Right to Education &Early Childhood Education and Development: Evidence from South Asia

September 16-17, 2014Pearl Continental Hotel, Karachi (Pakistan)

Conference Report

TABLE OF CONTENTSAcknowledgements:.............................................................................................................................................2

Introduction:.........................................................................................................................................................4

Karachi Consensus Statement:.............................................................................................................................5

Key Actions/Recommendations........................................................................................................................6

1. ECED- Policy and Right To Education (RTE)......................................................................................6

2. ECED Curriculum and Standards..........................................................................................................6

3. ECED - Teacher Preparation..................................................................................................................7

4. ECED Assessment and Research...........................................................................................................8

ECED - Innovations..........................................................................................................................................8

Objectives of the Conference:...........................................................................................................................9

Expected Outcomes...........................................................................................................................................9

Sessions...........................................................................................................................................................10

Proceedings:....................................................................................................................................................11

Day 1 - Session 1: ECED- Policy and Right to Education (RTE)..............................................................11

Day 1 - Session 2: Curriculum and Standards.............................................................................................16

Day 1 - Session 3: Teachers Preparation (pre and in-service)....................................................................18

Day 2 – Session 1: Research and Assessment.............................................................................................20

Day 2 – Session 2: Innovation: Access, Parenting and Materials...............................................................23

Day 2 – Session 3: Groups and Group Work Facilitated by Moderators..................................................25

Day 2 – Special Contributions shared by eminent presenters from India and Bangladesh............................29

Annex A: Picture Gallery................................................................................................................................32

Annex B: Media Coverage..............................................................................................................................34

Annex C: Regional Conference leads the Way Forward: Sindh Govt. Drafts the First-Ever ECE Policy in Pakistan...........................................................................................................................................................35

Annex D: Program of the Regional Conference.............................................................................................36

1

2

Executive Summary

A Regional Conference on “ Right to Education and Early Childhood Education and Development: Evidence from South Asia” was held on September 16-17, 2014 in Karachi with over 200 participants from Pakistan and representatives from South Asia (India, Nepal and Bangladesh). The conference is embedded in ASER/RTE strand of ITA’s work where ASER reports on ECE age group 3-5 with policy papers(annex).

The conference was an advocacy event aligned to article 25 A , right to education and emerging global EFA /SDGs education goals and targets, where ECE/ECED is conceived within a lifelong learning cycle.

Idara-e-Taleem o Aagahi (ITA) and the Right to Education team co-hosted the conference with the Education and Literacy Department (E&LD) Government of Sindh and the Reform Support Unit( RSU) as the technical arm of the E&LD. The leadership of the Government of Sindh stood firmly behind this endeavor; they were not only impeccable hosts but also champions for the cause of Early Childhood Care and Education in general and Early Childhood Education (ECE) in particular. The Senior Minister for Education Mr. Nisar Ahmed Khuro, the Additional Chief Secretary Education & Literacy, Dr. Fazal ullah Pechuho and the Chief Program Manager RSU Mrs. Saba Mahmud hosted the conference substantively, warmly welcoming all guests from Pakistan and South Asia.

Our friends and partners from the region India, Bangladesh and Nepal provided the regional perspectives. These included : Asia Pacific Regional Network for Early Childhood Education (ARNEC) and Exec Director Ms. Junko Mayihara who provided technical knowledge at every stage; Dr. Venita Kaul, Director School of Education, Centre for Early Childhood Education and Development (CECED)Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University India; Ms. Purnima Ramanujan – ASER centre India; Dr. Renu Singh- Country Director Young Lives Ms. Sudheshna Sengupta- Mobile Creches- India, Mahmuda Akhter-Exec. Director, Institute of Child & Human Development (ICHD) & Dr. Shanta Dixit Rato Bangla Foundation Nepal

E&LD and ITA would like to express special gratitude to all Departments of Education from Balochistan, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkua, for their presentations and contributions as well as the Ministry of . Federal Education and Professional Training, ICT. Experts on ECE, Academia, CSOs, INGOs active in the ECE space across Pakistan were present throughout the 2 days.

The conference was supported by : “The UK’s” Department for International Development (DFID); Foundation Open Society Institute - (FOSI); Dubai Cares and Oxfam.

The outcome of the conference is the “ECED Karachi Consensus Statement September 17 2014” (attached) agreed to by all stakeholders/practitioners. It has 4 thematic areas: policy, curriculum and assessment, teacher preparation and innovations. The Statement will be extensively disseminated by many strategic partners across Pakistan and beyond as a reference document in the dialogues up to 2015 and in the post 2015-2030 period. The Government of Sindh E&LD is embarking on a full- fledged ECE Policy as committed to in the Karachi Consensus Statement and in SESP 2014-2018 as is Balochistan.

In September 2014 ITA’s Director Programs will be at the UN General Assembly and its side meetings where the ECED Karachi Consensus Statement will be shared widely as it will be in December 2014 at the ARNEC annual conference to be held in Manila where the CPM – RSU will also be representing the Government of Sind E&LD.

3

Acknowledgements:

A Regional Conference on “Right to Education and Early Childhood Education and Development: Evidence from South Asia” would not have been impossible to hold successfully without the collaboration of many committed partners acknowledged below for their generous support and strong commitment

Idara-e-Taleem o Aagahi (ITA) and the Right to Education team at the outset extends profound gratitude to the co-hosts of the conference, the Education and Literacy Department (E&LD) Government of Sindh and the Reform Support Unit( RSU) as the technical arm of the E&LD. The leadership of the Government of Sindh stood firmly behind this endeavor; they were not only impeccable hosts but also champions for the cause of Early Childhood Care and Education in general and Early Childhood Education (ECE) in particular. The Senior Minister for Education Mr. Nisar Ahmed Khuro, the Additional Chief Secretary Education & Literacy, Dr. Fazal ullah Pechuho and the Chief Program Manager RSU Mrs. Saba Mahmud hosted the conference substantively, warmly welcoming all guests from Pakistan and South Asia.

Our friends and partners from the region extended solid support to the conference:

Asia Pacific Regional Network for Early Childhood Education (ARNEC) and its leader Ms. Junko Mayihara who provided technical knowledge sharing at every stage; Dr. Venita Kaul, Director School of Education, Centre for Early Childhood Education and Development (CECED)Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University India; Ms. Purnima Ramanujan – ASER centre India; Dr. Renu Singh- Country Director Young Lives Ms. Sudheshna Sengupta- Mobile Creches- India, Mahmuda Akhter-Executive Director, Institute of Child and Human Development (ICHD) and Dr. Shanta Dixit from Rato Bangla Foundation Nepal

E&LD and ITA would like to express special gratitude to all Departments of Education from Balochistan, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkua, for their presentations and contributions as well as the Ministry of . Federal Education and Professional Training, ICT

Our experts who not only contributed as presenters but as leaders of the conference in shepherding the conceptualization, reading papers and facilitating the working groups towards the conference consensus statement. In particular we would like to thank

Dr.Zahid Jatoi- RSU; Dr. Ghazala Rafique, Interim Director Aga Khan University - Human Development Program; Dr. Bernadette Dean, Director VMIE, Ms. Audrey Juma NDIE, Ms. Ambreena Ahmed Director TRC; Amima Saiyid; Raana Hussain SESSP Dr. Muhammad Memon, Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani Professor in Education, Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development (AKU-IED), Mr. Aziz Kabani M.D Sindh Education Foundation

Civil Society partners INGOs and the media played a very important role in making this conference successful.

4

We are grateful to our development partners supporting the foundational importance of ECE embedded in both EFA/MDGs and the post 2015 development agenda. These are:

- “The UK’s” Department for International Development (DFID) - Foundation Open Society Institute - (FOSI) - Dubai Cares - Oxfam

We finally acknowledge our teams at RSU and ITA/RTE who worked diligently on the program and logistics of the regional conference; in particular the Chief Program Manager (CPM) RSU Mrs. Saba Mahmud and her senior managers Mr. Zahid Jatoi, Ms. Sania Khurshid and Mr. Ghulam Nabi along with ITA /RTE teams viz., Ms. Zaynah Gilani, Ms. Huma Sikander, Ms. Sana Karim, Ms. Farwa Fatima, Ms. Saba Saeed, Mr. Abu Bakar and Mr. Imtiaz Nizami.

We also want to acknowledge RSU for supporting all logistics as a co-host. They supported the teams when the originally scheduled conference was disrupted just two days ahead, due to the extreme law and order situation in Karachi in June 2014; the rescheduled regional conference was held in September 2014.

We are committed to taking the “ECED Karachi Consensus Statement 2014” to many strategic partners across Pakistan and beyond as a reference document in the dialogues up to 2015 and in the post 2015-2030 period. The Government of Sindh E&LD is embarking on a full fledged policy for ECE as committed to in the Karachi Consensus Statement and also in SESP 2014-2018 as is Balochistan.

In September 2014 ITA’s Director Programs will be at the UN General Assembly and its side meetings where the ECED Karachi Consensus Statement will be shared widely as it will be in December 2014 at the ARNEC annual conference to be held in Manila where the CPM – RSU will also be representing the Government of Sind E&LD.

