Kathmandu, June 29:

Early childhood development should be taken as a primary agenda in order to ensure the right of the children and to foster their physical and intellectual development, say experts.

Dr Prem Narayan Aryal, an Early Childhood Development (ECD) expert, said there should be a national commitment to address this issue.

The new set-up of the country should be such that it gives prime importance to child development, he added. A sustainable national strategy should be introduced to boost early development of the children, Aryal said.

He appealed to the Constitutional Assembly members to take up the issue and help in an all-round development of children.

Children, irrespective of ethnicity, caste, class and groups, should be viewed in a broader spectrum of development with special focus on those belonging to the marginalised and minority groups, said Agatha Thapa, executive secretary of Seto Gurans National Child Development Services.

Child development should be taken as a common agenda by the political parties, she added. In the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, the voice of the voiceless children should be respected by the political parties, Thapa added.

Educationist Dr Bidya Nath Koirala said child development was a problem unaccounted for in the Nepali society. "Only local bodies, schools and community child centres can address the issue," Koirala said.

Constitution expert Dinesh Tripathi said the problem could not be solved in the absence of a particular legal provision on it, adding, Nepal should bring to effect the international conventions on children, which it is a party to.

CA members were of the view that for such a programme to be effective, expecting mothers should get extra care. They also highlighted the role of mother tongue as the medium of imparting primary education, saying it would help children learn better, assuring that they would give the issue prime space while writing a new constitution.