Opening the fourth national conference on early childhood development in Lalitpur on Monday, the Prime Minister said the developed countries could attain prosperity as they have given proper care to upbringing and education of children since their very early days.[break]
Various studies on child psychology show that mental status of children up to eight years old is very sensitive and important, the Prime Minister said, underlining the need of formulating a national plan on child development by the government.
Under the leadership of the Education Ministry, some one million children belonging to the four-year age group are getting early childhood development services through 30,000 centers across the country, said the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister informed that the government has appealed to all non-government organisations for their help to formulate a special program for the development of children.
Secretary at the Education Ministry Sureshman Shrestha said although the Ministry has given priority to the early childhood development, achievements have not been possible due to limited resources.
UNICEF Nepal Representative Will Park said the community-run child development centers in Nepal are effective and in a good condition.
Tribhuvan University rector Gunanidhi Neupane stressed the need of increasing investment in the education sector. Dr Kishor Shrestha of the conference organizing committee said the conference is expected to conduct workshops on six different topics.
A total of 500 representatives including child experts from Bangladesh and USA are taking part in the conference being held under the slogan "Guarantee of holistic early childhood development for all the children".
Programs relating to child development have been included in the Tribhuvan University Master´s degree curriculum as well.
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