Educationists are calling for mandatory preschool instead of intervention classes to tackle the growing number of Year 1 students—now at 120,000—who still struggle with reading, writing, and arithmetic, according to the Education Ministry. We discuss this with Datuk Dr Chiam Heng Keng, founding president of the Early Childhood Care and Educational Council.

Other stories we cover in this episode:

· A month-old baby boy was found dead at a confinement centre in Kota Bharu, and police have remanded a 22-year-old nurse to investigate. Consultant paediatricians Dr. Amar Singh and Dr. Sanjay Woodhull weigh in on how these centres should be regulated.

· The government plans to amend the Trustee Act to prevent misuse of funds by trustees overseeing religious and welfare activities. We hear about the potential impact of the amendments with Rayman Ram, a certified fraud examiner and anti-money laundering specialist from Graymatter Forensic Advisory.

· American and British airstrikes have hit a girls' school in Yemen, killing two and injuring seven. James Dorsey, Senior Fellow from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies helps us understand the ongoing military conflicts in the region.

· Typhoon Yagi is wreaking havoc in northern Vietnam, after it hit South China and the Phillipines. Datuk Dr. Ahmad Faizal Mohd Perdaus, President of MERCY Malaysia, highlights the need for community resilience.

Image Credit: Naomi Shi,Pexels

Produced by: Alia Zefri, Lim Sue Ann, Dashran Yohan, Alena Nadia

Presented by: Sharaad Kuttan

This and more than 60,000 other podcasts in your hand. Download the all new BFM mobile app.

Categories:  politics,  government,  international,  Law/Activism,  education,  environment

Tags:  pre school,  trustee act,  yagi,  education,  confinement,  yemen,  us,  uk,  typhoon,