5

Introduction:

Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) have been an area of immense national, regional and global activism in the run up to 2015 and in the post 2015 development period. This is amply visible in the enactments under 25 A Right to Education as a fundamental constitutional right of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan as it is under policy initiatives of various South Asian countries, viz. India, Bangladesh and Nepal. Globally the Muscat Statement (May 2014) and the final document of the Open Working Group (OWG) with proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In both landmark documents to be debated at the upcoming UN General Assembly in September 2014 in New York, ECE/ECCE has been earmarked as a distinct target within the overarching Education goal proposed in the Muscat and SDG documents. The SDGs overall goal No. 4 on education is phrased as follows:

To Ensure Equitable and inclusive quality education and lifelong learning for all by 2030”.Goal No. 4: “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities for all” 1

Whilst the Muscat Agreement has earmarked ECCE as its first target, under the SDGs, Education is proposed as goal No. 4 clearly earmarking ECE as its second target Targets of ECE in the Muscat Agreement and proposed SDGs Target 1: By 2030, at least x% of girls and boys are ready for primary school through participation in quality early childhood care and education, including at least one year of free and compulsory pre-primary education, with particular attention to gender equality and the most marginalized.SDG Target No. 4.2 : By 2030 ensure that all boys and girls have access to quality early childhood development (ECD), care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education 2

Both sets of document are not only aligned but reinforce the ‘care, linkages and transition’ from preprimary to primary education of the young embedded in the lifelong learning cycle approach. In South Asia ECCE/ECE /ECD has become mainstreamed in human resource development to meet not just the foundational milestone of learning readiness but also its inextricable linkage to support other goals in health (infant and maternal mortality), nutrition/stunting and parental care. India has already finalized its ECD Policy in 2012, whilst Bangladesh completed the process in 2013; steps are being taken elsewhere in Asia and South Asia to provide necessary policy, planning and budgetary attention to early years as a critical pillar for achieving the right to education. In Pakistan since 2010, under the 18 th amendment to the constitution, article 25 A has made not only education a fundamental right for children aged 5-16, but the ensuing legislation in the provinces has provisioned for ECE/ECCE to be part of the right to education obligation by the state. This was affirmed widely at the regional conference as well over the two days from September 16-17, 2014 in Karachi.

It is against this backdrop that the Regional Conference on “Right to Education and Early Childhood Education and Development: Evidence from South Asia” was hosted by a collaboration between Government and Civil Society institution ; viz. the Education and Literacy Department Government of Sindh and its technical arm Reform Support Unit(RSU) and the Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA), its Right to Education

1 http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/news/sustainable/owg-proposes-sdgs.html2 http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/1579SDGs%20Proposal.pdf

6

teams ; ITA is also the secretariat for the south Asia Forum for Education Development (SAFED) with outreach to countries of South Asia and networks in the Asian region. The Asia-Pacific Regional Network for Early Childhood (ARNEC) collaborated technically with the hosts in Pakistan for the two day regional conference in Pakistan from September 16-17, 2014.

The Conference met with an overwhelming success with the Karachi Consensus Statement, September 17th, 2014 agreed to by over 200 participants from across Pakistan and the region.

ECED Karachi Consensus Statement Septemeber 17 2014

The Education and Literacy Department (E&LD), Reform Support Unit (RSU) Government of Sindh Pakistan, Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) and the South Asia Forum for Education Development (SAFED) in collaboration with its development partners (Foundation Open Society Institute –FOSI, Pakistan; Dubai Cares; “The UK’s” Department for International Development (DFID) and Oxfam ) convened the regional conference on the Right to Education & Early Childhood Education and Development; Foundation for Quality Learning-Evidence from South Asia- in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan from September 16-17, 2014. The conference was attended by 200 senior government officers from across Pakistan, practitioners, policy makers, academics, civil society organizations and development partners from Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, and Nepal

Recognizing, ECE/ECCE/ECED3 as a comprehensive learning and multi-sectoral agenda for all children (0-8 years) within diverse contexts and multiple models of ECED in South Asia,

Acknowledging, its uneven presence in RTE laws, budgets and policies, the, ECED Karachi Consensus Statement September 17, 2014 covers 09 key principles, 48 recommendations and actions for five key thematic areas that must be considered by each South Asian government, stakeholders, and the UN General Assembly (UNGA)’s 69thSession- September 16 to 26, 2014 to improve the capabilities of young children, reduce inequalities, and promote inclusive social and economic development in South Asia.

There are Nine Proposed Guiding Principles for the ECED Karachi Consensus Statement:

1. ECED be envisaged as an integrated approach to facilitate the holistic development of children aged 0-8 through health, nutrition, education, care and community support.

2. Universal coverage of ECED founded on a rights based approach

3. Embedded in equity and inclusion

4. Customized to national and sub-national contexts responsive to diversity and gender

5. Encourage and test models of ECED in South Asia for effectiveness and scalability

6. Backed by innovative approaches and innovative financing

7. Monitored by robust data for accountability and evidence

8. Supported by partnerships with public, private sector, academia and civil society

9. Linkages of ECED with all SDGs be pursued for bundled approaches and optimum gains

3 Early Childhood Education (ECE) is restricted to learning readiness for 3-5/8. whilst Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) and Early Childhood Education Development (ECED) are terminologies covering 0-8 age group comprehensively.

7

Key Actions/Recommendations

Key Actions/Recommendations (42) for the five thematic areas are

1. ECED- Policy and Right to Education (RTE)

1.1. Amendments to the RTE laws be made to include the ECED age group

1.2. A specialized cadre of teachers/care givers must be created with appropriate pay scales and qualifications specified

1.3. A common policy inclusive of fundamental principles of ECED to be developed for age group 0-8 or 3-8 according to developmentally appropriate practices

1.4. For holistic integrated ECED, inter-sectorial government coordination must be ensured

1.5. Budget for education must be enhanced to 4-6% of GDP ensuring consistent ECED allocation through schools, institutional and community based programs

1.6. Mother tongue must be encouraged for ECED age groups where appropriate with second/third languages support through appropriate content and trained personnel

1.7. Adequate attention to marginalized/disadvantaged groups (living in extreme poverty, remote areas, minorities and indigenous communities, children with disabilities, children in conflicts, displacement and disaster situations, etc).

1.8. A comprehensive communication strategy be developed to reach all stakeholders

1.9. Under the proposed EFA target No. 1 (Muscat Agreement), “at least one year of free and compulsory pre-primary education” must be changed from “ at least one year to one to five years” as many countries already practicing an expanded ECED program

1.10. For the proposed OWG/SDGs Goal No. 4, target 4.2 on ECED must be shifted as target 4.1 for sequence, progression and linkage with primary and secondary education

1.11. Monitoring and evaluation of ECCD policy, programs and models must be based on clear definitions, standards, indicators and measures for quality programming, accreditation and implementation regulated by public and private representatives.

1.12. Public funding for ECED must support economic constraints of marginalized groups through social safety nets

1.13. Form a South Asian ECED network – of thinkers, practitioners and activists linked to other regional and global networks

2. ECED Curriculum and Standards

2.1. The ECE and Primary Curriculum be reviewed for systemic linkages, ensuring it is developmentally appropriate, contextually relevant and culturally sensitive.

8

2.2. Determine quality standards such as child/teacher ratio, number of hours of care/ schooling for different age groups, curriculum standards and benchmarks at ages 3, 8 and 10 for all broad domains: cognitive; socio-emotional; moral/spiritual and physical as well as parenting and community involvement, teaching/ learning approaches, care and coordination among multiple actors/departments.

2.3. Holistic learning and development, outcome standards (e.g. early learning and development outcome standards, EAP-ECD Scales) must be contextualized and aligned with existing policies and curricular standards and benchmarks.

2.4. Remedial decentralized support be extended where standards are not met

2.5. A variety of developmentally appropriate teaching/learning materials based on from the learning outcomes related to all domains should be ensured in all ECED centres.

2.6. Ensure timely dissemination and access of curriculum, resource guides and teaching learning materials in relevant languages to stakeholders (teachers, head teachers, parents, care givers, education and monitoring institutions)

2.7. A review after every 3 years of the ECE/ECED curriculum to be conducted based on research evidence.

3. ECED - Teacher Preparation

3.1. All pre service and in service teachers/care giver education programs should prepare teachers to meet the ECED Curriculum and Care standards

3.2. Only qualified teachers (2 years and/or ideally 4 years of professional development- through flexi programs following higher secondary education Gr XII), care givers and heads having qualifications in ECED should be appointed.

3.3. A separate cadre and career ladder with specific qualification for ECED teachers and care givers be developed within the public services framework with minimum pay scales for providers from all sectors (public and private)

3.4. A Teacher-Education curriculum be designed for ECED teachers and care givers which prepares them to meet the professional development standards.

3.5. ECED Centres and Classrooms should have minimum learning materials, safe standards and be provided with recurring budgets for meeting continuous needs.

3.6. A monitoring and mentoring mechanism for ECED teachers be developed to ensure curriculum standards are being met and professional support is present.

3.7. Career promotions of ECED teachers/caregivers be based on qualifications and performance reviews

3.8. A portal must be developed to share best practices/ teaching and learning materials from the region for caregivers/ parents/ ECED teachers with maximum e -access; CDs, Television, mobile phones etc.

9

4. ECED Assessment and Research

4.1. Integrated, multi-disciplinary research on ECED should be encouraged to demonstrate links with multiple sectors and effects on individuals, the community and society in all sectors and economic growth.

4.2. Competencies given in the National curricula to be used as the framework for research on learning and assessment benchmarked for different age groups.

4.3. Relevant, valid and reliable data, especially for vulnerable groups must be generated with greater harmony among data from different sectors and/or organizations.

4.4. Clear, standardized, age-appropriate outcome indicators and measures along with relevant assessment tools and mechanisms must be developed to address all ECED domains (as mentioned above).

4.5. Assessment frameworks must be formative and not labelling and stigmatizing undertaken throughout the year, through child-centered approaches such as checklists, observations, anecdotal records and portfolios.

4.6. ECED assessment and research forums and networking to be encouraged in each country and across the region.

4.7. Budgets to be ensured for assessment and research (action/longitudinal studies).

4.8. All research and assessment findings must be disseminated to stakeholders to inform policy and practice.

ECED - Innovations

5.1. Current and emerging research on brain development, learning, care, parenting, mother tongue, multi-grade teaching and ICTs should be utilized to develop Innovative pedagogies for incubation, evidence and up scaling ECED models.

5.2. Innovations must be encouraged in holistic development, learning outcomes and assessment to nurture non-cognitive skills, global citizenship and lifelong learning.

5.3. A paradigm shift is needed for learning in ECED classrooms through meaningful human and materials interactions, away from text based approaches

5.4. Basic needs of the child; nutrition, care, rest, play, cleanliness and active learning are of prime consideration as are innovative schedules for daily activities.

5.5. Learning pedagogy from ECCE/ECED transitions up to primary and not vice-versa.

5.6. Innovations in service delivery must be introduced to reach the most marginalized groups and communities as specified in 1.7

5.7. Mitigate resources for extra teachers required in supervising achievement of developmental milestones, by soliciting help of family and community members.

