We have all from time to time heard or read about Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). It is not a new phenomenon. Almost any parent or teacher can testify to the benefits of Early Childhood Education (ECE) for no one can deny the fact that the best start for any child is through high quality education.

Education is the only ray of hope that Pakistan has going for itself and no parent or teacher is credulous enough to not understand its importance. Realistically, ECE programmes should include any type of educational programme that serves children during their preschool years, which besides preparing them for primary school would also improve their overall performance.

There may be several such programmes representing ECE in Pakistan that may be classified under ‘day care’, ‘child care’, ‘preschool’, ‘Montessori’, ‘kindergarten’ and even ‘pre-kindergarten’. But the million dollar question here is how many of these schools actually serve the purpose beyond commercialism?

The truth is that a true ECE school would never hire an under-qualified teacher who is not Montessori trained. And yet there are countless independent schools, or day care centres rather, being run as Montessori or preschools in bungalows and apartments with little or no standard of quality education.

An ECE school is supposed to have very ambitious goals such as having a curriculum for developing a strong foundation in language and mathematics along with boosting the child’s social skills in a classroom setting. This requires expertise and proper Montessori training and experience that cannot be matched by an undergraduate or graduate degree in any field, a school owner with heavy pockets or anyone who happens to be a woman or mother who simply loves children.

The truth is that ECE is a major responsibility on the shoulders of both teachers and parents because they are dealing with the crucial years of mental development in a child. It is when the little one is striving to find his or her identity and is begining to develop and understand values, attitudes and behaviours that would later form their personalities.

In a research conducted by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), it was revealed that ECE schools that operate for a full day on a year-round basis, thus providing children with two years of preschool, achieve better results. Can the same be referred to our children? Not really. What with city-wide strikes and the commercial aspect of schooling it has become difficult for anyone to differentiate quality from quantity here. For instance, according to a study done by an NGO, for every 30 children going to kindergarten who face difficulty in reading here, 24 will still have difficulty in the years leading up to grade four.

The numbers may seem alarming but it is heartbreaking to picture the future being provided to our next generation. In another instance, a preschool teacher from the USA visited random Montessori and primary schools for the purpose of conducting a study, in which she found that preschools in dilapidated areas of both urban and rural districts lacked proper resources and funding to provide the facilities required to teach the ECE curriculum. Sadly many schools did not have proper fixtures and furniture for the students to use while in class and disregarded technology because the only computers found in those schools were those in the accounts office or the principal’s office.

Another study revealed that schools of good reputation that have been operating for over a decade and offer studies from kindergarten to A’ Levels were found to be more committed towards quality education and care than some private schools operating out of bungalows and catering only to children aged two to five years. Perhaps, this study has added validity to my previous claim about ‘commercialism’. If this is how academic institutions offering ECCE is being run then there will be no significant difference between those children attending ECE schools and those who are not. Teachers of ECCE schools must be adequately qualified in their respective fields with specialised skills and training to be able to identify the needs of young children.

According to the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan, education is a fundamental right of every citizen. Still the least funds are allocated to the education sector. This sector of Pakistan has and continues to be deficient. Even the reform programmes are being undermined. This raises more eyebrows to questions about whether there really is a thing such as free and compulsory primary education, provision of free textbooks, revamping the examination system, revising and updating the curriculum, augmenting teacher training programmes, capacity building of education managers and provision of missing facilities.

To make matters worse, in the Education for All (EFA) week held from April 23 to 29, it was proved that Pakistan lags on key education indicators. Ironically, even the theme of the week this year was to raise awareness about the importance of EFA. At present, more than seven million children aged between five and nine are deprived of their right to basic education. The reality in Pakistan is that good quality ECE or pre-primary education programmes are not accessible to most young children while the majority of primary schools here lack basic facilities.

It was back in April 2010, that Pakistan’s parliament recognised the fundamental right of all children to free and compulsory education, which was later formalised through the historic 18th Amendment and insertion of Article 25-A into the Constitution. Unfortunately for Pakistan, the problem is not that every child is not getting their due right to basic education or that parents fail to realise the importance of ECE. It is our “un-concerned” authorities who cannot spare a relative portion of the budget for educating the masses. It is about time that they take charge because if we want our children to succeed in life, to be better citizens, to serve the country and to not be a victim of slavery, then we must educate and empower them. We would be preparing them to fail otherwise.

The writer is a career counsellor and lecturer at Bahria College as well as teaching assistant in management at Greenwich University, Karachi.