A Publication of the
RCC: ECD Programme


Rediscovering Childhood

In the so called modern and developed society, one primarily driven by a desire for selfish material gain, our children are being harmed and robbed of their childhood by the changing social, academic, cultural and economic agendas and forces.

Global Measures Alarmingly Indicate:

Amongst the 1.9 billion children in the developing world:

  • 1 billion live in poverty (every second child)
  • 640 million without adequate shelter (1 in 3)
  • 400 million with no access to safe water (1 in 5)
  • 270 million with no access to health services (1 in 7)

    To initiate a serious discourse on rediscovering and protecting childhood, the Sindh Education Foundation (SEF) - with the indispensable support of the Aga Khan Foundation - Pakistan, USAID and Catco Kids Inc. – organized at a local hotel:

  • A 3-day symposium on ‘Rediscovering Childhood’ from April 3-5, 2006 and
  • A day-long conference on ‘Early Childhood Development in Pakistan’ on April 6, 2006.

    Dr. Adeeb-ul-Hasan Rizvi, the founder of the much renowned Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) inaugurated the 3 day symposium. Speaking from a doctor’s perspective he expressed concern that the ‘plasticity’ of the brains during the early years can have equally adverse effects if children are neglected or are put through upsetting experiences. Also addressing the numerous participants at the inaugural session of the symposium were Prof. Anita Ghulam Ali (S.I), Managing Director, SEF, Mr. Mohammedmian Soomro, Honorable Chairman Senate of Pakistan, Dr. Hamida Khuhro, Honorable Minister for Education, Government of Sindh.

    All of them stressed that the government and citizens have to come together to promote the right of every child to his or her childhood and to work for better living conditions for children who are vulnerable and are at risk. Dr. Jan Visser, a leading development scientist, spoke about uncertainty and the complexities of a world that has damaged human interactions. His keynote enquired into the development of values that shape human beings as responsible and selfless. Dr. William Crain, author of “Reclaiming Childhood” and other celebrated books, conversed with the participants over the phone on the importance of child-centered approaches to parenting and teaching.

    The 3-day symposium was divided into the following four themes:
    1. Social Institutions & Childhood – Family and School
    2. Media, Technology & Childhood
    3. Globalization and Shaping up of Childhood
    4. Development & its Challenges to Childhood

    Following is a summary of discussions that took place during the symposium under the aforementioned themes:

    • Social Institutions and Childhood:
    Although there are multiple social institutions to which children are exposed during their childhood, family and schools play a central role in today’s society.

    Family:
    Traditionally and naturally the family is the primary context where children experience the emotional and physical care and sustenance vital to their well-being. There is strong evidence which shows that children are shaped by the world around them. For children under 8 years of age, depriving them of a loving family environment causes lasting damage to their intelligence, emotional wellbeing and even their physical stature.

    The key questions that were raised during the symposium were:

  • Has the role of family in the upbringing of children degenerated in the last few decades?

  • What are some core values that need to be imparted by the family for the intellectual, social, moral and emotional development of children?

    According to Prof. Anita Ghulam Ali and Ms. Amina Saiyid of the Oxford University Press (OUP), there has to be an element of respect for the dignity of each family member irrespective of the age and status of the family members, resulting in them doing things for each other out of respect and love rather than out of fear and also resulting in the freedom for individual growth. Ms. Fatima Suriya Bajia and Mr. Ramiz Allahwala expressed that nurturing families avoid physically or verbally abusing children and also have open and strong communication links. There is, hence, a strong need for discussion and discourse within the family. Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Moinuddin Haider clarified that in nurturing families rules tend to be made explicit and remain consistent, but with some flexibility to adapt to individual needs and particular situations. Dr. Aneela Amber Malik stated that nurturing families are not perfect; they may have quarrels, misunderstandings, tensions, hurt, and anger - but not all the time. Dr. Malik along with Ms. Zubeida Dossal concluded by stating that in nurturing families everyone makes mistakes; mistakes are allowed. Perfection is unattainable, unrealistic, and potentially dull and sterile.

    Schools:
    Many of us all over Pakistan are concerned about how much damage schooling is doing to our children, the burden and stress it is putting on them, and the need for radical change in the current pattern of education. Yet, ignoring our common sense, we accept the physical, psychological and spiritual tortures inflicted daily on our children - rationalizing this for the ‘good of the Nation’ or for their ‘future career’. We ignore the fact that in the daily routine of schools, which is obsessed with examinations and evaluations, a child’s innate capacities have no opportunity to find expression. School’s schedules leave little or no time for carefree exploration, play or just a chance for children to enjoy simple pleasures of childhood.

    There were many thought-provoking questions for the audience:

  • What learning spaces and opportunities do children lose when they are forced to attend schools? Can they be re-created for children?

  • How do we undo the damage already done to our children by the present culture of schooling?