5.8. Allow for the development of innovative models of ECCE/ECED as per the requirements and resources of local communities and not one size fits all approach

10

5.9. Innovative financing models must be devised and promoted to ensure greater access and effective programming for ECED through inter-departmental and public private partnerships, matching grant models, community financing and subsidies.

5.10. Establishing and/or expanding new and existing portals and development forums for learning and sharing ECED innovations in South Asia and other regions globally.

5.11. Undertaking field visits to successful ECCE programs for spreading innovations.

5.12. Commission research on innovations and share through seminars/conferences, workshops/documentation to disseminate good practices and to learning.

The above statement was the outcome of the proceedings of two days of intensive sharing of experiences by countries and provinces in Pakistan and of best practices of CSOs /INGOs. The statement is bold in suggesting actions for shifting the minimum threshold for ECCE/ECD from age 5 to 3, with special cadre of trained ECED Personnel and many other suggestions for resources committed to research and development.

The Karachi Consensus Statement requires that each country and province/state/area to develop a logical series of policy and action steps to implement various thematic areas of focus as practical measureable outputs and outcomes relevant to specific contexts.

The report of the Regional Conference covers the objectives; session brief summaries, working groups and group leaders, s photographs, and media coverage

Objectives of the Conference:

The main purpose of this conference was to upgrade the ECE/ECED profile in education initiatives - policy, standards, teacher education and training and, implementation integral to the right to education (RTE) movement encompassed in Article 25-A of the constitution in Pakistan and all South Asian countries.

To bring together a range of diverse stakeholders from the country and the region to debate and propose holistic and coherent solutions for ECE /ECCE program implementation

To underscore the critical positioning of ECE/ECED as a cross cutting multi-sectoral goal to meet multiple indicators in the Post 2015 Development Agenda (Child /Maternal Health/Nutrition/Poverty etc).

To mobilize regional collaboration and create a South Asian/Asia Pacific Learning and Research Platform for ECE/ECED supported by ARNEC, CECED, SAFED, PLAN, UNICEF, UNESCO, OSF and other organizations to enable cooperation for ECED,ECD/ECE across borders.

11

Expected Outcomes of the Regional Conference

Expected outcomes: Help participants to: Improve understanding of ECE/ECED as a comprehensive learning and development agenda Share national and regional best practices in this sub-sector with respect to curriculum, assessment teacher

preparation and implementation arrangements Explore policy and institutional arrangements for ECED at provincial, national and regional levels Learn from and network with the best practitioners, leaders, experts and policy makers Agree on a comprehensive ECED Karachi Consensus Statement for the conference

Sessions

The inaugural session was moderated by Dr. Bernadette Dean, Director, Valy Muhammad Institute for Education (VMIE). The Chief Guest was Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, Senior Minister for Education, Government of Sindh and Dr. Fazalullah Pechuho, Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), E&LD, Government of Sindh was the special guest Dr. Ghazala Rafique, presented the keynote address followed by Baela Raza Jamil on post 2015 implications. Ms. Saba Mahmood, Chief Program Manager, RSU, E&LD, Government of Sindh welcomed the honorable guests sharing the bold steps taken by the Govt. of Sindh for ECE in its recently approved Education Sector Plan supported by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), World Bank, European Union and other supporters.

The Chief Guest for the Closing session was Dr. Fazalullah Pechuho, Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), E&LD, and Government of Sindh. The session was also addressed by Mr. Saeed ul Hassan, Nargis Sultana OSF and Ms. Saba Mahmood, Chief Program Manager, RSU thanked all participants for their active engagement throughtout the two days. The closing session shared the Karachi Consensus Statement which was accepted in principle subject to some corrections and bolder terminology demonstrating the commitment of the government to ECCE as a fundamental bedrock of learning and human development

The program was designed to cover themes across two days in the following areas:

Day 1:

1. Inaugural

2. Policy and Right to Education (RTE) Status of Early Childhood Education

3. Curriculum and Standards

4. Teacher Preparation (Pre-In Service)

5. Formation of Groups

12

Day 2:

1. Research and Assessment

2. Innovations: Access, Parenting and Materials

3. Group Work

4. Concluding Session

The short synopsis of each presenter is shared below according to the sessions in which they participated.

Proceedings:

Day 1

Day 1 - Session 1: ECED- Policy and Right to Education (RTE)

The session was inaugurated by Mr. Nisar Ahmed Khurro-Senior Education Minister, Education and Literacy Department (Govt. of Sindh)

Dr. Ghazala Rafique-Interim Director Aga Khan University: Human Development Program and Asia - Pacific Regional Network for Early Childhood (ARNEC)

Dr. Rafique presented on issue: ‘ECE in Pakistan-Progress, Challenges and Prospects’. She commenced by saying that ECE is the missing link in achieving the desired results, she borrowed some scientific facts and figures to support her argument. She spoke about physical health and nutrition; mental health and development; early relationships; responsive care as a mediator for the effects of biological and social risks such as prematurity and poverty and finally, social and emotional development as a strong link to success in school (and beyond). She incorporated neurology and brain functions and networks as part of her presentation to effectively convey her point for the need to emphasize on ECED. She maintained that early experiences shape the brain’s architecture with neural synapses are the highest at the age of 6 thereby, the need to emphasis on education and learning of children during this age period is essential. Moreover, research has demonstrated that return to investment in human development is the highest in the early years of a child thereby, making ECED a pertinent and determinable aspect of education and, learning and development. Furthermore, 200 million children, under 5yrs of age in developing countries are not meeting their development potential due to absolute poverty and stunting (malnutrition),Pakistan accounts for 8 million of these children (Grantham-McGregor S et al (2006), Lancet, 369: 60). The cost of malnutrition to the country is Rs 200 billion every year (equivalent of more than 5% of GNP) leading to lost lives, disability and productivity.

13

Dr. Rafique referenced the 2011 Lancet series on Child Development focusing on risk factors for developmental inequality and program effectiveness. She presented evidence for the case of Pakistan and argued that progress in reducing out of school children has slowed whereas, wide inequalities in education are likely to persist in 2015 as well. The 18th amendment and the inclusion of the Right to Education article 25-A in the constitution is a reason for hope. However, she undercored the challenges faced by ECE in Pakistan ranging from gender and economic challenges, conflicts, dropout ratio and low enrolment issues. The ASER Report 2013 shows a declining trend in the quality of primary school education. She emphasized that there still remains the lack of realization and awareness about the benefits of ECE, negligence and lack of political will, low financial public sector investment, lack of comprehensive ECE policies (or policy frameworks) and a dearth of data and rigorous research studies on educational issues particularly ECE. Other policy failures included lack of training and qualified teachers, lack of capacity building, poor quality and access and, coordination problems. She concluded with opportunities and prospects of ECE and the multi-stakeholder partnerships for ECE in Pakistan. Baela Raza Jamil – Coordinator SAFED/ Director Programs ITA 

Baela Raza presented on "Asia-Pacific Regional Network for Early Childhood (ARNEC’s) Engagement on ECED in the Post 2015 Development Agenda”. She commenced by giving a brief introduction to ARNEC as an extensive and fast growing ECD network covering 47 countries aimed at creating a stronger and more dynamic ECD community by equipping its members with updated knowledge to help them become effective advocates for holistic and inclusive ECD policy and programs. She said that ARNEC’s plan of action is centered on the principles of knowledge generation, advocacy for policy change, information management and dissemination, capacity building and partnership building. She like others, emphasized on the need to invest on ECD which forms a crucial component of the mental and physical development and higher cognitive functions of a child. Baela Jamil said that as the MDGs are drawing to a close it has become absolutely essential to now actively engage in the post-2015 Development Goals at all levels. She added that the Post 2015 should aim at building a strong link between child survival and child development, investing early to yield greater returns and prioritize the most marginalized. She emphasized that close alignment between Education for All (EFA)/Muscat Agreement and Open Working Group (OWG) goals/targets giving ECE/ECCE a good space. The key message conveyed from the discussion was that ECCE should be regarded more comprehensively in a more holistic manner with emphasis on equity and quality. This includes school readiness in terms of its cognitive, socio-economic, health and linguistic development. Most importantly, ECCE should not be considered as a mere extension of primary education but a continuum from pre-natal and transition to primary school. Moreover, ECCE should have distributive targets to reach out to different social groups who are vulnerable with close monitoring and support regimes.

She proposed that there should be targeted training for quality assurance. Moreover, emphasis needs to be laid on the demand side of ECCE as well, it should be mandatory on the parents along with the state to provide ECCE also, it should be looked in light of other Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets as well. She proclaimed that on a positive note, progress has been made in the ECCD policy framework, its access and understanding and the quality imperative. Moreover, steps have been taken towards the development of comprehensive standards, regulations and guidelines, training and capacity building linked to ECCD programs. However, despite the progress ECCD is still marred by various challenges and obstacles. She further added that ARNEC aims to build an effective and efficient collaborative learning space to promote a holistic and inclusive ECD approach through extensive national level participation. It proposes to achieve this by innovations in financing and partnerships, innovations in service delivery to reach the most marginalised, innovative pedagogies and innovations in promoting holistic development and learning outcomes.

14

Muhammad Irfan Khan Jadoon-Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, ICT

Mr Jadoon presented on the ‘Federal Policy Position Post Scenario Article-25A’. He commenced by briefly going over the Right to Education Laws already in place in Pakistan. He added the Article 26 of “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” in his presentation, which entitles everyone to provision of free and compulsory elementary education and the accessibility and availability of technical, professional and higher education to all purely on merit basis, as the starting note of his speech. Moving on, he discussed the EFA 6 goals for the year 2015. They are: ECCE: Expanding early childhood care and education; UPE: Universal primary education; free and compulsory primary education for all; Continuing Education: Learning and life skills programs for young and adults; literacy: 50% increase in literacy rates; gender: Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary by 2005, and gender equality in education by 2015; quality: improving quality of education. He collated the goal 2, 3 and 4 of the MDGs with the EFA goals to stress on the need to effectively execute the education policies in Pakistan as per its membership of various global agendas. Furthermore, he elaborated upon the implementation of Article 25-A.

