(Left to Right) Fr Jalius Sading (standing) and Mdm Jennifer Anjek, head of Education Commission; Dtk Mary Teresa Kinajil and Brother Dominic Yeo Koh
By Catherine Wan
July 19 2022
KOTA KINABALU – Sixty BOG members of mission kindergartens under the KK Archdiocese attended the one-day BOG conference organized by the Archdiocesan Early Childhood Education Committee (AECEC) held at the Sacred Heart Parish Centre on 8 Jul.
Mission kindergarten refers to a kindergarten operating under a parish.
The participants came from 26 mission kindergartens operating under parishes from Kota Kinabalu, Likas, Inanam Penampang, Papar, Telipok, Tuaran, Tenghilan, Kota Marudu, Kota Belud, Ranau and Labuan, while three observers from Sipitang who intend to start a mission kindergarten were also in attendance.
The program began with an opening prayer and welcome address by Fr Jalius Sading, spiritual adviser of AECEC. Parish priests present at the conference were Fr David Sham, Fr Sunny Chung, Fr Thomas Madanan and Fr Paul Lo.
Jennifer Anjek, head of AECEC, introduced the committee members, namely Dtk Mary Teresa Kinajil as training coordinator, Irene Chong as secretary, Remy Martin as assistant secretary, Ephraim Kouju as Treasurer, Margaret Sunam as registration coordinator and Sr Dorothy as conference MC.
Anjek gave an overview of the early childhood education in the Archdiocese before the pandemic with 36 mission kindergartens.
Due to the impact of the pandemic and the resultant significant decrease in students, three kindergartens in Ranau, Kota Marudu and Kiulu had to temporarily stop operating.
The participants were updated on the renewal of permits for premises, teachers, as wekk as the BOG and their roles in managing the kindergartens.
Anjek’s briefing was followed by a dialogue with Archbishop John Wong who encouraged the BOG to work closely with the specific parish priest. He also encouraged Catholic families to have at least five children to sustain a population of young people.
Instrument of government and guidelines to operating procedures for mission kindergartens was explained by Ephraim Kouju. He elaborated on their responsibilities in managing their kindergartens.
Mary Kinajil in her talk emphasized on improving the quality of kindergartens according to the Quality Standard of National Pre-school (SKPK-2). She encouraged the BOG to monitor the progress of their kindergarten using the standard as a guide.
Since the introduction of Minimum Wage Order in May, many kindergartens face financial challenges. Montfort Brother Dominic Yeo Koh was invited to give a talk on a sustainable financial approach for mission kindergartens.
He generated an animated discussion. It was a mind opening session in which he highlighted that fundraising was actually ‘friend-raising’ by building up friendships. After the talk, participants from the floor shared their thoughts on what they could do to manage their finances and ideas on identifying resources for fundraising.
The conference concluded with prayer by Fr Jalius.
