FOLLOWING an island-wide campaign by grassroots leaders and educators, the number of children who skip preschool has halved over the last two years, according to recently released statistics.

Last year, about 870 kids missed out out on preschool, which is being increasingly seen as an essential part of a child's education.

The numbers, announced in Parliament last week, are down from about 1,600 at the start of the previous year.

Many children who miss out on preschool come from non-English speaking families and have parents who are unable to teach them. Attending preschool betters their chances of doing well at primary school and beyond, as they learn English and numeracy skills, and develop other skills, such as how to interact with other children in their age group.

The improvement follows a concerted effort by grassroots leaders to educate parents about the importance of preschool.

Since 2007, officials from the Ministry of Education (MOE), Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports and grassroots organisations have been identifying families who held their children out of pre-school. Grassroots leaders follow-up by visiting these families, who often cannot afford to send their kids to preschool, do not understand the importance of early childhood education or are neglected because of problems like divorce.

Grassroots leaders suggest solutions, from applying for grants to a variety of financial assistance schemes set up to pay for preschool.

These efforts have allowed the MOE to cut the percentage children who do not attend preschool to 2.5 per cent at the end of last year (2008), from 4.2 per cent at the beginning of 2007.

For the full story, read Monday's edition of The Straits Times.