He disclosed that the Basic Education Community Schools (BECS) Program of Federal Government has aimed at educating the millions of Out-Of-School-Children (OOSC) who are deprived of this fundamental right. BECS programs is the best option due to its mandate, design, Non-Formal Education, and its offices and schools country-wide, to make accelerated efforts to achieve the UPE/ MDG targets by educating Out-of-School-Children and increasing the literacy rate. He shared the provincial status of the progress under the BECS. Mr. Jadoon discussed the NCHD program; it is another Federal Government program which aims at educating the millions of Out-Of-School-Children (OOSC) who are deprived of this fundamental right. Figure 17 shows the details of the NCHD Feeder Schools. Additionally, he mentioned the 3 aspects of the Policy Action on ECE in the Education Policy 2009 namely, improvements in ECE quality-2 year training for ECE teachers, one year pre-primary education/universal access in 10 years (3-5 year) and ECE attached to primary schools. The promised policy provision from 1998-2010 were also discussed in the presentation which included the recognition and strengthening of Katchi class as part of formal system and opening of Katchi/ECE classes in the public sector primary schools, training and recruitment of full-time teachers for katchi class/pre-primary education. Along with, curricula development for ECE and coordination for development of teaching-learning materials and free provision of activity-based textbook (Qaaida) and other learning material for pre-primary education.

After the insertion of Article-25 A the role of the state is clear; but ECE is faced by many challenges. There is a dire need for adapting the curriculum and classroom sources for meeting the diverse needs of 3-5 year old children and there is an immense need for developing deeper understanding of “how learning takes place”. Moreover, adequate provincial financial allocation is required for ECE and its learning practices to avoid mechanistic implementation of the ECE curriculum(2007); there should be a social and public accountability over health, social welfare initiatives and a compelling need for women’s welfare and education ministries to align their targets and mechanisms. The post Article 25-A scenario is marked by a lack of awareness regarding the importance of ECE and programs, insufficient financial resources, lack of networking and

15

coordination among agencies and institutions implementing and developing ECE programs. There is inadequate sharing of experiences in the NGO/private sector which are restricted in scope and scale. Moreover, emphasis needs to be laid on the lack of capacity in the public sector, poor quality and non-availability of appropriate and adequate learning material, lack of integrated programming for ECD, non availability of database, inadequate teachers training Program for ECE.

Balochistan: Dr. Kamal ud Din-Deputy Focal Person Capacity building and Specialist ECED, DoE BalochistanDr. Kamal presented on ‘Policy and Right to Education (RTE): Status on Early Childhood Education in Balochistan’. He gave a prelude to the education system and ECE in Pakistan along with their policy framework. He spoke over the significance of ECE and the criticality and advantages of ECE along with the efficacy of ECE in improving access especially for the most disadvantaged. Evidence from around the world suggests that the most disadvantaged children whether because of poverty, ethnicity, gender, rural isolation or disability, experience the most dramatic gains from ECE. He gave examples of the India village pre-school study, Early Childhood Care and Education in Sub-Saharan Africa, Peru and Nepal. There has been a modest increase in access of ECCE in Balochistan but there is an urgency in all 4 provinces to invest in the learning capabilities of school going children in early years as there is a need to support schools with ECE facilities; in Balochistan, only 5 % of the schools are equipped with ECE facilities. He shared the targets set under the Balochistan Education Sector Plan (BESP) and budget allocation to ECE related schemes in Balochisan respectively. Furthermore, the proposed assessment methods for ECE incorporated classroom level assessment, health and parental evaluation along with system diagnosis. He also shared various legislative, policy and other reforms on education, teacher training and ECE.

He concluded his presentation by giving an outline of measures to take ECED forward; it included expansion of ECE to all schools in Balochistan, the alignment of CPD and pre-Service trainings with the concept of ECE, availability of teaching-learning materials (TLMs) especially for ECE and primary level to make the teaching-learning processes more attractive. Beside construction design of the schools needs to be reviewed and aligned with the needs of the child and finally but most importantly approval and implementation of ECE policy frame work by the Balochistan Cabinet.

Punjab: Mr. Muhammad Shahid Saleem-Deputy Director (Planning), Directorate of Staff Development 

Mr. Saleem presented on the “Status of teachers training on ECE” and iterated that investment in ECE is a commitment to prosperous & bright future and hence, absolutely necessary. He briefly outlined the policy and sector plans for ECE in Pakistan including the National Education Policy (NEP) 2009, National Plan of Action for EFA 2002-15, devolution of education after the 18th Amendment (2010) and the Punjab School Education Sector Plan (PSEP) 2013-17. He explained that the key strategies in Punjab for ECE as an area of focus include the institutionalization of ECE through development and notification of a policy, dissemination of awareness and training of education managers, head teachers and teachers on ECE and, preparation of plans and implementation expansion of ECE programs to 5000 primary schools every year. He explained the

16

‘Scaling Up Strategy’ for ECE in Punjab (2011-2021) in relative detail which basically, aims to ensure the establishment of ECE resource centers in every public school with the following components: improvement of class room environment (development of ECE room), provision of learning resource material, integration of ECE teacher training in on-going training programs and community involvement and advocacy campaign. Furthermore, he elaborated upon the steps taken by the Directorate of Staff Development (DSD) in Punjab for the establishment of an ECE Resource Centre at DSD Campus in Lahore, 4 ECE centers in schools in the vicinity of DSD with the support of UNICEF & UNESCO), ECE rooms in every Lab School attached with GCET (Total 33), 17 ECE Rooms in Flood hit areas (M.Garh, D.G. Khan and Rajanpur Districts), Developed Phased Strategy to upscale ECE in Public Schools. Moreover, attempts have been made at the development of Teacher’s Guide on Early Childhood Education and Training manual, training of 132 master trainers and 4000 teachers on ECE techniques in 2011, ECE is the part of each training conducted at DSD and in the field and in pre-service at GCETs-B.Ed (ECE) Program.

Besides, he also acquainted the participants with the provision of ECE components of learning environment, provision of resource material and trained ECE teachers/ caregivers to over 1000 public schools all over Punjab. He also told the participants that the government of Punjab has undertaken a project to provide a child friendly learning environment through ECE in public sector schools. It includes specialized training of Master Trainers, teachers, Head Teachers and care givers along with the orientation of members of school councils and education managers. He concluded his presentation by giving in to some of the challenges faced by ECE in Punjab some of which were a high drop-out rate between ECE grade to Grade 1, insufficient trained personnel to fully embrace ECE as a holistic program, lack of trained teachers with pre-service qualifications, few institutions in place for ECE pre-service and Limited resources to expand ECE in about 50,000 Schools in Punjab. In the end he also shared some of the ECE material for quality learning with the guests.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Abid Ullah Kaka Khel-Director Education Sector Reform Unit (ESRU) /Deputy Secretary Education, Elementary and Secondary Education KP

His presentation was on ‘Early Childhood Education-KP’s Status’. Mr. Kaka Khel used ASER 2011-13 to illustrate student enrolment in public and private schools in Pakistan. He added that the lack of awareness about the importance and benefits of Early Childhood Education, account for the low demand for services, constrained supply, with few pre-school facilities available in existing primary schools, lack of fiscal space in education budget to finance development of specialist facilities and llimited discussion to date of this issue among government departments and partners barricading the development of ECE in KPK.

The Director ESRU said that as far as the provincial legal framework is concerned the constitutional amendment does not therefore explicitly address Early Childhood Education although a draft bill on the right to education in KPK exists, including provision for Early Childhood Education. He revealed that the KPK Government is currently consulting with international and provincial stakeholders. On the issue of future prospects and undertakings on ECE policy, Mr Kaka Khel revealed that the Elementary & Secondary Education Department is producing a new sector plan to 2019/20 during the second half of 2014.

17

The new plan will include policy, a clear approach to phasing in Early Childhood Education, and an indicative resource envelope for this work. Lastly, the approach will build on pilot work taking place in KPK with financial support from Australia and technical delivery through Save the Children program. Moreover, the government is also working with 400 schools in Abbottabad, Battagram, Buner and Peshawar districts over three years, using Australian funding and technical delivery mechanisms through Save the Children. This work will be rolled out, subject to available fiscal space and promising outcomes in pilot districts. Lastly, construction of 500 new ECE rooms in primary schools is in pipeline with 6 rooms Primary schools instead of two rooms.

Sindh: Saba Mehmood- Chief Program Manager , Reform Support Unit, Education & Literacy Department (E&LD), Government of Sindh

Saba Mehmood added concluding remarks to the session. She outlined the numerous reasons for the need to focus on the ECE in Sindh alongside, she also mentioned the measures undertaken by the provincial government to remove the obstacles in way of endorsing ECE in the province. ECE prioritizes policy and advocacy with emphasis on curriculum and learning, education standardization and parent –community involvement in learning. She spoke over the appraisal and uplift of the education system in Sindh under the ECE goals. She also mentioned the recent collaboration between Reform Support unit (RSU) and the EU regarding the curriculum implementation strategy. RSU is working on curriculum relevance and development and also, some work is being done on teacher development in CIF as well. The main idea she stressed, is to work towards the development of CIF and then work towards ECE with the ultimate goal of provision of free, nondiscriminatory and quality education to all.

Day 1 - Session 2: Curriculum and Standards

Ms. Ambreena Ahmed-Assistant Director, Teacher Resource Center Ahmed 

Ms. Ahmed presented on the “TRC story of the National ECE Curriculum 2002 - 2007”, the timeline and the role of TRC. She said that first ECE was a result of a PPP in 2002 and spoke about the inspiration behind TRC. She said that that one of the objectives of TRC was ECE giving a background of how ECE worked and its activities which included teacher training program. Teacher Absenteeism and unused school funds were targeted as being the major reasons for policy implementation failure in the ECED. TRC worked upon the development of curriculum and activities in ECE since the market was untapped and there was still room for growth and; as far as the policy making was concerned it was fairly easy but the implementation was difficult and lacked effective monitoring and evaluation. However, TRC continues pushing for ECE and activity-based learning in the government schools. Lastly, she thanked and acknowledged the partners and participants for their concern for such an important yet, neglected aspect of the education sector.

