Another misstep: Sindh’s youngest receive schooling by the untrained

No new early childhood educators have been hired for the past one year

KARACHI: Every year of a child’s life is important, but the first five are the most crucial because this is when they start to develop as a person they are going to be. This is when they learn the basics of life, appropriate behaviour, and perhaps all other social skills that allow them to uniquely stand out as an individual.

Unfortunately, many preschool children across Sindh will be missing out on these vital skills, as the province, owing to internal disagreement, has decided to freeze recruitment of early childhood educators for the youngest. Adding insult to the injury, the Sindh education department has appointed primary school teachers - who are not trained to teach at kindergarten level - to conduct classes. According to sources, the situation has not only placed children in a confusing situation but teachers are also finding it hard to ‘teach’ at the preschool level.

Shedding light on the importance of early childhood education, psychology expert, Prof Anila Amber Malik from the University of Karachi told The Express Tribune that the non-availability of trained teachers in Sindh’s public kindergarten schools is a matter of grave concern. “Early childhood, or the first five years of a child’s life, are crucial for cognitive development, social development, moral development, and physical development,” Prof Amber said.

Only 9% of Sindh’s teachers can teach math, science

“A teacher who is unaware of the four aspects of early childhood development will not be able to tackle preschool children appropriately, as a result of which there is a risk that children will grow with inadequate learning skills,” she added. The head of Ziauddin University’s Board and educational expert, Prof Anwar Ahmed explained that during early years, children are not taught through books but through other methods, for which teachers’ training is necessary.”Unfortunately, in Pakistan schools are not even able to understand the basic difference between Montessori and kindergarten,” he said. “Without trained kindergarten teachers, young children have a high tendency of losing interest in going to school.”

Hiring freeze

The Sindh education department stopped the recruitment process for early childhood teachers because of an ongoing internal conflict between the primary and secondary sectors of the department. Per sources, owing to the conflict, no new appointments have been made for the past year.

The written test for appointing teachers in the early childhood education sector was conducted in October 2018, so that the new 1,100 vacancies could be filled. Initially, the results of the test were released but the majority of candidates were unable to achieve the passing criteria of 60%. Therefore, the merit was lessened to include more candidates and the result was somewhat altered, sources said.

After the release of the second list comprising the names of the successful candidates, the process of sending offer letters was initiated. The successful early childhood teachers were all set to begin pedagogy in the concerned schools of Sindh, however, only one day before their joining, the on-going recruitment procedure was halted.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2019.