Evaluation of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) in Public High Schools in Punjab

Abstract

Early Childhood Education plays a pivotal role in fostering the holistic development of children, including cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and moral domains. The main aims and objectives of the study were to evaluate the effectiveness of the ECCE program me in public high schools of Punjab and to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the current program. Using a descriptive survey design, this study examined the effectiveness of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) program in public high schools in Punjab, Pakistan. The research study was based on to collect quantitative data from a large number of respondents within a limited time period. The target population was 483 ECCE teachers or caregivers working in public high schools of Khanewal and Loghran districts Through stratified sampling technique, 139 teachers or caregivers were targeted for the sample. With full efforts, the researcher got response from 119 respondents and respondents’ rate was 83%. To summarize responses, descriptive statistics were used (frequency, percentages, and mean scores). It was determined whether there were significant differences in effectiveness based on factors such as teacher training or school resources using inferential statistics (such as t-tests or ANOVA). SPSS software was used to conduct the statistical analysis. The current research pinpoints key areas of the improvement of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme in the public secondary schools in Punjab. Another notable challenge is the systemic lack of resources, including insufficient funding, poor infrastructure, and insufficient number of trained teachers, which, when combined, result in the undermining of the quality and recommends the authorities to provide sufficient funding, proper infrastructure, and sufficient number of trained teachers.