Ms. Nargis Sultana-Senior Education Advisor Open Society Foundations (OSF) 

18

Ms. Sultana presented on ‘Critical Thinking in Early Development’ and the need to infuse rational and critical thinking skills in children from a young age to develop their comprehension and decision making skills. She added that bad hygiene and malnutrition along with improper access to food and health facilities have had a bad impact on a child’s development and ECE should be linked to nutrition and health development with regards to education. In Pakistan she said, international models from different regions have been replicated like the work with TCF though, their focus on primary and secondary level and ECED remains largely untapped.

She reiterated that rote learning is unfortunately, a permanent feature of the education system in Pakistan but it needs to be worked on and eradicated. Thus, there is a need for this program to be implemented in both public and private schools that is one reason the recent collaboration of OSF with the TRC as it has started working on ECE as well. She further mentioned that there is a strong link between critical thinking and ECE and, this is being currently piloted in one school which if successful, can later be replicated on a larger scale. Furthermore, she stressed on institutional capacity building and development; teacher training institutes, text book boards and curriculum development as essentials to providing a strong foundation to education in Pakistan. Finally, she said that improvement in learning outcomes is being observed now as a result of such programs and working together can bring a marked difference; collaboration however, is important to avoid replication of efforts.

Abrar Shahwani-Project Coordinator, Save the Children 

Mr. Shahwani presented a paper on ‘Assessments and Research around the Literacy Boost Program under the Balochistan Education Program (BEP)’, which has been implemented in 3 districts in Balochistan. The program has a defined agenda; to increase access, to improve quality, to disseminate health and nutrition awareness and to support the planning and budgeting for the education programs in the province. He said that the issues and obstacles faced by Balochistan are different in nature as compared to the other provinces. The BEP programs are capacity building programs incorporating a lot of other programs like ECE and are well suited to the perils faced by the education sector in Balochistan.

He took the opportunity to acquaint the participants with the Literacy Boost program, which is an innovative and evidence-based initiative taken by Save the Children to support reading skills development in young children, he said. The Literacy Boost program aims to target the physical, cognitive, linguistic, emotional and social construction and development of children. Its teaching methodologies he added, are based on a children centered approach that focuses on promoting creative writing and analytical thinking for learners rather than rote learning with a particular focus on capacity building. The program he explained, takes a 3-pronged approach to assess and enhance the reading levels and reading comprehension of children and to conduct evidence-based policy dialogue on the Mother Tongue as the medium of instruction. They do this by focusing on assessment, teacher training and community action. The outcomes of the Literacy Boost program are illustrated in figures1 and 2. Mr Shahwani concluded by introducing the participants with another project being undertaken by Save the Children, Numeracy Boost which basically takes the same 3-pronged approach to strengthen the basic Math skills of early grade students (focus on Grade 2).

Qasim Muhammad - Senior Program Manager, PEPAS, Battagram, Save the Children

19

Mr Qasim Muhammad presented his paper titled ‘Synergies of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) projects with ECCE National Curriculum and Early Learning Disabilities (ELD(s))’. He emphasized on improved educational access and outcomes for young children (3-8 years) by increasing their learning and development opportunities, and by improving transitions into primary school. He further emphasized on a gender indiscriminate and better access to quality education, literacy and numeracy skills for children, especially girls and vulnerable children. Besides, he was also of the view that increased opportunities for the completion of Basic Education, and improved transitions from primary to middle, and middle to secondary school could be a milestone in overcoming the shortfalls in the education system in Pakistan especially, the ECE which forms the foundational edifice for higher education and child development at all stages. He briefly mentioned the ‘Education Strategic Theme Objectives 2014-15’ in which he pointed out their agenda of improved health and nutrition status of children through school health and nutrition services. It also included improved livelihood skills leading to increased income generation and, better access to basic quality education in a safe learning environment to the (children) victims of natural disasters. He also acquainted the participants with the different projects undertaken by ‘Save the Children’ organization, its work on ECE and curriculum development and a brief overview of their involvement in Pakistan. He highlighted the implementation of the curriculum in KPK and presented results further adding that advocacy of the results brought the provincial government and the organization on the same page. He also, briefly went through the key learning areas and key competencies of the ECCE framework of National Curriculum for Early Childhood Education (NCECE) & ELDs. He also, discussed in considerable detail the ECCE Framework; its learning environment, the learning process, the teachers’ training cycle, assessments, parental involvement, child friendly policies, good governance and institutionalization.

Idrees Jatoi-Deputy Director, Bureau of Curricula (BoC) and Extension wing Jamshoro (GoSindh)

Mr. Jatoi highlighted the role of BOC for the implementation of ECE in Sindh and, further discussed the details of the program. He stressed on a wider dissemination and outreach of ECE. He also, pointed out towards the need to align the ECE curriculum with the Teacher Development Curriculum to ensure the relative training and expertise of the teachers to aid better and comprehensive learning among the infants which is crucial to the effective enactment of Article 25-A. Moreover, he mentioned that a number of groups have been created by the name of Thematic Working Groups (TWGs)for suggestions and advisory regarding ECE and that the discussions in these TWGs have presented a number of useful and feasible recommendations. The terms of reference of the aforementioned program were discussed in the address. Different paths and policy strategies for moving forward were also proposed during the presentation.

Day 1 - Session 3: Teachers Preparation (pre and in-service)

Bernadette Dean- Director, VM Institute for Education (VMIE)

Dr. Bernadette Dean presented her keynote address on ‘Evolving Innovations: Developing Quality Professionals for the Early Years’. She talked about globalization, communication technology and child psychology and how they can be used to formulate a holistic and directed policy towards embedding strong foundations through ECE. She also, highlighted that their role is not only the education of a child but to aid

20

his/her overall personal development and capacity building. She also stressed on the need to improvise and revolutionize education and the teaching models according to the modern day needs.

She talked about the required 8Cs in the 21st century education and the need for a reflective and challenging learning environment to train the children for the practical world. Moreover, she pointed towards the need to inculcate critical-thinking skills and technological adaptability among the children meanwhile, discouraging rote learning. She concluded that, there is a need to reorient teacher training to prepare early childhood educators on children specific tools and methods and henceforth, their efficient deployment. She also talked about the introduction of VMIE teacher education model by incentivizing them and developing a family/community education program. She proposed a re-conceptualization of ECED from 0-10 years of age.

Nepal: Shanta Dixit-Director and Co-Founder of the Rato Bangla School, Nepal

Shanta Dixit talked about Nepal’s commitment to Child Rights and Education and the government’s Early Childhood development (ECD) related plans and policies in their core planning and development instruments like in the Education for All National Plan of Action (EFA/NPA-2001-2015) and the Five Year development plans and numerous others. She shared details about the Ratu Bangla Foundation and its achievements. Moreover, she spoke over the infrastructural inefficacies, classroom mismanagement and discrepancies in the transition from teacher training to classroom implementation where children’s inquisitiveness is suppressed. She highlighted that children inquisitiveness and curiosity should be nurtured as it leads to a healthy growth and development of critical thinking skills which are absolutely essential for a well grounded mental and cognitive development.

Qamar Shahid-Director General Provincial Institute for Teacher’s Education (PITE), Teacher Education Group 

Mr. Shahid presented on the topic, “Teacher Preparation for ECE in Sindh”.  He spoke over the Sindh Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2013 and the SESP 2014-18. These acts highlight the lack of concerted efforts by the Government of Pakistan to promote ECE (SESP, pg 82), lack of ‘teacher development and/or deployment strategy, nor an ECE-specific cadre of teachers’ (SESP, 87). The National Education Policy (NEP) 2009 holds that ‘improvements in quality of ECE shall be based on a concept of holistic development of the child that provides a stimulating and interactive environment, including play, rather than a focus on regimes that require rote learning and rigid achievement standards’ (NEP 2009, p. 35). Moreover, he highlighted that there is a consensus among all stakeholders that the quality of teachers in the public sector is unsatisfactory. Poor quality of teacher in the system in large numbers is owed to the mutations in governance, an obsolete pre-service training structure and a less than adequate in service training regime. Presence of incompetence in such a huge quantity and permeation of malpractices in the profession have eroded the once exalted position enjoyed by teachers under the eastern cultural milieu. Teaching has now unfortunately, become the employment of last resort of most educated young persons, especially males. Therefore, SESP stresses on Teacher Education and Development (TED) as a defining feature for quality education and learning in schools. On a positive note, the ECE curriculum has been devised and is available, efforts are being made to increase ECE teacher vacancies and, focus is being laid on teacher training and

21

Teacher Performance Management. He concluded his presentation by proposing some recommendations for ECE teacher preparation which included formulation of mandatory recruitment rules for ECE teachers’ qualification making diploma in ECE, a mandatory qualification. Moreover, recruitment on the basis of merit, induction of training of ECE Teachers in local language and using ECE curriculum, provision of all requisite facilities in TTIs, quality assurance of ECE training by Sindh Teacher Education and Development Authority (STEDA), Teacher Performance Management by DEO and CPD on cyclic basis (after every three years.

22

Day 2

Day 2 – Session 1: Research and Assessment

Sandeep, Sharma-Research Associate, Center of Early Childhood Education and Development (CECED), Ambedkar University, Delhi

Mr Sharma presented his paper titled : "Readiness for School, Impact for ECED". He explained the concept of ECED and its implications in the case of India, he added that low enrollment rate. high dropout rate and low learning levels are some of the national early childhood care education policy concerns in India. However, he drew attention of the participants towards another possibility i.e., whether these policy shortfalls are because the children’s lack of readiness for school. His presentation revolved around two basic questions. Firstly, to what extent are the 3 to 5 year olds ‘school ready’ and reflective in their cognitive, language & personal social development? Secondly, to what extent are the school readiness levels associated with quality of children’s ECE experience and which elements of the ECE content and processes have greater impact on school readiness? He extended his research questions to incorporate the quality of ECE programs, trends in school readiness levels of children in terms of specific competencies and progress made by children in 1 year with respect to the impact of gender along with age and participation in ECE programs. Moreover, another aspect to study in relative detail is the way these gains relate to quality variations keeping household factors and age controlled. He outlined a framework for quality ECE programs which included interactive & age-appropriate learning opportunities, better attendance & participation in ECE programs, improved school readiness skills & concepts, better utilization of primary schooling opportunities through better attendance & participation and better primary level outcomes in terms of retention, attendance, achievement & social adjustment. Moreover he also briefly covered the sampling procedure and the methodology of his research study.

