KINDERGARTENS provided the basic foundation for education, the Minister of Education, U Than Aung, told the opening ceremony of a training course held at the Myanmar Education Research Department on Pyay Road, Yangon last month.

More than 250 kindergarten teachers attended the course from April 25 to May 17, the seventh of its kind to be provided by the MERD.

“We have paid attention to kindergarten education and the training of kindergarten teachers since 1988,” U Than Aung said.

He said it was important for the trainees to appreciate the importance of a kindergarten education to a child’s development.

Lectures were presented at the course by the director general of the No (1) Basic Education Department, U Tin Nyo, and academics from the Institute of Education and the University of Yangon.

The course was being held from Mondays to Saturdays from 9am to 4pm.

The trainees studied the concepts of kindergarten education, child psychology, teaching materials and methods, physical and social development, the emotional processes of children and their capacity to understand and language.

“We gave a daily 15 minute quiz to the trainees to improve their thinking skills which will allow them to better manage their young students,” said Daw Khin Myo Myint Kyu, a deputy director of Myanmar Education Research Department.

“The teachers who have completed the course will be more aware of the mental and physical development of the children at their school,” she said.

MERD established the Sanpya pre-school in 1999 and used the experience gained from the move to open its first training course for kindergarten teachers in 2002. Later, three departments – Social Welfare, Education and Planning and Myanmar Education Research – collaborated to draw-up the curriculum to use in their training courses for kindergarten teachers.

“I want to know the best way of teaching children because I think a teacher’s qualifications are reflected in the way their pupils develop,” said Daw Yin Yin, 39, a participant in the course who plans to open a kindergarten school in Manyangone township.

MERD has trained more than 800 kindergarten teachers in the private sector.