    Mr. Wasif Rizvi explained that unless children’s innate natural abilities are understood and respected there cannot be any learning. He stressed that schools must be turned around to respond to the diverse learning styles and particular interests of children. Prof. Abbas Hussain, Ms. Yasmin Bano, Dr. Jan Visser and Ms. Wendy Griffin were of the view that we must immediately seize to believe that outside school learning is useless and school is the only place where learning takes place. They clarified that most learning actually happens without proper instructions or guidance. They launched a powerful critique that all children cannot be taught in the same way following certain teaching methods and that best learning opportunities are possible when there are multiple age groups in the learning environment i.e. intergenerational learning.

    • Uncle Sargam
    steals the show:

    By far the most enjoyable part of the event was the performance by Uncle Sargam and his group of zany puppets. Each puppet, with his/her distinctive character formed during years on television delighted the crowds with their witty and comical critique on childhood, education, society as a whole and its peculiarities. The combination of puppets and live actors proved an excellent way of bringing forth the lighter side of society’s role in nurturing children.

    The man behind Uncle Sargam, the famed Farooq Qaiser, has been entertaining viewers for more than 20 years. His puppets have also helped him win the coveted Pride of Performance.

    Technology, Media and Childhood:

    Prof. Nisar Ahmed Zuberi and Prof. Abbas Hussain made back to back presentations that raised huge concerns in the audience in relations to the impact of media and technology. According to them overexposure to technology, such as computers, video games and television has a very detrimental impact on the intellectual, emotional and moral strength of children. It can easily result in stunted creativity and imagination, impoverished language and literacy skills and deficit in attention span. Moreover an exposure to violence, pornography, bigotry, and other material that is devoid of ethical and moral context can lead to social isolation, weakened bonds with family, lack of self-discipline and self-motivation, commercial exploitation, deprivation of relationship with nature and the real world.

    Under this theme several key questions were also raised:

  • What are the implications and influence of media & technology on children’s learning, their health and their relationship with the environment?

  • Does media & technology serve to homogenize cultural groups or, on the contrary, to maintain diversity? And who gains and who loses in this media rich society?

    Heavy TV viewers, by watching readymade images, are less imaginative, more aggressive, and are more likely to have attention problems, and become aggressive later in life.

    Source:www.asu.edu

    Mr. Arshad Mehmood, as part of the panel, debated that satellite and electronic media have become a powerful force in our lives today as they shape our attitudes, desires, priorities, relationships, values, sense of identity and modes of reflection. Prof. Shoaib Hashmi, however, highlighted possibilities by stating that media can be a very powerful tool for supporting dynamic and diverse forms of learning. Mr. Amar Jalil, Mr. Farooq Qaiser, Mr. Rashid Sami and Ms. Haseena Moin, however, believed otherwise by explaining that very few opportunities for creating a truly ‘liberating media’ exist.

    Globalization and Shaping up of Childhood:

    All the speakers and panelists were in absolute agreement that the word ‘globalization’ means different things to different people. Ms. Stella Jafferi and Ms. Zubeida Mustafa stated that one notable affect of globalization that is cited is the enormous growth of urban slums in developing countries leaving families with limited resources which consequently pulls in children to join in the survival struggle, depriving them of the true joys of childhood.

    Mr. Karamat Hussein stated that in the process of creating a global village, the children and everyone are told that the world is being united by virtue of the fact that everyone will soon be able to indulge their innate human desire for a westernized, urbanized consumer lifestyle. So the childhood which was once marked with innocence, freedom, joys and sharing is being reshaped for children and they are avidly becoming consumers and acquiring characteristics such as greed, self pity and dissatisfaction. He continued by explaining that this is also achieved through disrupting traditional cultures. The end result is that young children are being made to feel that their own language, their own skin color and their own way of living is inferior.

    • Marketing to children is a big business. Children are the largest and fastest-growing target market for consumption. At three years of age, before they can read, one out of five children is already making specific requests for brand-name products. This is because they see about 40,000 advertisements a year on TV alone.

    Source: www.whomindsthechild.org

    To highlight the language crisis and its effect on childhood Dr. Tariq Rehman and Dr. Shahid Siddiqui unveiled the ever increasing crisis of erosion of local languages and its impact on childhood and culture. They claimed that due to the staggering fact that 90% of the world's languages are not represented on the Internet, one language disappears on an average every two weeks. Explaining the causes of erosion of languages they elaborated that language endangerment may be the result of external forces such as military, economic, religious, cultural or educational subjugation, or it may be caused by internal forces, such as a community’s negative attitude towards its own language. Dr. Shahid also stressed that we should learn to speak ‘English’ but not at the expense of other languages and it must be a voluntary process rather than a forced one.

    Some key questions were raised during this session:

  • Is globalization a cross-cultural interaction of diverse societies or is it the imposition of Western culture on our children?

  • What implications does homogeneity of cultures have on children?

  • What steps should be taken to bring diversity, respect for environment and local values and traditions back into our lifestyles for children to learn?

    Mr. Ayyaz Kiani discussed the ramifications of consumerism on childhood. He highlighted that consumerism has supported the spread of a materialistic lifestyle and attitude in children that sees consumption as the path to prosperity.

