Place yourself in the shoes of a curious and energetic 5-year-old in the public system, ready to start your journey of formal schooling. The shift in expectations for a child who has just exited daycare centres such as Anganwadis can prove to be overwhelming.
Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) in the public system is provided through the Anganwadi system and a few pre-primary sections in government schools. Anganwadi centres are critical for preparing a child between the ages of 3-5 years on crucial early learning: cognitive, language, social-emotional, physical and creative development. Besides providing critical inputs across health & nutrition indicators, Anganwadi centres provide much-needed stimulation for our youngest citizens through initiatives such as the ICDS and the “Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi” campaign. But enrolment has been steadily dipping after children complete 2 years at such centres. The majority of the 5-year-old cohort is split between private pre-schools and Grade 1 and not part of the government pre-primary system. At least one year of quality early childhood education before Grade 1 with a dedicated preschool teacher can make or break a child's educational trajectory.
Step into one of the government pre-school or daycare centres and you'll find a mixed-age group of children surrounded by uninspiring teaching-learning materials - a setting hardly meant to spark a young mind's curiosity. The Anganwadi teacher at such centres begins her day with a set of activities like rehearsing rhymes and alphabet recitals. By afternoon, her duties shift to providing meals and other administrative tasks like measuring infants' heights and weight and filling vaccine registers. Once that is done, she resumes the day’s storytelling session, ending with “Did everyone understand?". This is met with the children's chorus of "Yes, ma'am!". Amidst this chaos, the message is hidden in plain sight-an urgent need to address the challenges of the pre-school system and ensure that the transition from learning to learn, to learning to read and then reading to learn is a playful, stimulating adventure for a young mind.
Precious learning time in Anganwadi centres gets lost due to a lack of prioritisation and ineffective teaching methods. A study by J-PAL in Tamil Nadu between 2016-18, and a recent situational analysis conducted by Central Square Foundation, called "Building Strong Foundations: Examining Early Childhood Education in India" found that learning time and quality is ineffective in Anganwadis and pre-primary sections in government schools. The recent ECE study covered 220 ECE classrooms across seven states and interviewed parents, officials and teachers. The study found that in nearly 25% of observed Anganwadi and pre-primary settings, no learning activities were conducted in a 2-hour observation period. And in the remaining classes, activities averaged just 35 minutes, each lasting around 13 minutes on average. Anganwadi teachers struggle to balance administrative duties with engaging, play-based pedagogy. The study found that a mere 14% of activities were child-led, with the overwhelming majority (86%) being teacher-directed, with no hands-on learning experiences for children to play and master skills.
This crisis in early learning stems from systemic and programmatic issues that result in low adequate learning time for children in the classroom. Inadequate funding (spending on ECE is merely 10% of per cohort expenditure on primary grades), separate efforts by two ministries: Education and Women & Child Development, and a dearth of robust monitoring, all converge to undermine the quality of ECE at a system level. The consequences extend far beyond the four-walls of the classroom. Research demonstrates the pivotal role of preschool in laying cognitive, socio-emotional, and physical foundations for long-term learning and life success. Countries with high-performing education systems invest heavily in quality, play-based pre-primary education. Quality pre-primary education lays the groundwork for higher academic achievement, better health outcomes, and enhanced socio-emotional well-being. Over the long term, it also boosts workforce productivity, social cohesion, and economic growth.
A robust pre-primary year also hinges on developmentally appropriate, user-friendly teaching-learning materials and curricula. The existing resources pose some challenges, namely -
• Across states, teacher handbooks and classroom materials lack intuitive design, reducing the adoption, usability and effective implementation.
• Approaches to language instruction vary widely, with an unclear balance between introducing home languages versus an early emphasis on literacy and writing skills for English. Introducing two scripts further muddies the waters for young learners.
• While play-based pedagogy is the overarching principle, curricula provide scant guidance on integrating free play and exploration consistently into daily routines.
• Informal tools like observations are underutilised to assess age-wise developmental milestones across domains. This often leaves teachers without insights into their students' holistic progress, hindering efforts to tailor instructional practices.
The National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage (NCF-FS) which was released by the Ministry of Education in October 2022 and the recent Aadharshila ECCE curriculum released by the Ministry of WCD align on the right ingredients for quality ECE instruction. States need to adapt this and align with existing foundational learning curricula to ensure continuity and scaffolding of competencies across domains through the ‘Anganwadi-Balvatika-School’ continuum.
To unleash the transformative potential of pre-primary education in India, a well-designed, universally accessible one-year program for all 5-6-year-olds should be the cornerstone of the country's early childhood education strategy. States such as Assam, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra have initiatives from which to draw learnings. To realise the vision of universal access to quality pre-primary education, State governments must consider five critical action steps:
1. Allocate dedicated, substantial funding for a national one-year, universal pre-primary program for all 5-6-year-olds, with a focus on dedicated ECE teachers.
2. Clearly define the roles of all institutions involved in ECE to ensure seamless implementation and monitoring across the 3-6 age group.
3. Support teachers and mentor cadres in implementing play-based, holistic learning through regular, practice-based training and continuous professional development.
4. Establish comprehensive data systems and regular review processes to continuously monitor progress and make data-driven improvements to the pre-primary program.
5. Launch large-scale awareness campaigns to engage parents and communities on markers of quality ECE, empowering them to actively support their children's learning journey.
The time has come for India to guarantee this essential early start for all her children. By embedding a robust, standardised pre-primary year within the education system, we can unlock limitless possibilities - painting a canvas of opportunity for future generations to thrive.
Anustup Nayak is presently Project Director, Early Childhood Education (ECE), Central Square Foundation (CSF). Swetha Guhan is the Co-Founder and Director of Key Education Foundation (KEF).