Next year, the ‘Permata On Wheels’ programme will set the wheels in motion to once again focus on rural areas, following the overwhelming response it received this year, says Prime Minister's Department principal assistant secretary (Permata Division) Mohd Zulhasmi Jamaludin.

He said although they were still evaluating the venues to be visited, the programme would continue to expose rural children aged four and below, to co-curricular activities and learning approaches adopted by the Permata Negara (Permata) education module.

“We are really satisfied with the implementation after having organised five series (of the programme) this year which ended in Kampung Guar Lobak, Padang Serai in Kedah.

"Nevertheless, we will continue to improve the programme from time to time,” he told Bernama at the closing ceremony of the two-day programme in Kulim today.

Mohd Zulhasmi said the last instalment of the programme in Kampung Guar Lobak was by far, the most lively with the participation of over 60 children, below the age of four, and their parents.

He said activities conducted at the programme involved six areas of development in Permata's module, namely physical and psychomotor; language, communications and early literacy; social-emotional and spiritual; creativity and aesthetics; pre-mathematics and logical thinking; as well as sensory and understanding of world environment.

“Throughout the programme, we could see that the children from Tabika Kemas Guar Lobak, Tabika Sentosa, Tabika Serai Wangi, Tabika Terap Batu and Tabika Bukit Sidam were thoroughly excited during the activities,” he added.

Earlier at the programme, over 1,000 residents including children from around Padang Serai participated in various activities such as telematics, ‘sepak raga’ competition, Quran memorisation competition, ‘azan’ (call for prayer) competition and a parenting talk.

Previously, the ‘Permata On Wheels’ programmes were held in Kampung Chang Baru, Perak; Kampung Simpang Arang, Gelang Patah in Johor; Bintulu, Sarawak; and Felda Palong, Negeri Sembilan.

- Bernama