THIS letter is apropos of the letter ‘Bhit Island: neglected and ignored’ (May 3). It caught my eye as an early childhood education (ECE) teacher and I realised that I have a responsibility to bring about awareness among our people about early childhood education.

Bhit Island is home to our hardworking fishermen, with a zero per cent literacy rate which has produced only two or three graduates in 300 years.

My heart bleeds when I think of these people who like everyone else have a dream to educate their children, and what are we doing and what can be done to eradicate this illiteracy and mould the lives of these young minds who are Pakistan’s future?

As an ECE teacher I wish the government would do something to deal with the emotional, cognitive, physical and social aspect of a child’s personality and then give the world confident, successful and happy individuals who can contribute positively in building the future.

The residents of Bhit Island have established a school which is run on a no-profit-no-loss basis, but it still needs outside help to sustain the project and to build on the infrastructure.

I would like NGOs and government agencies to come forward and not just give them empty hopes but grant them some kind of help so that they can become contributing members of Pakistan.

Just imagine if these talented people start producing young thinking minds who would read, learn and then come up with new ideas to implement in the present fishing industry and change our present system.

SARA ALQERA Karachi