Early Learning Center
Babies Behind Bars – a research conducted by CWP-LAO in 2015 identified the serious threats faced by children incarcerated with their mothers, the harsh realities of life in prison, exposure to the criminal justice system and highlights the importance of a child’s early years that lay groundwork for their future. Article 25-A of the Constitution of Pakistan provides for the right to free and compulsory education for all children up to 16 years, however, little progress has been made in the past for children incarcerated with their mothers in this context.
Early Learning Center (ELCs) was established in the Women’s Prison Karachi in 2015 and Hyderabad in 2017. Early Learning Centers (ELCs) aim to neutralize the prison environment, normalize the living experiences of children incarcerated with their mothers in prisons, and help them to re-integrate with society after their release.
Imparting education among children through learning methods customized to the prison context, ELC provides its services to children between the ages of 2 to 9 who were studying or have studied at the pre-primary level. Up until June 2022, a total of 176 children had attended ELCs in Karachi and Hyderabad.
In addition to provision of basic education, Committee for the Welfare of Prisoners in collaboration with the AMI School established a sensory garden outside ELC Karachi on 2021. The garden was in augurated by Advisor to the Chief Minister of Sindh on Law and Inspector General of Prisons on 11th November 2021.
The sensory garden has multiple elements such as, play area, music wall, tree house, sandpit, bird cage and a pond. This initiative is an attempt to replicate life outside prison to inculcate general ethics among children in a friendly environment. A similar garden is under construction in ELC Hyderabad.
Babies Behind Bars
