GEORGE TOWN – The RM1,700 minimum wage hike announced by Putrajaya in Budget 2025 unveiled last week could burden kindergartens in rural parts of Penang and those operated by Indians that cater to low-income communities, kindergarten teachers opine.
Penang Kindergarten Teachers Association president Sally Ng told Scoop that the proposed wage hike will unlikely pressure kindergartens and childcare centres in the state’s developed areas to raise their wages as such kindergartens are already paying more than RM2,000 to their teachers and it is difficult to hire teachers below that rate there.
“So I don’t think that the wage hike would affect private kindergartens (in urban areas) much. But it might affect (those) in rural areas because the fees here are low.
“It (also) depends on how much (individual) kindergartens charge parents,” she added.
However, Ng also pointed out that if the basic salary is to be raised, teachers with diplomas or degrees would eventually request a salary increase.
She also said that the association has yet to discuss a fee hike.
Meanwhile, V. Santhi, the principal of Tadika Pavitra in Taman Merak Jaya, Simpang Ampat, said that the proposed wage hike would burden Indian-operated private kindergartens that cater to low-income communities, like the one she is managing.
She revealed that out of her 25 students, only 15 could pay their RM150 monthly fees as the remaining 10 are from the B40 income group and their parents could not afford to pay.
These students are able to attend her kindergarten thanks to the subsidy given by the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (Mitra) to private kindergartens catering to B40 Indian students since 2022, which has helped the school manage their operational expenses.
However, Santhi claimed that the agency told her that the subsidy scheme is not yet confirmed to continue next year as the agency needs to cater to other community programmes as well.
Conversely, Christina Tan, Jelutong-based Tadika Bijak Pintar operator, said that while parents would dread the expected fee hike, operators would have to implement it to retain and hire quality teachers with degrees and diplomas in early childhood education, as recommended by the Education Ministry.
“If we don’t hire qualified teachers, then we might not continue this business,” she told Scoop.
Tax rebates and fee rates
Last Friday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced that the minimum wage, which is currently at RM1,500, will be raised to RM1,700 next February.
He also announced that Putrajaya would extend individual tax rebates for parents who enrol their children in kindergarten until the 2027 assessment year to encourage enrolment in early education.
Tadika Bijak Pintar’s CEO Eric Steven Tan told Scoop that minimum wage hikes and tax rebate extensions do not influence the kindergartens to raise fees, as the latter was meant to encourage the parents to send their kids to kindergartens.
“Therefore, we do not think of using it (tax rebate) as a factor to increase the fees. (Instead) we look at the overall running costs to determine our fee structures,” he said when asked whether government tax rebates would influence kindergarten’s decision to raise their fees.
On the other hand, Santhi said the tax rebate extension does not impact fee rates imposed by her kindergartens as the poor parents who enrol their children in Tadika Pavitra are mostly factory workers and are ineligible to pay tax.
Ripple effect on Tamil schools
Santhi, who is also the Penang exco for Persatuan Guru Tadika Malaysia, is concerned that Indian-operated kindergartens that cater to the poor would see low enrolment soon should they be forced to raise fees and poor parents would not afford them.
This is worrying as there are only 14 Indian-operated kindergartens in Penang as of this year, and six of them are yet to be registered.
“If these kindergartens close down it would affect Tamil school enrolment rates, as parents send their children to study with us first before enrolling them to Tamil schools (to learn Tamil),” she said. – October 22, 2024