The women, children and community development select committee also proposed creating a single national agency to oversee early childhood care and education across ministries.
Its chairman, Yeo Bee Yin (PH-Puchong), said the proposed Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Act would place all childcare and preschool matters under one roof, cut red tape, and ensure every child gets a fair start.
“We recommend that a specific Act be drafted to regulate and develop the early childhood care and education sector for children aged zero to six,” she said in tabling the committee’s report in the Dewan Rakyat.
The committee further proposed creating a national ECCE council to bring into alignment the work of government agencies, and to park all programmes, including Tabika Perpaduan preschools, under the education ministry instead of the national unity ministry.
Yeo said the government must also raise spending on early childhood development in the 2026 budget, with at least 0.5% of GDP set aside, up from the current 0.1%.
She said the amount should be used to build more public childcare centres, give grants to affordable private centres, train and certify early childhood teachers and expand subsidies for low-income families.
The committee’s findings also showed that approvals and licensing for taska and tadika centres remained cumbersome and inconsistent between local councils, discouraging registration and raising safety risks.
She said many centres offering affordable services struggle with high operating costs and no government support, forcing some to close or raise fees.
Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man (PN-Kubang Kerian) supported the committee’s proposals, saying Malaysia is “losing its children” too early as many are separated from their parents from just three months old and spend most of their days in childcare centres.
He also backed calls to recognise homemakers as professionals and give them allowances, noting that many mothers work in order to pay for childcare.
“If mothers could get support or an allowance to stay home, they could focus on nurturing their children,” he said.
Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (Muda-Muar) said many young mothers are leaving the workforce due to the lack of affordable childcare and the high cost of hiring domestic helpers.
“They are expected to be doctors, lawyers and engineers by day and come home to be nannies and housewives at night,” he said.
Syed Saddiq said some families pay over RM20,000 in upfront fees to hire foreign maids, only for them to run away within months, leaving parents stranded.
“This is not a small problem. There are Facebook groups with thousands of parents sharing stories,” he said.
He proposed that the government provide free preschool education, increase tax relief for childcare expenses and introduce a new tax exemption for families who hire and train domestic workers to care for their children.
Rodziah Ismail (PH-Ampang), who wound up the debate on behalf of the committee, urged the government to give more subsidies and consider giving direct aid to poor families and grants to affordable childcare centres.
“We propose two types of subsidies: one for families so that they can afford (to send their children to) taska or tadika, and one for centres that provide such services,” she said.