PAKISTAN SEEKS SUPPORT FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PEOGRAMME

KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 (Bernama) -- Pakistan has initiated a nationwide
campaign to raise awareness on the importance of early childhood education and
care.

Begum Fauziah Yousaf Raza Gillani, the wife of Pakistan's prime minister,
said that as such the National Plan of Action of Pakistan identified early
childhood education as one of the country's priority areas.

"But the challenges are so great that we can only achieve them if we do so
by collective action and collective will," she said.

Pakistan has eight million malnourished children as well as six million
children who have never been to school and another 3.8 million engaged in work
related activities.

Pakistan thus looks forward to the support from friends in the international
community and Malaysia is one of them, she said in her keynote address at the
early childhood education and care conference here Wednesday.

Begum Fauziah Yousaf said early childhood care needed more than schooling as
it required close collaboration among teachers, parents and communities.

Besides focusing on institutional support, she said, families and
communities needed to be guided and motivated to provide children with better
childhoods, she added.

"Luckily, Pakistan has a child-centered family care but more needs to be
done as we need to fight child labour, violence against children, poverty,
illiteracy and disease," Begum Fauziah Yousaf said.
-- BERNAMA