Other ministries and the National Planning Commission have failed to own the responsibility, said Mahasharam Sharma, joint secretary at the Education Ministry.
“The issue of childhood development has to be prioritized by all the ministries and the national planning commission. If this is not done, the Education ministry alone cannot do much,” he said speaking at a program in the capital on Tuesday. “So far, the programs for the early childhood development have been planned and carried out only by the Education ministry.” [break]
Early childhood development is actually not an old concept in the country. Recognized since 2000, the government has put very little effort to promote early childhood programs so far.
Founder of Seto Gurans National Childhood Development Centre, a non-government organization that has been working for childhood developed since over 3 decades, commented that huge cost has to be borne by the country if children´s development is neglected.
“Holistic early childhood development is the foundation of a good education and healthy social development. For perfect development of a child, he or she should get as much attention as possible from the time of being in a mother´s womb till they are of eight years,” she said. “Children represent 15 percent of the total population, so it is essential to ensure their holistic development.”
According to her, the early years of a child´s life are spent in the creation of his or her "first identity". Right or wrong treatment or the environment in which they grow makes a great difference on who they think they are, how they think they should function or how they expect others to function in relation to them.
“It is a serious duty of the government to care for children´s holistic development,” she stressed.
Meanwhile, speaking at the program, Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission Rabindra Kumar Shakya said that the commission has urged all ministries to include the issue of early childhood development in their planning and projects.
“We have asked them to come up with programs related to it,” he said.
The education ministry had projected to cover at least 64 percent of children under the ´childhood development classes´ by 2013/2014. The current status shows that only 55.6 percent of children had that experience while enrolled in class one.
According to the government data, there are a total 34,177 early development centers throughout the country.
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