term benefits because it is a prudent investment in human capital.

With systemic changes, advantages of public pre-school provision could be:

• Greater efficiency and efficacy, thanks to a common governing body to monitor quality of care and education, as well as ensure that all children have a smoother transition from pre-school to primary school;
• A more equitable system in which all pre-schoolers can access quality care and education, regardless of how much their parents can pay;
• Fairer pay for teachers, higher professional level; availability of quality teacher education programmes and professional development opportunities; coherence across pre-school and primary school teacher preparation;
• The sector will continue to improve as pre-schools (and primary schools) share good practices and programmes when they are not in direct competition with one another; and
• More quality inclusive programmes, including for children with special needs, can be offered if a government body coordinates the deployment of limited national resources and expertise and develops a national plan of action for the well-being and education of all children.

Dr Sirene Lim

This article was first published in The Straits Times.