Mother Tongue Language Offerings in Preschools

Type: 
Parliamentary Questions
Topic(s): 
Children & Families
Published on 09 September 2026

Mr Fadli Fawzi asked the Minister for Social and Family Development what percentage of Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA)-licensed pre-schools and Ministry of Education kindergartens offer Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil as a mother tongue language, respectively.

Answer

1    99% of about 1,800 ECDA-licensed preschools and MOE Kindergartens offer at least one Mother Tongue Language (MTL). Of these, 95.1% offer Chinese, 31.6% offer Malay, and 16.8% offer Tamil.

2    The provision of MTLs in preschools takes into account factors such as enrolment demand and the availability of qualified MTL educators. ECDA continues to work with preschool operators to support access to MTL learning.