11 years ago, Sean Chia and his wife founded the KLC Education Group. The company consists of language centres and preschools with an education syllabus that transformed kids into advanced readers. Chia shares with the Top 10 of Malaysia on his journey in establishing the company and the syllabus they developed especially for their students who developed great reading potential at a young age.
KLC Education Group is now in its 11th year running. What started out as a small preschool run by only Sean Chia and his wife in Johor, KLC has now expanded to 4 other states with 17 language centres and 2 preschools across the nation. “I was working in Singapore for 7 years prior to starting this business. I have always wanted to venture into business as I was unhappy with the monotonous lifestyle of working in Singapore and having to travel to and from Johor,” Chia says.
According to Chia, Johor provides plenty of opportunities for one to go into the preschool industry. That was how KLC came to be. “When we started this business, all we wanted was to bring benefit to the small community around us. However, as time goes by, we wanted our team to grow together with us and bring in more people who are passionate about education so that in time to come, we will be able to bring our brand out of Malaysia.”
Albeit KLC Education is synonymous for its language centres, it primarily focused on preschool programmes when it first started out. KLC language centres started in 2014 and they specialise in English language education whereby it provides programmes for students from 4 to 18 years old. What’s unique about its language programmes is that the programmes are carried out according to the students’ progress. Chia and his wife took 5 years to devise their own syllabus and it helps students learn to read so that they are able to achieve reading proficiency at a tender age. “We have students who are as young as 5 years old but are able to read primary 5 books. We have received positive feedback from the parents. Students between the ages of 5 and 6 are able to reach a reading proficiency expected in primary school,” he says with a smile.
At first, Chia uses the available preschool syllabus to teach the children, but he soon found out that it was not good enough. Over time, he developed his own syllabus while continuing to observe the students’ progress. Forming their own team, led by his wife, it took a few years before they came up with a successful syllabus while unceasingly modifying it to suit the latest trend. “Our programmes are quite aligned with the Singapore preschool syllabus in terms of Math and Science education.” KLC Education has also adopted sign language into their classes in order to help children better develop their communication skills. “It helps them feel less frustrated when they want to express certain things. Research shows that children who pick up sign language early tend to develop their speech earlier and are better at expressing themselves.”
“Currently we have about 70 teachers altogether. For language centres, we will give priority to those who have a minimum qualification of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) C1 before they are qualified to teach. Of course, this is just a pre-requirement. Teachers are required to undergo training regularly and only locals are hired as teachers.”
To Chia, business is not all about money but what it can deliver for society. “Parents look at progress. And when you see children succeeding and seeing the potential in them, that is truly rewarding.” According to Chia, he makes it his mission to transform lives and to provide quality education for children. “All the testimonials and feedbacks that we received are all very positive. This makes us feel very accomplished.”
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“We have students who are as young as 5 years old but are able to read primary 5 books. We have received positive feedback from the parents.”
