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Early childhood education development centre opens at AIOU

Islamabad

The formative years are very important for children’s development but unfortunately, there seems to have some kind of confusion among teachers and parents about when children should be sent to school, what they should be taught and how much they should be taught in early years of life.

Under the current circumstances, opening of the Early Childhood Education Development Centre at the Allama Iqbal Open University is the need of the hour.

This was stated by Minister of State for Education Muhammad Balighur Rehman during the signing ceremony of MoU between Parwaan E9 Centre of Excellence, Academy of Educational Planning and Management and Allama Iqbal Open University in development of postgraduate diploma course on early childhood education here on Thursday.

The ceremony amongst others was attended by Allama Iqbal Open University Vice Chancellor Professor Dr. Shahid Siddiqui, Department of Early Childhood Education & Elementary Teachers Education Chairman Nasir Mahmood, Mehnaz Aziz, President Parwaan & Chief Executive Children’s Global Network Pakistan and senior government officials, Deans and Faculty members of Allama Iqbal Open University.

The minister, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said development of one year postgraduate diploma (30 credit hours) in this regard is a stepping stone.

“A trained teacher of ECED would be in a better position to know how a child needs to be taught in his or her early years, which are of great importance in developing the personality of a child. Unfortunately, only private sector is providing early education and that too at a very high cost, which is not affordable for many parents. Moreover, even private schools do not follow any uniform approach in this regard e.g. some schools take children of the age of 2 and 3 years and some take children of 3-4 years of age,” he said.

Balighur Rehman said he hoped that this centre would be a springboard for early childhood education in the country.

He said the ECED would be incorporated in the revised National Education Policy 2009 to make it a permanent part of education in Pakistan.

“We have also introduced recognition of prior leaning in our new technical and vocational training policy in which we will issue recognition of prior learning certificates for those who have already learned some skills in their prior age after assessing their skills,” he said.

In private sector when teachers are recruited on minimum salaries they do not see what should be the qualification of a teacher. B.Ed requirement is often ignored there. The teachers of private schools have said that Allama Iqbal Open University has given them the opportunity to continue with the job as well as with studies. B.Ed has brought quality in their work, perception and understanding. The minister said criticism is good because it gives you opportunity to improve your work but appreciation is equally important as it encourages you to do better. The minister also highlighted the need for Accelerated Learning Programmess for children who are twelve years old or above and wants to learn at a quick pace.

The minister congratulated Parwaan and AIOU on taking this initiative and also proposed some suggestions for AIOU, including people’s better access to massive online courses system and the accelerated courses for children above the age of 12 years.

Earlier, Parwaan President Mehnaz Aziz, in her comments on the occasion, said the partnership between Parwaan E9 ECED Centre of Excellence and Allama Iqbal Open University would cater to the demands of wider audience who wish to polish and enhance their knowledge and expertise in Early Childhood Education.

Professor Dr. Shahid Siddiqui shared the initiatives undertaken by AIOU, which among others included a programme for bringing out of school children to schools and the recently started education programme for jail inmates, which is free of cost for them.

The objective of the post-graduate diploma course on ECE is to equip the graduates with essential professional skills and competencies for early childhood education and upgrade pedagogical skills of practicing preschool teachers. This course will be of one-year duration and will be of 30 credit hours and will fill an important gap of the high demand amongst students wishing to acquire Early Childhood Education and will equip them with the requisite expertise to implement this in their professional lives.

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