M.Ed. at the University of Sydney

Lila Ram, Manager Communication and Information is away for a year, pursuing a Master of Education degree in Research Methodology at the University of Sydney. His scholarship is funded by the Australian Government’s aid agency, AusAID. For his first semester, he has opted for the following four courses: Developing a Research Proposal; School-based Management and Effective Schools; Quantitative Analysis and Qualitative Analysis. We look forward to having Lila back with us in August 2007 … until then we keep in touch by e-mail.

Study Tour to Egypt

Sadiya Azeem, Member of our Training & Development Team went on a study tour to Egypt (July 22 – 29 2006) as part of the RCC group, supported by AKF-USIAD. The purpose of the tour was to ‘study’ Early Childhood Education and Development models and practices being followed by the Government of Egypt, and to share the RCC model with the Egyptian counterparts. Early childhood services in Egypt are delivered mainly through three ministries. The ministry of education is responsible for early education activities and preschools. The ministry of insurance and social affairs, takes care of daycare centres and nurseries, and primary health care activities are provided mainly through the ministry of health. Sadiya tells us that only 12% of preschool age children are enrolled in any type of ECE programme and that enrolment rates for males, are higher than those for female children. Sounds familiar?

European ECE Researchers Association (EECERA)

Mahenaz Mahmud, Director Programme Development went to Reykjavik, Iceland to attend the 16th EECERA Annual Conference: Democracy and Culture in Early Childhood Education (August 30-September 02). In collaboration with our linkage partner Ryerson University, we had sent an abstract of our ECE research project conducted in Karachi’s government schools, to the conference committee. We were delighted that it was accepted!

Mahenaz and Donald made a presentation during one of the many breakout sessions. Their audience was in awe of TRC’s success, in establishing ‘democratic’ ECE classes in over-populated classrooms in some of Karachi’s most underprivileged areas. They were also impressed with our successful policy level breakthrough in getting an ECE Curriculum formalized by the Ministry of Education.

The conference had two themes: Democracy and Culture. The first theme looked at the role of ECE in creating a democratic society, based on the premise that if children have the opportunity to practice democracy through decision-making, communication, negotiation and participation in projects of relevance, they will be likely to encourage the formation and growth of democracy in their societies. Culture, the second theme of the conference, aimed to ask critical questions such as: How can children contribute to and create the wider culture?

How is a society’s culture reflected in its early childhood education? What is the influence of globalization on early childhood education? Check out EECERA conference details at http://www.congress.is/eecera2006/