National Education Policy, 2020: Early Childhood Care and Education

Importance of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)

• Critical Age: More than 85% of a child's brain development happens before age 6, underscoring the vital role of early care and brain stimulation for healthy growth and brain development.
• Realisation of Potential: When children are healthy and learning well in their early years, they are better able to reach their full developmental potential and participate effectively in economic, social, and civic life at adulthood.
• Inclusive Development: Providing ECCE is regarded as a means of promoting equity and social justice, inclusive economic growth and advancing sustainable development.
• Foundation for Future Learning: According to Neuroscience a child’s early experiences can provide either a strong or a fragile foundation for later learning, development and behaviours.  
• High Rate of Return: The larger economic returns on investment in prior-to-school programmes than in programmes for adolescents and adults has been demonstrated.  
• Decrease Dropout Rate: Educational sciences have revealed that participation in early childhood care and education programmes boosts children’s school readiness and reduces the gap between socially advantaged and disadvantaged children.
• Foundational Skilling: It promotes social skills, ethics, teamwork, aiming for optimal outcomes in physical, cognitive, socio-emotional, cultural, and communication domains.
• Human Right Perspective: Expanding quality early learning is an important means for realizing the right to education within a lifelong learning perspective. 

Provision for ECCE under National Education Policy 

In the new 5+3+3+4 structure of New Education Policy 2020, a strong base of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) from age 3 is included, which is aimed at promoting better overall learning, development, and well-being.

• New Pedagogical Framework: NCERT will create the National Curricular and Pedagogical Framework for Early Childhood Care and Education (NCPFECCE) in two parts: one for 0–3-year-olds and another for 3–8-year-olds.
  • Framework must align with guidelines, recent ECCE research, and global best practices. 
  • It will incorporate India's rich ECCE traditions including art, stories, games, and serve as a guide for parents and institutions.
• Social Inclusivity: The main goal is universal access to high-quality ECCE across the country, prioritizing socio-economically disadvantaged areas.
  • ECCE will be delivered through expanded institutions:
    • Stand-alone Anganwadis, 
    • Anganwadis with primary schools,
    • Pre-primary schools/sections (age 5-6) with existing primary schools
    • Stand-alone pre-schools
  • Specially trained teachers will handle ECCE curriculum and pedagogy.
• Infrastructure Development: Anganwadi Centers will enhance infrastructure, play equipment, and train workers/teachers for universal ECCE access.
  • Each center will feature child-friendly buildings with enriched learning environments. 
  • Children will have activity tours to local primary schools, facilitating a seamless transition. 
  • Anganwadis will integrate with school clusters, promoting interaction between Anganwadi and school communities.
• Balavatika: Before age 5, every child will join a "Preparatory Class" or "Balavatika" with an ECCE-qualified teacher.
  • Learning will be play-based, emphasizing cognitive, affective, and psychomotor skills, early literacy, and numeracy. 
  • Mid-day meals will extend to Preparatory Classes, and health check-ups and growth monitoring from Anganwadi system will cover both Anganwadi and primary school Preparatory Class students.
• Teacher Training Framework: For quality ECCE teachers in Anganwadis, current workers/teachers will be trained per NCERT's framework.
  • Those with 10+2 qualifications get a 6-month ECCE certificate, while others receive a one-year diploma, covering literacy and numeracy. 
  • Digital methods like DTH and smartphones will be allowed for convenient learning. 
  • Training is overseen by School Education's Cluster Resource Centres, including monthly contact classes. 
  • Long-term plans involve State Governments preparing professionally qualified ECCE educators through training, mentoring, and career development, along with facilities for initial preparation and Continuous Professional Development.
• Extension to Tribal Areas: ECCE will extend to Tribal Ashramshalas and alternative schools gradually. 
• Overseeing Framework: Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) will oversee ECCE curriculum for seamless pre-primary to primary education, emphasizing foundational aspects.
  • Curriculum planning and implementation involve joint efforts by Ministries of HRD, Women Child Development, Health and Family Welfare, and Tribal Affairs. 
  • A dedicated joint task force will ensure the smooth integration of ECCE into school education.

Challenges to implementation of ECCE

• Policy fragmentation: ECCE policies and services are fragmented and do not leverage whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches to addressing the holistic needs and rights of families and their young children. 
• Lack of public provision: The presence of non-state actors like private schools, NGOs etc. in ECCE is more evident than public counterpart. 
• Insufficient regulation of the sector: There is a lack of effective regulation, and it does not establish quality assurance mechanisms that focus on outcomes.
• Chronic underfunding: An average of 3% of the education budget, which is very little, is allocated to education in which the share of ECCE becomes minimal. Even in terms of international aid, pre-primary education remains the least funded sector.

Suggestions 

• Expanding and diversifying access: Increasing investment to expand ECCE services are essential steps. Innovative ECCE delivery mechanisms such as mobile kindergartens with teachers, equipment for learning and play.  
• Enhancing quality and relevance: ECCE curriculum frameworks should cover different aspects of early learning and prepare children with essential knowledge, skills, and dispositions with focusing on smooth transition to formal education.
• Making ECCE educators and caregivers a transforming force: For the transformation of ECCE to take place, ECCE educators need to be adequately supported and empowered to play their part.
• Improving governance and stakeholder participation: Carving out a role for School governance and participation of society at large in the implementation of the ECCE framework.  
• Using funding to steer ECCE development: Strengthening domestic public financing is important for providing affordable ECCE. Innovative financing may include earmarking resources from economic activities and other sources.
• Monitoring and Assessment: Availability and reliability of data obtained from assessments of ECCE framework will enable efficient and timely monitoring of programmes and child developmental milestones.
• Galvanize international cooperation and solidarity: Participation in the World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education can be an opportunity to mobilize existing global, regional, and national networks to increase focus on identifying and sharing innovations, policies and practices.