ISLAMABAD, Aug 5: Emphasizing on radical improvements in social services, the finance minister, Shaukat Aziz, expressed his strong conviction regarding the vitality of human development for economic progress, which, in his view, can only be achieved if vigorous efforts were made to streamline an otherwise ramshackle childhood education system in the country.

The finance minister said this while presiding over the inaugural session of a five-day teachers training workshop on “Early Childhood Education” organized by Children Resource International (CRI) in collaboration with USAID here on Monday.

Welcoming the CRI initiative in the educational system, he underlined the importance of sound education for all children.

“Good childhood education helped build socially responsible, morally obliged and balanced personality” he said.

Appreciating the globality of the CRI which opened its local chapter three months back in Pakistan, he added: “There was a need for partnership between private and public sectors to launch a comprehensive strategy rooted in local socio-cultural norms for the promotion of early childhood education”.

Making a point about the avoidance of cookie-cutter approach with regard to academic betterment of future generations, he said, “Role of teachers is critical and they have more responsibility than anyone else to nurture the minds of children in a manner that meets the requirements of modern age in which economic strength determines everything”.

He was of the opinion that human capital provides basic foundations for a well-functioning economy, and added: “The government has done much towards education and has been spending a large part of the donor funds into social sector like primary education, gender balance and health facilities”.

He criticized two streams of education one for elite and other for lower strata of society. “Discrimination in education widens social gap which in turn augments conditions of poverty,” the minister remarked, while elaborating the factors, which impede government efforts to invest adequate funds in the education sector.

“The government was confronted with challenge of restricted fiscal space but despite genuine constraints important wide ranging reforms have been introduced to modernize primary, higher, madrassah and technical education sectors” he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Mark S. Ward, the country director of USAID said in international discourse a broader agreement now exists, which suggests that whether its about environment, poverty and conflict, the only way to rid the world of many of the global ills lies in eradicating the menace of illiteracy, ignorance and social darkness.

“A primary school is a place where one learns, grows and achieves and its essential those who are responsible for running these basic education institutions must be aware of the enormity of the task in hand because half-baked attempts to educate a child might ruin his entire life”.

Deliberating on the primacy of training of teachers in this regard, Mark Ward noted with concern the dire circumstances under which future of this nation was being brought up. “Situation was dismal and effective cooperation among all the stakeholders was a must” he maintained.

Nazim Rawalpindi, Raja Tariq Kiani thanked the CRI for selecting 19 primary schools from Rawalpindi alone in order to provide training to teachers. Giving a detailed account and overall picture of the state of primary education, District Nazim deplored the crumbling infrastructure, boring instructional methods and shortage of teachers. However, he expressed his hope “this workshop was a good step in the right direction”.

The director of education, Brig Maqsudul-Hasan (retired) discussed the different programmes the government had undertaken to reform early childhood education.

He called for local community participation for a sustainable growth of basic education facilities. “Spotlight needs to be focused on the instructional leadership as the core issue is the availability of ideally learned, competent and intelligent teachers” he said while adding “Code of ethics, management side and curricula are main areas which need proper attention”.

He said work is underway to uphold universal declaration of human rights in which access to basic education is clearly enshrined. “The government shares common vision of education for all with the CRI and the USAID”, he added.

Pamela Coughin, the chief of the CRI, which is operating in 26 countries, observed, “every child has the right to be happy and self-confident and basic education helps him or her attain that goal”. She praised the official help in launching the initiative and promised that her organization would make every possible effort to educate the children of Pakistan in a productive manner.b —Ziaur-Rehman Hashmi