Building the future: Comparative perspectives on ECE curriculum, access, and quality in Pakistan and Indonesia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.71085/joclsi.04.02.80Keywords:
Pakistan, Indonesia, Comparative education, Curriculum reform, Early childhood educationAbstract
The priority of improving ECE is shared between Indonesia and Pakistan, which can be explained by international commitments, such as SDG 4.2, to provide universal access to pre-primary education. This review takes a comparative narrative approach to the contexts of ECE in these two large nations with reference to curriculum structures, access systems, and quality assurance. This comparative narrative synthesis is based on peer-reviewed articles published since 2020 and up to 2025 and defines findings in the areas of national policy directions, governance structures. The main results are that, whereas the Indonesian curriculum, Merdeka Curriculum, focuses on child-centered learning processes that are based on play and places a high emphasis on quality assurance and inclusion, Pakistan has been experiencing discontinuities in policy implementation, child access, teacher preparation, and infrastructure. There are issues in both nations with respect to the absence of equitable access, especially concerning rural-urban inequities and barriers that are socioeconomically motivated. Some of the recommended areas are the improvement of decentralized ECE governance, the provision of more earmarked financial resources, the promotion of continuous professional development for teachers, and the establishment of quality assurance systems that are more sensitive to the various needs of a community.
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