Furthermore he discussed the quality variations in ECE programs with the participants. Government run Anganwadi, Private Preschool and Innovative ECE are three of the emerging models in ECE and he discussed the three models in relative detail. The presentation highlighted results showing the time on task analysis of the aforementioned models. Mr Sharma said that cognitive concepts, psycho-social and language skills and concepts are the three assessment tools for evaluating school readiness of children. He then explained the readiness of an average 5 year old child under these evaluative tools. He added that a multi nominal logistic regression analysis confirms, that after controlling for mother’s education, age and participation in ECE programs emerges as a significant factor for school readiness emerge as significant factors as older children (4 ½ - 5 ½ year ) benefit more from ECE experience in comparison to the younger children (3 ½ - 4 ½ year). Towards the end of his presentation he discussed the regression outcomes of his research study according to which; infrastructure and material, classroom management, curricular transaction and teacher disposition are important ECE program quality indicators and have a profound impact in the school readiness of children.

Concluding his presentation he devised a few outcomes from the discussion and his presentation firstly, that school readiness levels across states and across models are low particularly in cognitive and language concepts and skills, this may result in low learning levels in grade 1 and 2. Participation in ECE programs

23

leads to higher levels of school readiness. Moreover, the age at which children are exposed to ECE programmes is an important factor in having an impact on school readiness indicating need for age appropriate curriculum with more structured activities for 4 to 5 year olds. Most importantly, interactive and child friendly teachers is a significant factor especially for developing cognitive and language competencies. Some of the curriculum areas requiring strengthening are, phonemic awareness sequential thinking, pattern making, classification and self- regulation capabilities.

Dr Muzaffruddin-Country Representative, BRAC Pakistan

Dr. Muzaffaruddin presented on ‘Pre-primary education to ultra-poor: from Access to Quality’, he informed the participants that BRAC is associated with 955 schools throughout the country. Furthermore, he mentioned that BRAC’s ECE project is functional in three districts of KPK with a student enrolment of 7,600 children of ages 3-5 years. He emphasized the importance and general inclination towards private schools in Pakistan; in contrast in Bangladesh he said, children preferred going to public schools where there is a strong monitoring system. He also emphasized on innovation and evolution in the educational practice however, he said that BRAC believes in simple small low-cost innovation such as arranging shoes in different shapes every day to help stimulate innovation and independent thinking skills in children from an early age.

Audrey D’Souza Juma-Director at Notre Dame Institute of Education

Ms. Juma presented her paper on “Gender Discourses and Teacher-Talk: Re-conceptualizing Teachers' Roles in Promoting Gender Equity in Pakistani Early Childhood Classrooms”. The research objectives were primarily to unearth gender discourses in early childhood classrooms in Pakistan through teacher talk and to explore how teachers can re-conceptualize their role so as to promote alternative discourses of gender equity in their classrooms. The study incorporated Feminist Post-structuralism as a research framework and Participatory Action Research as a methodology which engages people in the research process to address their own needs and thus ‘generate knowledge’, especially categorizing shared ownership of research projects, community-based analysis of social problems and orientation towards community action (Kemmis & McTaggart, 2000). Further on, she introduced her co-researchers on the project which included ECE teachers and a few school systems who engaged with the project purely based on interest in working with gender issues and willingness to bring about change and promote gender equity.

She explained that Teachers locate themselves with various discourses like the essentialist discourse, discourses around sexuality and, discourses of morality and discourses on male supremacy. She emphasized that these discourses constituted a specific set of truths or a ‘regime of truth’– such as religious patriarchy, these truth claims constituted a regime of truth that was visible and operating as discourses and governed the teachers however, they shifted within/without these discourses. While, the regime operated to govern teachers’ understanding of gender equity, not all the discourses circulating, were accepted as ‘truth. Furthermore, she pointed out that gender equity in education and development of children is a troubling issue; equity should be constructed around ‘equal opportunities. Girls need to be given the same status ‘darja’ as boys and should be valued and treated in similar fashion as boys. She briefly talked over the various gender equity projects such as, engaging children in block play, employing mixed groups for children to work together, treating children as human beings, working with a rights perspective towards gender and using

24

stories to disrupt gender stereotypes. Some of the gender equity works include ending segregation, calling on boys and girls for all tasks, using gender inclusive language, using dialogue to challenge power differentials, intervening in children’s play and using a gender ‘lens’ to observe children. Therefore, working for gender equity is ‘risky’ with many contradictions and multiple ‘truths’ but, there is a need to look at whose ‘truth’ is marginalized and silenced, not all discourses operating within the regime of truth could be disrupted and certain others could only partially be disrupted and the study opened doors to explore alternative ways and storylines to address gender.

Mr. Tanveer-Director Provincial Education, Provincial Education Assessment Center (PEACe), Bureau of Curriculum & Extension Wing Sindh, Jamshoro

Mr. Tanveer presented on ‘Assessment and Learning Standards for ECE’ and started off by giving a brief introduction to PEACe. He said that in order to formulate an effective ECE program it is essential to study its strengths and challenges, its interests, attitudes and dispositions. Moreover, there is a need to guage the effectiveness of the curriculum and planned experiences for a specific child or group of children; to address and plan for the strengths and needs of all students; to evaluate achievement and attainment. It is also important to essentially identify and incorporate children with special needs and in decision making regarding teaching and learning. He stressed that assessment drives and learning are a recurring cycle as depicted in figure 19. He also emphasized that assessment for pre-primary children should be age appropriate, aligned with curriculum standards and comprehensive as it has numerous future implications. The key learning areas of the National Curriculum 2007-ECE includes personal & social development, language and literacy, basic mathematical concepts, the world around us, health hygiene and safety and creative Arts as important facets of the ECE policy.

He further added that there are a few expected outcomes or goals related to personal & social Development (Learning Area) that need to be achieved after ECE programs are implemented. Such as understanding of like and dislike, working in collaboration, developing an appreciation for the diversity of people around them, awareness of their own religion, demonstration of a sense of responsibility for them and others and lastly, learning about and appreciating heritage/culture of their own family, their peers and neighbors. He added that in order to promote learning, the teacher should discover the need of the competence and plan activities and interact with child accordingly. She explained that the ECE classroom assessment is procedural with various necessary steps. Starting off by setting targets and writing objectives, then choosing an assessment, tools and technique followed by administering the assessments and analyzing the data and lastly, sharing the results with parents. Figure 20 shows how an Early Childhood Assessment differs from a Grade 4 Assessment. In the concluding phase of her presentation she said that full time teachers for Katchi class/pre-Primary Education will be trained and recruited, capacity building of ECE teacher in the area of classroom assessment, ELOAF may be developed for effective classroom assessment. Moreover, learning standards, competencies, expected learning outcomes can be translated in local languages and wider dissemination and lastly, summary reports should be completed three times a year for each child based on teacher observation.

25

Purnima Ramanujan-Senior Research Associate at ASER Center India

Ms Ramanujan presented her longitudinal research on the “Pathways and Learning in Early Years: Data from 3 districts of India", Telengana, Assam and Rajasthan. Her study included large scale rapid assessment on a district level for collecting estimates of participation and early learning. The exercise included large scale rapid assessment and district level estimates of participation and early learning and, evaluation of school readiness assessment- to check basic vocabulary, cognitive, lingual and pre literacy skills and development. The Early Learning assessment for Grade 1 evaluated the students on their early language, arithmetic and cognitive skills. Her findings revealed that a high provisioning of ECE centers did not necessarily mean participation (RJ) also, Children take many ‘pathways’ through ECE and/or primary school, these ‘pathways’ are very different in each state leading to a lack of uniformity in the data collection making it difficult to derive an inference. Moreover, the findings also revealed that children are entering school before the official age and consequently, over two-thirds children are in primary schools although, large proportions are below the official age of entry to school.

Furthermore, she presented a detail study of the ECE program provision and usage in the three districts. Her findings revealed that at Visit 7 (October – November 2013), over two-thirds of all children were in school although there are state variations. Also, Teleganga has the highest proportion of children who transitioned into school in Year 3, followed by Rajasthan while in Assam, over half of all children remain in ECEs. The transition into school was not uniform among children in different states. Moreover, in 2 of 3 states, over 95% children were enrolled somewhere on all 7 visits. In Rajhastan higher proportions participate ‘irregularly’ and in TG over three quarters of all children have mixed exposure, to both pre-primary and primary. Therefore, the irregular participation or with movement between different types of centers make it difficult to locate the impact. Whilst over 3 years the results show that all children improve across tests however, overall levels are comparatively low and there are variations in performance by state; while children in Assam and Teleganga have similar scores on SRI, those in Teleganga do better on Grade 1 assessments. Another observation from the study was that, children who participate more (frequency of enrollment) do have better outcomes but even within the full dosage category, ‘type’ of dosage and state matters.

The concluding inferences from the presentation was that, pre-primary education matters but there is need for a policy to define the number of years of ECE exposure required for a child. Young children are entering formal school environments earlier than the official age thereby, there are challenges associated for such children with learning in an developmentally-inappropriate environment. Moreover, there is need to look at Age 3-6/7/8 as the ‘early learning years’ so that a continuum can be maintained; as for India, children entering school are doing so with limited skills. Expectations thus need to be realistic, based on children’s’ levels rather than on vague over projected curriculum frameworks and textbooks.

26

Day 2 – Session 2: Innovation: Access, Parenting and Materials

Sudeshna Sengupta-Senior Advocacy Manager, Mobile Creches – India 

Under innovations in ECED Ms. Sengupta;s presentation was on “Innovative Responses to Challenges on the Ground”. She commenced her presentation by defining the term ECCE and the ECCE Policy in India as of 2013. The ECCE in India is faced with various challenges such as diverse situations – geographical, ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic; urbanization – challenges of space/infrastructure; convergence and access – inclusion, equity and poverty. Moving on, she spoke over the response from Mobile Creches for children of migrant parents, those in urban slums and all children at risk - income poverty, poverty of opportunity etc. The response included direct interventions–services; model building; community mobilization and system strengthening with community engagement; mobile creches as a resource and leading civil society movements and policy interventions. One of the holistic day care model included care and protection incorporating nutrition, education, community awareness and health as essential components of the day care policy. The Day Care program had overwhelming and profuse outcomes with an average of 1200 children everyday being provided safety, security and protection; relief from sibling care for 400 children; improvement in the nutritional grade by 72%; age appropriate immunization by 98%; mainstreaming of older children from 20 to 30%; linkage with government health services and integration of ECCE programs everyday with planned activities.