    The speakers and panelists stressed that we must expose kids to other forms of media - documentaries, conceptual art exhibits (carefully selected), gatherings of interesting adult friends with folk lore, imaginative and creative stories to tell. This will not only preserve our oral culture but will also contribute towards the cognitive, social and emotional development of children. Parents must teach their children the connections within the natural world to preserve the natural environment. Finally it was stressed that we must teach kids empathy for others instead of buying toys; we must suggest that they should spend money for socially responsible actions such as buying some groceries for someone who needs them.

    Development and its Challenges to Childhood:

    The ‘development industry', created during the past four decades to respond to a global commitment for alleviating poverty and seeking global equality, is in a state of disarray. More than any other segment of the world population, children are paying the heaviest price of this colossal failure & betrayal of development. As an eye-opener it was revealed that for the children in the developing world only a meager 4% of the wealth of the world's 225 richest people or a paltry 12% would need to give up to wipe out world poverty, provide health care and immunization for all, eliminate severe malnutrition and halve moderate malnutrition, and provide safe drinking water for all.

    • Key questions raised under this theme were:

  • Are the so-called ‘third world’ countries really underdeveloped?

  • Do they not carry traditional values such as indigenous knowledge, cultural expressions and social fabric for them to be considered as ‘advanced’ other than in the economic sense?

    Dr. Kaiser Bengali stated that the reality is that the poor, particularly the children, are caught in the cycle of flood and drought, desertification, communal violence, unrestrained population growth, wretched educational facilities and the ebbing employment and income generation opportunities. Ms. Helena Norberg Hodge, speaking from Australia, explained that development and developmental slogans such as ‘free trade’, ‘free market’, ‘Education for All’, ‘Millennium Development Goals’ etc. inherently favor transnational corporate producers and has become a big business, preoccupied more with its own growth and incentives than with the people it was originally created to serve.

    Early Childhood Development in Pakistan - Opportunities & Challenges

    During the early years secure and safe relationships, a healthy and nutritious diet, a conducive setting where children are allowed to freely express and learn, an environment where children are regularly spoken to and heard, where they are taught meaningful social values and morals all tend to act as a vaccination against later health problems, social and emotional ineptitude and learning incompetence. Early Childhood Development (ECD) is an umbrella term for a variety of such interventions that help young children, their families and other caregivers by providing holistic support in childcare, education, health, nutrition and parent support.

    Prof. Anita Ghulam Ali initiated the discussion by stating that in Pakistan, as acknowledged by the Ministry of Education, there is no formal provision for Early Childhood Education (ECE) strategies. Furthermore, the NGOs/private sector, albeit dynamic and innovative, does not have the financial and human resources required to implement a program on the scale that the government can.

    The conference was inaugurated by Mr. Ghulam Ali Shah Pasha, Former Secretary Education, Govt. of Sindh who informed the participants that the Government had taken a step forward by forming a technical steering committee on ECD initiatives in Sindh. He also appreciated the efforts of SEF for bringing together agencies from all over the country for better coordination of ECD related projects. Dr. Baela Raza Jamil stated that ECD programs have comprehensive advantages as they seek to improve both the educational, nutritional and health status of the child and his or her family, simultaneously gathering community support. Ms. Wendy Griffin gave an intriguing overview of the RCC Programme, one of the most thriving ECD programs being implemented in 155 government schools of Sindh and Balochistan by various local NGOs and sponsored by AKF-P and USAID.

    • A child begins to learn immediately after birth. But it is even before the birth of the child that important developments take place that help develop the brain, the physiological and psychological structure of the child. These all have an impact on that child’s ability to learn, grow and to be healthy.


    The conference was also host to a pioneering roundtable dialogue on ECD Implementation. Ms. Sadia Chaudry, Advisor to Chief Minister, Punjab presided over the event. The roundtable brought together a number of representatives from the government, donors and NGOs to deliberate on policy issues, challenges and strategies vis-à-vis Early Childhood Development (ECD) in Pakistan. The key recommendations which emerged from the roundtable dialogue were to establish a national forum for ECD for integrating efforts and resources for effective, need-based and sustainable ECD programs via public-private partnerships both at provincial and federal levels. The purpose of the 4-day event was to initiate a much needed discourse on how to reclaim childhood from the shackles of forced education, media and technology and to reconnect our children with nature and with us. But can we rediscover childhood? Can we give our children a way back – from past overdone fears and the exaggerated importance of schooling and grades – to the world of simple, free contact with the natural world that brightened the childhood of all our past generations? There's strong evidence that creative play and exploration builds not just independence but leads to broad mental, physical and spiritual health.

    Before closing, it was urged that the following fundamental beliefs and concerns be kept in mind:

  • Childhood is a critical phase of life and must be protected to be fully experienced. It should not be hurried.

  • Each child deserves respect as an individual. Each needs help in developing his or her own unique capacities and in finding ways to weave them into a healthy social fabric.