PENANG is now having its first kindergarten in its science centre in the country with the establishment of Tadika Whytehouse at Tech Dome Penang.
It was initiated by Tech Dome Penang and Whytehouse Education Group to provide affordable and quality pre-school education.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow was full of praise for them with the setting up of the kindergarten, catering to some 30 students.
He said it was a remarkable feat as the state was leading the way for this special and unique pre-school education.
“The state would like to congratulate Tech Dome Penang and Whytehouse Education Group on this excellent initiative.
“The initiative is much proven as the group offers half of the regular fees while waiving other fee components to all government servants to ensure they can benefit from the quality programmes.
“This will be a great help for parents especially in these hard times due to the current Covid-19 pandemic.
“The state believes the Tadika will give the children a great head-start on their education journey and develop a scientific mind from a young age.
“Putting all these together, I believe we should have a winning combination for this special science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) kindergarten – a special and unique location in a science discovery centre, affordable fees and a special STEM education programme developed by passionate science and education individuals.
“I hope to see many more little feet in the years to come and who knows, among these little feet will be scientists, industry captains and maybe even the next chief minister and prime minister of Malaysia,” he said in his speech at the opening ceremony of Tadika Whytehouse at Tech Dome, Komtar today.
Whytehouse Education Group is an established pre-school institution in Penang with more than 10 years’ experience, striving and providing quality education in five centres to over 200 children in Penang.
Tech Dome Penang chief executive officer Dr Khong Yoon Loong said they were looking to expand the kindergarten to accommodate some 80 students by next year.
“We are searching for funds for the expansion purposes as there are a lot of spaces for such ideas,” he said.
Dr Khong added that enrolment to the kindergarten was open to everyone with civil servants charged RM400 per month for each child and non-civil servants charged RM1,100 for each child.
Whytehouse Education Group founder and executive director Jery Yeoh said the fees were cheap and hoped more civil servants would snap up the opportunity to enrol their kids.
Also present were Chow’s wife Tan Lean Kee and state Social Development and Non-Islamic Religious Affair Committee chairman Chong Eng.
Story by Edmund Lee
Pix by Adleena Rahayu Ahmad Radzi
Video by Law Suun Ting