She stressed on learning by playing and empowering mothers to yield effective results on child learning and development. She also, underlined the need to initiate community engagement to work with the government to strengthen the state provisions at the local level. One strategy for empowering communities and strengthening services for children in urban slums is to integrate various aspects of the society empowerment of communities, strengthening of services, link with government programs and other childcare services, building community groups and family based interventions. The impact of various child care and protection policies id illustrated in figure 21. Community mobilization was accompanied by reality check on status of Integrated Care and Development Services (ICDS), inauguration of 80 anganwadis through demand generation from community, study has been conducted to assess the need for childcare with 1380 household in 23 slums and a couple of public hearing resulting in improved quality of nutrition and timings of a number of ICDS centers.

Resultantly, the key learnings from various assessments and programs revealed, a holistic design - linked to nutrition, health and care; curriculum and Guidelines (context specific and flexible) on daily activities; quality norms; teaching and learning materials; community engagement; Program Operations & Systems; supervision and monitoring; stakeholder participation; human resource and capacity building; infrastructure and adequate financial resources as the essential elements of a successful ECCE program. On the issue of using Mobile Creches as a resource proposed perspective and capacity building on ECCE and operationalizing crèches for government agencies, NGOs and community women to create a pool of trained, informed institutions and

27

professionals thereby, creating indigenous training and learning material. The last response indicated towards leading civil society movements this included, networking with grassroots organizations, rights groups and campaigns, state networks, academia, experts and practitioners on the policy intervention from the response included serving on the government committees, ddialogues with the government agencies linking with International Agencies. sIn the end she briefly mentioned the ECCE policy and birth of alliance which aim at the Right to ECD (H, N, E, C, P) as a justifiable right and it seeds in the Right to Education movement of 2002 where under sixes were left out as it was inter-sectoral, expensive and complex

Sahar Saeed-Program Manager, ASER Pakistan-ITA Pakistan

Ms. Sahar Saeed’s presentation was on “Issues of Access & Learning in Early Childhood Education: Emerging Trends & Challenges from ASER Pakistan”. The presentation drawing on data from trends from ASER Pakistan. According to the Global Monitoring Report (GMR) 2013-14 revealed poor levels of learning (at lower grades) of primary school resulting in millions of children leaving education before acquiring basic skills. The linguistic, cognitive and social skills that children develop in early childhood are the foundations for lifelong learning. Also, Studies from many countries, including Chile, India and Madagascar, show the contribution of pre-school to overall cognitive abilities. She further added that recognition and strengthening of Katchi class as part of formal system, universal access to ECE shall be ensured within the next ten years and two year pre-service training to ECE teachers was promised as per the ECE policy in the National Education Policy -NEP 2009 & Article 25 A – Right to Education –for 5-16 years. She pointed at the non-availability of basic facilities in government schools: only 64% government primary schools have drinkable water facility, 57% have complete boundary walls and 47% have usable toilets. This cumulatively has impact on who stays and who leaves the public sector schools, especially in the early grades.

Ms. Saeed emphasized that although much stress is on enrolment, the real question is whether the schools are ready to induct young children and provide them with a thriving, curious and positive nurturing learning environment? Secondly, do the schools have sufficient learning resource material to make the experience meaningful? Thirdly, are there teachers available and trained to facilitate a batch of 30-50 -90 children? And lastly, do the teachers’ realize the significance of ECE and do they see themselves as quality caregivers? Approaching the end of the MDGs she said, there is a need to pay heed to research and start implementing policies; move from ECE to ECCE (0-8 years), end the randomness of policies and plans and investment for this important area.

She like many others emphasized that there is a to develop the connection between research and policy, between the school and community, numeracy/literacy with cognition and development and to turn attention to the role of teachers in early grades and focus on pre-service and in-service training. Without an investment and resource strategy for quality, children will continue to suffer from social, emotional and learning stress especially, the bottom ones. Emergent health and education collaboration must be strengthened for institutional ownership and the beginning of an ECCE program in Pakistan. Lastly, there is a need for a multi-sectoral stakeholders group to formulate ECD/ECCE national strategy document with provincial ownership

28

and ideally speaking there is a need to devise a stand-alone goal for ECE (ARNEC, ECCE Consultative group) in the post 2015 period.

Day 2 – Session 3: Groups and Group Work Facilitated by Moderators

Group Work Guidelines for the Karachi Declaration or Consensus Statement:

Please discuss strategies for implementation on the designated theme of your group . Please consider the following while devising the strategies for the specific themes:

Guiding Principles Moving Forward, next steps with respect to the needs/ challenges within the country/ region Influencing /refining the post 2015 targets

Please review the thematic section of the Karachi Declaration/Consensus Statement and modify as required.

Group 1: Policy and Right to Education status on ECED

Moderated by Dr. Muhammad Memon and Baela Raza Jamil

Group 1 Policy and Right to Education Status on ECED1 Syed Tanzeem2 Dr. Mohammad Memon3 Bushra Faheem4 Muznah Faheem5 Azim Sajidi6 Rubina Jalib7 Saeed ul Hassan8 Muzzaffarudin9 M. Irfan Khan Jadoon10 Abidullah Kaka Khel11 G. Murtaza12 Abdul Rauf Khandra13 Sheela Devi14 Nadir Hussain15 M. Akber Memon16 Nuzhat Bukhari17 Lila Ram18 Yasmeen Hirani19 Zahra Shaheen20 Farwa Fatima

Group 2: Curriculum and Standards

Moderated by Audrey Juma and Huma Sikander

29

Group 2 Curriculum and Standards1 Huma Sikander2 Firdous Ali Lalwani3 Ali Raza Khoja4 Noor Muhammad5 Khurram Habib6 Audrey Juma7 Eleanor Banal Murtuza8 Rana Hussain9 Farzana Kausar10 Firdous11 Ali Raza12 Noor Muhammad13 Khurram Habib14 Khalid Mehmood Memon15 Tanveer Ahmed Khan16 Idrees Jatoi17 Aliya Zahra Hussain18 Kiran Zubair

Group 3: Teacher Preparation (Pre and in-service)

Moderated by Dr. Bernadette Dean

Group 3 Teacher Preoaration (Pre and In-service)1 Hina Amin2 Mussarat Rehman3 Naseem Parveen4 Zaib un Nisa Mangi5 Zamir Abro6 Waleed Zarakzai7 Maqbool Ahmed8 Iman Zaidi9 Zulfiqar Bachani10 Mohammad Afzal Khan11 Fatima12 Qamar Shahid Siddiqui13 Muhammad Shahid Saleem14 Atta Muhammad15 Bernadatte L. Dean16 Abdul Qasim17 S. Khadija Murtaza18 Dr. Kamran Ahmed

30

Group 3 Teacher Preoaration (Pre and In-service)19 Hassan Rind

Group 4: Research and Assessment

Moderated by Dr. Ghazzala Rafique, Dr. Kammaludin and Sandeep Sharma

Group 4 Research and Assessment1 Cassandra Fernandas2 Nadia Razzaq3 Sana Akhtar4 Aisha Nauman5 Yu-Ling Liu- Smith6 Mansoor Asdazgi7 Mohammad Saghir Sheikh8 Dr. S. Kamaluddin9 Damar Fatima10 Sanober Naz11 Purnima Ramanujan12 Sandeep Sharma13 Dr. Anjum Bano Kazimi14 Naila Siddiqui15 Ulfatwah16 Saba saeed17 Dr. Mushtaq Noorewala18 Mumtaz Pirzada19 Ulfat Bangash20 Asad Ali Aslam

Group 5: Innovation: Access, Parenting and Materials

Moderated by Dr. Shanta Dixit, Sudeshna Sengupta

Group 5 Innovations: Access, Parenting and Materials1 Neelofar Ali2 Sonal Saeed3 Nabeeha Sajid4 Rumana Hussain

31

Group 5 Innovations: Access, Parenting and Materials5 Rohan Saleem6 Yousuf Ahmed Ibrahim7 Abrar Shahwani8 Abdul Faheem Noonari9 M Alam Thaheem10 Mehboob Ali11 Inam ul Haq12 Ali Usman13 Seema Zia14 Sudeshna Sengupta15 Rozina Jumani16 Nasreen Faheem17 Amra Alam

Day 2 – Special Contributions shared by eminent presenters from India and Bangladesh

Special Contributions shared by eminent presenters from India and Bangladesh with the conference participants by experts who could not be present due to the postponement of the conference from June to September 2014

Dr. Venita Kaul-Director of the School of Education/ Center for Early Childhood Education and Development (CECED), Ambedkar University Delhi

Dr. Kaul’s keynote presentation was titled ‘ECCE Policy in India: Process, Promise and Prospects’. The presentation highlighted the Indian context and perception of ECCE; ECCE in context of Right to Education (RTE) in 2009; the ECCE policy in India, 2012 and its different facets; the role of Higher Learning Institutions and CECED. She started off by defining the notion of ECCE and ECD in the case of India; it is defined as care, nutrition, health and education provisions for children from prenatal to 6/8 years of age which nurtures their holistic and integrated development. She delved into details of the stage-wise development of a child and the necessary and required measures to aid sustainable development at each stage. Her presentation highlighted the discrepancy in the ECCE policy and implementation in India as per the 2009 evaluation. However, in spite of uneven execution of ECE in India, it has yielded a better learning rate, greater readiness to attend formal school and 15-20% increase in children’s retention in primary grades those who have undergone ECE. This trend was supported with evidence based on the research undertaken by CECED. The western research attributes higher incomes and incidence of home ownership, lower propensity to be on welfare and lower rates of crime and arrest to investment in ECCE. She reiterated that India has an established policy and programmatic framework for ECCE, but there are challenges attached to it like, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and need for its restructuring. Moreover, the Indian National Policy on ECE has adopted a participatory approach with its focus on universal access with equity and inclusion and quality

32

in ECCE. There is a need to strengthen capacity in monitoring and supervision of ECCE programs; though ECCE has garnered considerable support and focus it still faces many challenges. Lack of institutional capacity and parental awareness, poor infrastructure and human resources, lack of a data base on ECCE along with, an unregulated and expanding private sector, rote learning and poor quality ECE are the major hurdles in way of its effective implementation in India.

