The state of value education in early childhood: The challenges and opportunities for Pakistan

Values are the scaffolding of a society within which the members are exercising their socio-economic roles. They are the fundamental principles, convections and standards which are guiding the behaviors and actions to be judged as desirable. Therefore, values education is a conscious effort to make the children learn and understand the values so that they practice them as a desirable member of the society. In developing societies, the technological advancements and economic competitions are forcing to change the traditional nature of the values and the processes of the value formation. Therefore, values education is becoming more important than ever before. In these contexts, like Pakistan, apart from teachers, there are multiple factors such as parents, broader society, and resources available in the school, are playing significant part in value formation of young children. The role of teacher in the value formation of young children, therefore, cannot be seen in isolation rather there are multiple factors and conditions that play critical role in values education. Therefore, this paper intended to take a wider stance to reflect on the multiple factors influencing the overall state of value education and the challenges that are faced for value orientation of young children in the early childhood context of Gilgit-Baltistan Pakistan