and also for community mobilization. Some of our technical partners like Teachers Resource Centre in Karachi could support and strengthen government institutions like PITEs, GCETs and or provincial curriculum bureaus for specialized training in ECE teaching concepts and skills. TRC was responsible for working with the Federal MOE to develop the National katchi Curriculum. This is a fine example of a PPP. Scaling up the RCC model to a national level program would require that provincial governments allocate start up funds for katchi classes in their annual development plans and this could be done in a phased approach. Recurrent resources would also need to be allocated for early childhood and could be leveraged by agencies that are monitoring Pakistan’s commitment to achieve the EFA covenants and goals. The choice to put resources toward ECE will be a hard one for the government as there are approximately 165,000 primary schools in Pakistan.

Q. How does the RCC programme complement the Government of Pakistan’s agenda on education?

A. Chapter 5 of the National Plan of Action (2001-2015) for EFA lays out Pakistan’s plan for early childhood programming for this decade. RCC complements this plan by utilizing the national katchi curriculum, regular collection of statistical data from program schools, providing physical infrastructure support to participating schools, advocacy at the policy level through working groups and other fora, and simply providing direct resources to 155 government schools in Balochistan and Sindh. Our program is very much about public service delivery. Our private sector partners are working with district government officials to ensure close collaboration. Constant communication, reflection and advocacy work will have to occur through all of our collective meetings, activities and gatherings. Not long ago I had the opportunity of engaging socially with the Federal Minister for Privatization. Not having too much else to discuss with him, I began to talk about social development in rural areas and the need for supporting early childhood initiatives. Who knows, perhaps even early childhood classes could be privatized or partially subsidized through the private sector. Just a thought!