KATHMANDU: The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in its first-ever global report dedicated to early childhood education released on Tuesday stated that more than 35 millions children in South Asia are not attending age appropriate pre-primary education.
According to the report, countries with high numbers of children not in pre-primary education are missing a critical investment opportunity and are at risk of suffering deep inequalities from the start. In low-income countries, only 1 in 5 young children are enrolled in pre-primary education.
UNICEF Pakistan Representative Aida Girma said, “Pre-primary schooling is our children’s educational foundation – every stage of education that follows relies on its success.” “Yet, too many children around the world are denied this opportunity. This increases their risk of repeating grades or dropping out of school altogether and relegates them to the shadows of their more fortunate peers,” he added.
Pre-primary education (kachi) exists in many schools in Pakistan but is not recognized as an official grade. Consequently, there is a lack of trained teachers, standardized facilities and curriculum to provide a quality early childhood education. However, awareness of the importance of quality pre-primary education has increased in Pakistan; three provinces have adopted policies for free and compulsory pre-primary education for all children and are taking steps to provide quality early learning.
A World Ready to Learn: Prioritizing quality early childhood education reveals that children enrolled in at least one year of pre-primary education are more likely to develop the critical skills they need to succeed in school, less likely to repeat grades or drop out of school, and therefore more able to contribute to peaceful and prosperous societies and economies when they reach adulthood.
