LAHORE: The School Education Department in collaboration with the UNICEF, Plan International and Directorate of Staff Development has started the Early Childhood Education (ECE) programme in Punjab.
This was stated by Punjab Education Minister Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan during the closing ceremony of two weeks training of 72 ECE master trainers at the Directorate of Staff Development, on Friday.
For the programme, 2,800 schools have been converted into ‘Child Friendly Schools’ through PC-I, Phase-I and 2,200 more schools will also be converted into this type till March 2017, he said.
In Phase-II, 5,000 more schools will be made ‘Child Friendly Schools’ till 2018 in addition to construction of ECE room and other facilities.
Addressing the ceremony, Rana Mashhood said that the world had always stressed the importance and need for ECE. Well-trained 144 ECE teachers presented their training reports during the ceremony.
After completion of this training, these master trainers will train 5,000 ECE teachers, 5,000 ECE head teachers, 5,000 caregivers and 15,000 school council members till March 2017.
Jawad Amir Malik, head of ECE Implementation Unit, also explained briefly about the performance of School Education Department regarding Early Childhood Education in Punjab.
Later, the minister distributed certificates among successful participants of ECE programme.
DSD Programme Director Saeed Ramzan, Punjab Education Foundation Chairman Qamarul Islam, Education Specialist UNICEF Punjab Rubina Nadeem were also present.
