The Mum Who Revolutionised Pre-Schools in Singapore

Ms June Rusdon first set up a childcare centre for her daughter. Then she became an unstoppable force in changing the landscape of early education

- Stephanie Yeo

When Ms Jummaida Rusdon placed a bid of $3,750 to run a childcare centre in a void deck in Bukit Batok in 1989, she had never visited the area as she lived across the island in Pasir Ris.

She had no experience in childcare, having spent a decade in the stockbroking industry.

But she knew she wanted more than the basic childminding services she had seen in other centres for her own children.

In 1988, when she was 28, she quit her operations manager job after she became pregnant and delved into the fascinating world of child development, devouring books like How To Teach Your Baby To Read (1964) by Glenn and Janet Doman, then trending as a way to hothouse babies.

Nine months pregnant with her first child, she found herself scouring the island for landed properties which could be converted into childcare centres, but was unsuccessful. To her delight, the Government started leasing void deck sites to childcare operators, so she placed a high bid to secure the Bukit Batok site in 1989.

"I was excited, but also nervous because I didn't know about the demand there," recalls the 64-year-old.

She made 1,000 copies of a simple flier advertising the new centre, called Small Wonder Childcare & Development Centre.

Pushing her baby daughter in a stroller, she, her husband and his friend distributed these in letter boxes in Bukit Batok. Her husband, Mr Bahren Shaari, now 62, is a retired chief executive of the Bank of Singapore, and was then a private banker with American Express.

"The next day, the phone didn't stop ringing," she says. "That's when I said: 'Wow, this is a gold mine."

Small Wonder at Block 165 Bukit Batok West Avenue 8 charged $280 a month for the full-day care of children from five to six years old and $320 a month for toddlers aged 18 months to four years old.