In Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), UNESCO has provided inputs for developing Operational Framework for Pre-primary Education (2008), Comprehensive Early Childhood Development Policy Framework, and Early Learning Development Standards. Support has been provided to develop curriculum for pre-primary education. Besides this, in collaboration with

Bangladesh ECD Network, UNESCO advocates for ECCE. As a support to policy inputs, a simulation tool for costing ECCE in Bangladesh was developed and shared with the stakeholders. ECCE implementing NGOs have appreciated the tool and using it during planning new projects while government has not as yet started using it. It has also developed easy reading materials and built capacity of Bangladesh Shishu Academy (BSA) for conducting ECCE programmes.  It is supporting BSA to translate, adapt and implement the regionally developed ECCE CLC Parenting Education Guidebook and Facilitators Handbook in Bangladesh context. It has also built capacity of teachers, supervisors and managers of pre-school programmes.  As the trainees were from different schools, the training process gave them opportunities to share their experience and to learn from each other. The trainees identified further training needs on child development, material development and joyful/innovative and developmentally appropriate learning activities. The programme managers also identified training needs on stress management, leadership and team building, communication and so on for developing the capacity of the managers for managing their programmes effectively.

In order to improve young children’s readiness for, and retention in, primary school and to increase awareness, interest and involvement of parents and community members in early stimulation, care and education, UNESCO Dhaka is supporting Bangladesh Shishu Academy (BSA) in implementing “CLC Parent Education in Bangladesh” project with guidance and full supervision from the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MOWCA). This intervention in Bangladesh is a result of UNESCO’s regional initiative on ECCE CLC Parenting Education. Under the project BSA has translated and adapted the regionally developed “Parenting Education Guidebook” and “Facilitators’ Handbook for Parenting Education” to be used in the CLCs. BSA has also done a small scale piloting in the selected CLCs.  

The contents of the “Parenting Education Guidebook” are: (i) Caring for children, (ii) A child is born, (iii) The developing child, (iv) Health, safety and nutrition, (v) Play in the lives of children, (vi) The many languages of childhood, (vii) Young children’s behavior, (viii) Children with disabilities, and (ix) Going to school.  

The “Facilitators’ Handbook for Parenting Education” has three parts and Part 2 has nine contents as same as the “Parenting Education Guidebook”. The three parts are:  

PART 1: Being a facilitator

PART 2: Guidelines for Conducting Parent Education Programme

PART 3: Interactive strategies for teaching and learning.  

MOWCA is to use the documents in all its learning centres all over Bangladesh. It also has plan to use the documents in consultation and agreement with the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education (MOPME) in the PEDP3 pre-primary education component. Promoting parenting education in larger scale would bring success in achieving the EFA Goal 1.