The first such institutions were created in the late 18th Century in Bavaria to serve children both of whose parents worked out of the home. The term was coined by Friedrich Fröbel whose approach globally influenced early-years education. Today, the term is used in many countries to describe a variety of educational institutions and learning spaces for children ranging from two to seven years of age, based on a variety of teaching methods.
News regarding KG schools of Bangladesh mention that about one lakh kindergartens are flouting government rules on mandatory registration and running without adequate classroom facilities depriving students of proper education which appeared in several newspapers last year. Only 302 out of an estimated 1,00,000 such schools were registered with the Directorate of Primary Education till April 2015, four years after the Non-government Primary both Bangla and English medium School Registration Rules, 2011 was enacted in August 2011.
The Primary and Mass Education Ministry last year formed about 559 Taskforces across the country to collect information about unauthorised KG schools to bring them under supervision of the government. The main objective of forming the taskforces is to bring all the KG schools under the frame of law. The authorities concerned were directed to lessen the burden of books and bags of the children and NCTB has lessened the size of the books accordingly. In government schools the use of books is lesser than the private ones. Some kindergartens unnecessarily suggest a number of books without considering the age of children. This issue needs to be monitored rigorously by the authorities concerned. If authorities are not concerned about it, the guardians must take this matter into account for the sake of their own children.
Children must not be overburdened. The prevailing chaos in Kindergarten education has clearly been the result of regulatory, monitoring and enforcement failures by the authorities concerned. The government needs to revamp its Directorate of Primary Education with adequate manpower and enhance its service quality so that it can intensify its monitoring and go after the non-compliant institutions to make them abide by the rules.
The purpose of the Kindergartens is to teach children a rich, meaningful and balanced curriculum of skills and information through age-appropriate activities that encourage children to want to learn more. Unfortunately, KG is now a big but unregulated business.
