The first EFA Goal calls to expand and improve comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children. Early Childhood Education (ECE), termed katchi or pre-primary, is defined as both formal and informal in public or private education services for children aged 3 – 5 years.  

The global monitoring report on EFA for 2007 states the following on the significance of incorporating ECE in national school systems: “Early childhood is a highly sensitive period marked by rapid transformations in physical, cognitive and social and emotional development…(because) it is a time of remarkable brain development that lays the foundation for later learning…(and) it is more cost effective to institute preventive measures and support for children early on to compensate for disadvantage as they grow older.”

Mingat and Jaramillo (2003) used data from 133 countries to look at the correlation between preschool enrollment and completion of primary education. The figures are impressive. They found completion rates of 50% in the absence of preschool, and around 80% where half the children have access to pre-school or ECE centers.

Evidence from around the world suggests that the most disadvantaged children – whether because of poverty, ethnicity, gender, rural isolation or disability – experience the most dramatic gains from ECE.

As a concept, ECE has existed in Pakistan since the 1970s in formal primary schools. Officially the practice suffered discontinuation in the 1980s. However even then, the quality of teaching in katchi was debatable. “Children were taught in a traditional way with the teacher standing at a blackboard directing the children. Rote memorization was encouraged. Overall, young children had a poor start in education, which was a concern for most people. In the private sector there were early childhood provisions, which mainly used Montessori approaches catering only to the needs of the elite and the upper-middle class of the society.” (Juma, 2004)

To date Pakistan does not have the national coordinating mechanisms; however, the Ministry of Education and the Ministries of Health, Women’s Development and Social Welfare are the ministerial auspices for Pakistan with reference to ECE. Practically thus, ECE programs are not accorded priority by the state, a finding that was substantiated through interviews of officials in the Ministry of Education.

A vital defining component of the ECE classroom is the nature of pedagogy which is child centered and activity based. Data collectors were unable to collate data on pedagogy on ECE classrooms because of a number of factors. Most of the primary schools visited on behalf of this study had severely constrained physical space (for statistics see section on infrastructure) with 2-3 rooms available for students from pre-primary to class 5. The situation necessitated multi-grading, a practice that is not unusual in public schools in Sindh, particularly in the rural areas. Only 28 out of the 100 surveyed schools had a katchi class, or, had children enrolled at the pre-primary level. It should be noted however, that a formal record of such classes and students does not exist as there is no official recognition at the schooling level of katchi classes by the Government of Sindh.

As of late the private sector is the singular agency creating and implementing ECE practice through the establishment of Montessori, nursery and kindergarten schools. Since these efforts are a private venture, the barrier of fee and location limits access to a specific socio-economic stratum of society.

Private work in ECE is however comparatively substantial in Sindh with reference to the achievements of the public sector. In Sindh, the Aga Khan Education Service, Pakistan has been implementing the “Improving Pre-Primary and Primary in Sindh (IPPS)” in community-based rural schools since 1995; the Aga Khan Foundation has additionally launched the “Releasing Confidence and Creativity”  program in a 100 schools in Sindh with the collaboration of the Sindh Education Foundation and other NGOs. Furthermore, the Teachers’ Resource Centre (TRC) is implementing the Early Childhood Education Programme (ECEP) in Karachi government and district municipal schools since 1998. TRC has additionally developed the national curriculum for pre-primary education.

State priorities with regard to ECE are in flux depending on the focus of the government. At the time of Zobaida Jalal, ECE was thrown into relief in policy priorities. However since the end of her tenure in 2005, according to the estimation of the present EFA Coordinator at the federal level, ECE now ranks at the 4th position on policy importance behind adult literacy, primary education and non-formal education. As such funding priorities have shifted which have similarly altered donor preferences for projects in education.

Promotion of ECCE in Pakistan requires a long term plan which is based on the interests of infants, toddlers, and young children and will have to strengthen conditions created to support their learning environment. The plan will have to identify a new and innovative direction that assures continuity of a creative, robust and dynamic learning environment for future years as well.