According to the National Education Policy 2009, the purpose of Early Childhood Education was set to do the holistic development of children

Kamran Akhtar Siddiqui

In terms of education, children in Pakistan can be divided into two broad categories. One category is of those children who never went to school or they went but soon dropped out of it. We call them out-of-school children. Another category is of those children who went to school but did not acquire skills that they should have. For understanding purpose, we may call them went-to-school children. Unfortunately, children from both categories stand in the same row with respect to academics.

Given the fact that out-of-school children (over 22.5 million) did not attend school, it can be stated that these children cannot read, write or do arithmetic. But, similar condition of went-to-school children is concerning. The results of the Standardized Aptitude Tests (SAT) based on Math, Science and Language (Sindhi/Urdu/English) conducted in public sector schools by the Sindh government in 2018 were shocking. The report stated that in class 05 only 37% students passed the language test, 27% math, and just 23 % science.

Also read: What is Early Childhood Education?

This dismal picture raises a big question: why are went-to-school children unable to acquire skills which they should have acquired in grade 3 or 5?

It is because these children did not get conducive educational environment for their growth and development. A huge problem in this regard lies at the very grass root level i.e. ‘Early Childhood Education’ (ECE).

According to the National Education Policy (NEP) 2009, the purpose of ECE was set to do the holistic development of children. It was planned that the children aged 3-5 years will be given pre-primary education in primary schools which will receive budget, teachers and assistants for ECE classes. It was also planned that specialized teachers having attended two-years training will be recruited to teach young children.

Keeping in view the staggering number of over 22.5 million out-of-school children, it can be said that illiteracy has been passed onto the next generation but the reforms are still not in place and sight.

However, even after the lapse of 08 years, when the NEP 2017 was published, it portrayed an extremely dismal picture of ECE in the country. The policy document stated that the schools lacked specialized teachers, two-thirds of the schools in the country didn’t have separate classrooms for ECE children. Besides, no instructional materials were available in schools for ECE children. The document stated that only 36% of the ECE age children were in school and the remaining were assumed to be out of school due to insufficient data.

Read more: Every child deserves access to quality early childhood education.

Another six years have passed since the NEP 2017, and the conditions look still the same, even worse. Assuming that a large number of children born in 2009 didn’t go to the ECE schools, there are very shallow chances that majority of them attended primary schools. Keeping in view the staggering number of over 22.5 million out-of-school children, it can be said that illiteracy has been passed onto the next generation but the reforms are still not in place and sight.

When a country has illiteracy on such a massive scale, the steps to revamp education should not die in papers. The plans should be visible on the ground. Recently, the Sindh government announced to induct around 1500 ECE teachers with specialized qualifications. It is hoped that the plan will be a real practice this time around. After all, plans don’t make nations great, their timely execution makes it so.

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Kamran Akhtar Siddiqui is a lecturer at Sukkur IBA University, Sindh Pakistan.