KARACHI, Nov 29: The Sindh Minister for Education and Literacy, Dr Hamida Khuhro, has called for undertaking concerted efforts for spreading awareness among general public regarding education for the upbringing of children.

She was speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural session of the "Policy Seminar on Early Childhood Education" at a local hotel on Monday. The two-day moot was being organized by the Education and Literacy Department, Government of Sindh, in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Science and Cultural organization (UNESCO), United Nations International Children Educational Fund (UNICEF) and TRC.

The minister highlighted the significance of imparting early childhood education and said that knowledge that youngsters obtained at homes and from their surrounding atmosphere could be part of their early childhood education and training.

She pointed out most schools especially those in rural areas comprised two rooms, and, as such, there was a need to construct a big, good room for imparting early childhood education.

Dr Hamida also underlined the need for proper nutrition of youngsters and their mothers, saying arrangements for food should be made at schools. She believed that education should be provided to every child and resources that were available should be used across the board for the purpose.

The minister was of the view that children in the age group from six to seven should have access to computers. She said women should also be educated regarding the significance of a better upbringing of their children and training them properly at home.

The Sindh Education Secretary, Mohammed Hashim Leghari, pointed out the provincial government had already launched a project with regard to early childhood education in 2002-03, and said to date some 1,200 early childhood classes had been opened in 16 districts of Sindh.

Leghari also discussed reluctance on the part of parents to send their children to schools mainly because of the lack of awareness and because of customs in some areas.

He also called for undertaking concerted efforts to overcome such hurdles, persuade parents to send their wards to schools, and provide proper facilities and atmosphere for imparting knowledge.

Abid Saeed, Secretary, Literacy and Non-Formal Basic Education Department, Government of Punjab, pointed out that good work was being undertaken with regard to education in his province.

He pointed out that 13 centres each had been set up for early childhood education in each of the 34 districts in Punjab, while four model districts had been selected for achieving 100 per cent literacy, which included Khanewal, DG Khan, Mandi Bahauddin and Khushab, he said.

The secretary from Punjab said that the governments of Pakistan, Punjab and district governments were supporting such an initiative. He also spoke of the government's commitment for eradicating illiteracy as well as to promote basic education and provision of early childhood education.

Arshad Saeed Khan, Senior National Specialist for Development Education, UNESCO Pakistan, gave a presentation on 'Education for All' and 'Early Childhood Education Challenges in the country'.

He pointed out that less than 30 per cent of children receive early education, mostly in their earliest school classes, commonly known as 'katchi classes'. However, he said that there were no teachers for early childhood education and playing equipment.

He pointed out that the National Education policy (1998-2010) envisaged improving and institutionalizing 'katchi classes' but progress in this respect was slow. Regarding the National Plan of Action targets, Arshad said these included opening of 42,000 early childhood education classes and induction of approximately 51,000 early childhood education teachers with an additional budget of Rs47.74 billion.

Ms Khalida Ahmed, Programme Officer of UNICEF, said that her organization and the United Nations Educational, Science and Cultural organization were working together to help improve the lot of children who in many cases were the most ignored ones.

She said that efforts were also being made to ensure that the out-of-school youngsters were provided with the opportunity to acquire knowledge. Khalida also called for taking educational material and equipment to classrooms so that youngsters could fully benefit from them. - APP