30-07-2013, 04:26 PM
Universal Pre-Primary Education: A Comparative Study
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Abstract
Pre-primary education has become popular strategy to protection drop-out from formal education of children all over the world. Early Childhood Development (ECD) and pre-primary education are widely recognized as having a significant impact on the performance of children in basic education programmes. Pre-primary education would ensure a smooth transition to the primary education and lay the foundation for lifelong learning. Development of a child begins within the family and mostly depends on the parents. Educated parents are able to prepare their child for the smooth entry into formal education but no doubt uneducated parents are unable to do this. To apposite develop of a country education is crying need. So protection drop-out from formal education of child is most necessary for a nation. For this reason pre-primary education is especially important for a nation. In this article we have investigated the role of various governments such as India, Argentina, Nigeria, EU countries etc in pre-primary schooling. Our main objective in this paper is to study, analyze and compare the activities of the government of Bangladesh and NGOs in pre-primary sector with others mentioned above. This paper focuses on the importance of pre-primary schooling in Bangladesh with respect of others developed and underdeveloped countries.
Introduction
In the words of Plato (427 – 348BC) “No man should bring children into the world, who is unwilling to persevere to the end in their nurture and education" [4]. So, education should be universal. But due to various causes education may be not universal yet. One of them is drop-out from formal education. Pre- primary education has become popular strategy to protection drop-out from formal education of children all over the world. It has a strong and positive impact on further learning during the primary level and beyond. Pre-primary education is very important for the development of young children before they enter formal school [9]. It helps in cognitive development of children at the early grades of primary education and it has strong bearing on attendance and participation of children once they enter primary school. Development of a child begins within the family and mostly depends on the parents. Educated parents are able to prepare their child for the smooth entry into formal education. As many of our parents are uneducated, they are unable to prepare their children adequately for school. The lack in school readiness makes it difficult for children to adapt themselves to school and have a tendency to drop out [5]. Pre-primary education is considered to be very important for the child as it is the first step towards entering the world of knowledge as well as a healthy and purposeful life. This education system helps children become more independent and confident as well as promoting the all round development of the children [17]. Children who have been to pre-primary schools tend to learn more rapidly through an organized curriculum, learning aids and by interacting with other children.
Pre-primary Education
Pre-primary education covers all forms of organized and sustained center-based activities: such as pre-schools, kindergartens and day-care centers designed to foster learning, emotional and social development in children. These programmes are generally offered to children from the age of three [15].
Objectives of Pre-primary Programme
The overall objective of an ECD and Pre-primary education programmes is to enhance child's development potential before his/her stepping into the primary school. The specific objectives would include among others, the following:
a. To provide all the necessary care and education to young children that will help their development through physical, cognitive, language, social and emotional growth and change with due attention to children of disadvantaged groups, children with special needs and children of ethnic minorities.
b. To support language development of children through active interaction among with children and creating opportunities for using the skills.
c. To support parents and other caregivers by providing knowledge and skills necessary to meet children's developmental needs.
d. To create a congenial and child friendly atmosphere at home, community and places of learning so that children benefit fully from care and learning activities.
e. To develop and train the trained human resources and support them effectively to carry out their work in early care and education of children.
The above objectives encompass the development needs of children from birth to transition into primary school. Pre-school or pre-primary education forms an integral part of this continuum and should be planned and implemented taking into account the links and the cumulative process of development [5].
Methodology
This study is naturally a comparative analysis. Data used in this study are collected basically from the secondary sources. Primary data are also collected through personal interview method conducting the person who is supposed to have knowledge about the matter. Secondary data has been collected from various sources including websites, newspapers, various published and unpublished article about pre-primary education etc. Direct interview and hand on working with the Government and non Government pre-primary sector has been conducted to gather necessary data and information. The study will be a comparable study based on the collected data and information.
Pre-primary Education in
Education for All (EFA1990 and 2000) and The Millennium Development Goals (2000) are two remarkable commitments of United Nation (UN) which are already supported by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979). These documents emphasize both the rights of children and the obligations of the state, society and the international community. The Government of Bangladesh is a signatory to all of the above international documents. These international pledges have been followed up at the national level through policies and programmes formulated by the government [5].The National Children's Policy (1994), The Poverty Reduction Strategy (2005-08), National Programme of Action for Children (2004-09) and the Second National Programme of Action for Education For All (2005-09) are the key documents of the nation which have provided ideas and indicated directions for the pre-primary education.
The strategy of pre-primary education in Bangladesh
In recent period Bangladesh faced various problem, one of them is to overcome universal pre-primary schooling. In spite of several problems Bangladesh has been trying to develop pre-primary sector. For this reason in March 2008 the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education of Bangladesh run a programme through a Operational Framework for Pre-primary Education. The framework has been taken some strategy to develop pre-primary education such as creating building or centers, supervising and monitoring those centers, providing teachers in pre-primary sectors etc. The recommendation of the framework is the centre will be set up either in a primary school or in a separate house having at least 250 square feet space for 20-30 children. Ideally it should be located inside or adjacent to existing primary schools. This arrangement will facilitate interaction between pre-primary teachers and primary school teachers and thus transition (enrolment) of 100% children from pre-primary schools to primary schools,
Pre-Primary Education in Nigeria
Nigeria is a country, which is endowed with many languages as there are different ethnic groups who use the languages. Possibly there are more than two hundred and fifty ethnic groups with a conservative estimate of four hundred languages [12]. So called Nigeria is a “nation of nations”. The country consists of several ethnic groups with unrelated languages. Most often, the pupils have acquired the mother-tongue through the informal educational system before they start primary schooling and they use the languages simultaneously in communication. It is universal truth that a child acquires his first language involuntarily and most unconsciously from random exposure first to his parents and second to his community, even if no attempt is made to teach him [4]. In order to ensure a smooth transition from home to school, the National Policy on Education stipulates the use of indigenous Languages of the child’s environment in the pre-primary and early primary education. The pre-primary level, as described by the National Policy on Education is that stage aged three to five years which prepares the child for primary school [16].