Kuala lumpur:<Text>

The new preschool curriculum introduced at the start of the current school session will focus on six key learning areas to support holistic early childhood development, Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek said. She highlighted that these areas include socio-emotional development, physical development and personal wellbeing, language and literacy, spirituality, values and citizenship, creativity and aesthetics, and cognitive development.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, Fadhlina emphasized that the socio-emotional domain is aimed at nurturing children's ability to recognize and manage their emotions, while building positive relationships with others and their surroundings. The physical development and personal wellbeing area focuses on health awareness, including healthy nutrition, hygiene, and safety, with the incorporation of reproductive and social health education (PEERS).

She further explained that the language and literacy component ai ms to enhance communication skills, enabling children to learn basic literacy and language skills while fostering an interest in reading. The spirituality, values, and citizenship domain is divided into Islamic education, moral education, and citizenship education. In Islamic education, Muslim children will be taught basic religious knowledge, values, and practices, such as the fundamentals of Jawi writing.

Fadhlina noted that moral education seeks to instill core values like compassion, honesty, respect, and diligence using fun and engaging methods to promote positive behavior. Citizenship education aims to raise awareness of rights and responsibilities, cultivate patriotism, and encourage children to contribute to their families and communities.

In the creativity and aesthetics domain, opportunities are provided for children to explore and appreciate their environment, fostering imagination and creativity through visual arts, music, movement, and drama. The cognitive doma in encourages curiosity and exploration, guiding children to think systematically, interact, share information, and solve problems.

Fadhlina expressed hope that the new curriculum would help produce well-rounded, balanced, and globally competitive learners from an early age.