KARACHI: The Sindh government’s School Education Department (SED) on Saturday launched the province’s first Early Childhood Care and Education Policy (ECCE) at a local Hotel.
The chief guest of the ceremony National Assembly Member and SZABIST Chancellor Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho congratulated the SED for achieving this milestone.
She said that ECCE Policy would not only create and develop students’ empathy with fellow human beings but also with nature and environment. Further, she said that the policy will support in fostering social skills which can’t be learned at home.
She urged the School Education Department and other stakeholders to implement ECCE Policy in letter and spirit so that challenge of bringing the out of school children back to school can be tackled effectively.
School Education Department Secretary Abdul Aziz Uqaili highlighted a major challenge that is the recruitment of qualified ECCE teachers for successful implementation of ECCE Policy. Keeping the ground realities in mind, the secretary stated that the SED will introduce one-year ECCE programme for the children aged 4-5 years.
This programme will be scaled up later. He said that the recruitment process has been initiated and a rigorous training programme of ECCE teachers will also be organised.
While briefing about ECCE’s curriculum, Curriculum Wing Head Dr Fouzia Khan said that the ECCE’s curriculum has been designed on the basis of national curriculum which caters to the needs of children for holistic development.
Sharing progress on ECCE in Sindh, Schools Additional Secretary and ECCE Provincial Coordinator Imtiaz Bhatti said that a separate project implementation unit has been set up which will be converted into the ECCE Directorate in future.
Reform Support Unit Chief Programme Manager Faisal Ahmed Uqaili welcomed guests and presented an overview of the ECCE policy.
He said that formulating and developing ECCE Policy is the first step but there is still a long way to achieving desired goals.
Plan International Country Director Imran Yousuf Shami assured his organisation’s full commitment to implement the policy with the government.
He also committed to providing 100 sets of books for starting ECCE classes in the Government Boys Higher Secondary School Church Mission School.
The Early Childhood Care and Education Policy focuses on holistic development of a child, including basic needs for protection, food and health care and education. The policy is aligned with the sustainable development goals and will play a pivotal role in the transition of children from pre-primary to primary and serve as a useful tool for pursuing clear and coherent action plan geared towards the introduction and promotion of early childhood education in Sindh.