Mahmuda Akhter-Executive Director, Institute of Child and Human Development (ICHD)

Mahmuda Akhter’s presentation was prepared and sent to the participants. It was titled ‘Comprehensive ECCD Policy in Bangladesh: How it evolves with GO-NGO Collaboration’. The achievements of Bangladesh were shared in terms of making a rapid headway in human development according to the HDR 2013 and achieving the MDGs; reducing the poverty gap ratio, attaining gender parity at primary and secondary education, reduction in under-five mortality rate. Ms. Akhtar highlighted the development of ECCD in the post-independence Bangladesh in a chronological order. As of 2013 courses on ECD have been incorporated in to graduate and post-graduate studies; module on ECD incorporated in to health and family welfare front line workers training curriculum; ELDS developed; ECCD issues incorporated in different policies; service delivery model developed for different age groups; awareness and mobility among parents and communities over the issue. She further added that a strong national network on ECD has been established alongside, an effectively functional framework of Pre-primary Education (PPE) with a national curriculum and development of service delivery material, teacher training with an increased budget allocation to PPE have been the milestones so far covered by Bangladesh in ECED. The Comprehensive Early Childhood Care and Development Policy was approved in Bangladesh on November 4, 2013. Within the last 12 years, multiple interest groups have evolved with different platforms for collaboration, windows of opportunity, engagement for technical support and demonstration of model crucial for policy making on ECD. Interest on ECD also increased at the ministerial level which has had a positive impact on the ECD movement as the government is part of this network with a proper mandate, a well-structured multi level engagement along with technical capacity and capacity building. Furthermore, NGOs’/CSOs’ representation is significant and, always welcomed and encouraged by the government for their technical expertise in all committees/working groups of government at every level.

This collaboration of stakeholders was the key to the ECD success in Bangladesh from 2000 to 2013, Bangladesh is therefore a good example of GO-NGO collaboration in the field of ECD. The policy and vision encompasses provision of full care, development, protection and survival support for developing strong foundation for life-long development with equal importance to all regardless of their ethnicity, geographical location, gender, religion, socio-economic condition, ability and special needs. The Policy therefore aims at early preparation of the pregnant mother , the holistic need of young children in early ages, building strong foundation for holistic development and school readiness, smooth transition to primary education, reduction in disparity and mainstreaming of the issues of children with disabilities, marginalized and excluded groups. The policy therefore, comprised of 8 strategic principles; holistic approach, continuity of services, parenting, Engagement & Ownership, Age & Culturally appropriate, inclusion, Equality & Equity in Gender, Life Cycle

33

Approach. She said that ELDS has been set as technical standard for ECCD programming. She concluding by briefly going over the implementation strategy and other important issues that the policy covered as well.

Dr. Renu Singh-Country Director, “Young Lives”

Dr. Singh shared a presentation on ’Early Childhood Care and Education is Promoting Equity?’. Global figures and evidence were shared on ECD, malnutrition, inequities in access to early childhood programs, regional variations, gender parity in PPE, disparities within the countries by wealth and location, exclusion of children with disabilities and increasing presence of the private sector. She presented ECCE. She highlighted the different perspectives and facets of ECCE; ECCE as a mechanism for promoting equality of access to the workforce for women and as such, a support for economic development, ECCE as a mechanism for combating educational disadvantage or social exclusion, ECCE as a mechanism for promoting equality of access to the workforce for women and as such, a support for economic development; its economic return on Investment and its contribution to breaking the poverty cycle. Her presentation illustrated the impact of ECCE intervention as an effective tool in aiding learning and development for the most disadvantaged children. She also emphasized the Ecological framework for equity and inclusion with macro and micro policy initiatives

Dr. Singh’s presentation alluded to the daunting challenges of ECCE in terms of equity, negligible public funding for ECCE, inadequate training, certification and incentives for ECCE, lack of attention to marginalized and disadvantaged groups, weak coordination between sectors and with family and above all dearth of relevant data. ‘Universalization with quality’ is still a distant goal in India pertaining to a huge variation in services in ICDS and the private sector. She supported her claim with figure 6 which shows the percentage of children (age 4.5 and 5 years) enrolled in private and government pre-schools. Clearly, the enrollment in government schools is indirectly proportional to the financial standing of various groups. It is important to recognize that will and capacity are the key aspects to achieving equity in ECCE. ECCE is not about a ‘one-size fits all’ application if the desired outcomes are to be achieved; there is a need to come up with targeted social policies for vulnerable families and decentralized interventions and innovations along with a broader service orientation and multi-stakeholder interaction in decision making. In the end she proposed a genuine ‘Partnership- South-South’: building an enabling policy environment with associated equity-based allocations and interventions which are the key to realizing the rights of every young child who are the future of nation-states. She iterated that it is imperative that all stakeholders collaborate to make ECCE part of the global post-2015 agenda.

The concluding session was a rich end to the two day regional conference culminating in the reading of the Karachi Consensus Statement. Dr. Fazal ullah Pechuho underscored the need to take bolder measures for ECED in South Asia, Pakistan and Sindh including lowering of the RTE age group from 5 to 3 or even younger to have the necessary impact on children, mothers, families and community. He emphasized the need for merit based hiring of capable teachers for ECE/ECED. Ms. Saba Mahmud thanked the particpants from Pakisstan and the region for their valuable and intensive participation. She hoped that this will lead to collaborations within and outside the country in the region in the areas of knowledge sharing, research and other collaborative innovations for ECE/ECED and ECCE.

34

All presentations and process documents on ECE/ECED are available on the website: http://regionalconference.rtepakistan.org/presentations.php

ASER Policy Brief Booklet on ECE, as circulated in the conference, is available at:

http://www.aserpakistan.org/document/aser_policy_briefs/2013/ECE-ASER%20policy%20brief-notes%20booklet.pdf

Annex A: Picture Gallery

35

36

37

Annex B: Media Coverage

Katchi to be changed into ECE classes, says Khuhro(Daily Times) September 18, 2014KARACHI: Sindh Education Minister, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro on Tuesday said Katchi (orientation class) in the province would soon be transformed into Early Childhood Education (ECE) class. Read More

'Katchi' to be transformed into ECE class: Khuhro(The Nation) September 17, 2014Sindh Education Minister Nisar Ahmad Khuhro on Tuesday said karachi (Orientation Class) in the province would soon be transformed into Early Childhood Education (ECE) class. Read More

Moot stresses early childhood education, care(DAWN News) September 17, 2014KARACHI: “It is the milestones of early years that will enable our children to complete transitions to primary, post-primary and secondary education. The young need carefully crafted attention, including nurturing, nutrition and teaching, so that they can grow up as tall, well-supported, informed and responsible citizens,” said senior minister for education and literacy Nisar Ahmed Khuhro. Read More

'Katchi' to be transformed into ECE classes: Nisar Khuhro(Business Recorder) September 16, 2014KARACHI: Sindh Education Minister, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro on Tuesday said Katchi (orientation class) in the province would soon be transformed into Early Childhood Education (ECE) class. Read More

Regional Conference on Right to Education opens in Karachi(OnePakistan) September 16, 2014Karachi, Idara-e-Taleem-o-Agaahi, along with Education and Literacy Department, Government of Sindh Pakistan, South Asia Forum for Education Development (SAFED) and development partners (OSF/DFID/Dubai Cares and Oxfam GB)convened a regional conference on the Right to Education & Early Childhood Education and Development; Foundation for Quality Learning-Evidence from South Asia- in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan from September 16th – 17th, 2014 at Pearl Continental Hotel, Karachi. Read More

Asian Perspective opens in Karachi   (Pakistan News Releases) September 16, 2014Karachi, September 16, 2014 (PPI-OT): Idara-e-Taleem-o-Agaahi, along with Education and Literacy Department, Government of Sindh Pakistan, South Asia Forum for Education Development (SAFED) and development partners (OSF/DFID/Dubai Cares and Oxfam GB)convened a regional conference on the Right to Education and Early Childhood Education and Development; Foundation for Quality Learning-Evidence from South Asia- in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan from September 16th – 17th, 2014 at Pearl Continental Hotel, Karachi. Read More

38

Annex C: Regional Conference leads the Way Forward: Sindh Govt. Drafts the First-Ever ECE Policy in Pakistan

Karachi, 18th November 2014: “Reform Support Unit Education and Literacy Department is working for introduction of Early Childhood Education in public schools of Sindh,” reported Ms. Saba Mahmood, Chief Program Manager at Reform Support Unit (RSU), Education and Literacy Department, Government of Sindh. “As far as the implementation plan is concerned RSU will play the role of a focal institute for ECE initiatives”, she added.

RSU E&LD has been closely working with a Task Force for ECE, comprising of members from public organizations, NGO/INGOs and practitioners to formulate Policy of Early Childhood Education. Baela Raza Jamil, Director Programs at Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) actively worked with RSU to draft the ECE policy 2014. Please find the policy at: http://www.rsu-sindh.gov.pk/contents/ECE/4th/ECEP%20Policy%20Draft.pdf.

Further building the collaboration, Baela Raza Jamil and Saba Mahmood, presented at the ARNEC Conference on Early Childhood Development on the Global Agenda: “Building partnerships for Sustainability and Harmony" in Manila December 3-5, 2014. The Plenary session on day one was on: Alliance building and partnerships for more holistic and inclusive ECD. The presentation mapped new partnerships and alliance building models for ECD unpacking these options in the run up to the post 2015 development agenda.  It illustrated innovative partnership models that demonstrate value for money propositions embedded in robust evidence, involving transcending of boundaries of a single sector approach and myopic targets to create a sound platform for the fullest human development through ECD. Please find the presentation at: http://www.rsu-sindh.gov.pk/ECE/ece.php.

 

39

Annex D: Program of the Regional Conference

PROGRAM:

40

41

42

Annex E: Attendance sheet

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

59

60

61

62

63

64