Support Quality Early Childhood Care & Education

Early Childhood Education prepares children for formal schooling and aids in the holistic development
of the child. A good quality early childhood education program successfully lays the foundation for the
development of reading, writing and number work focusing more on child readiness as well as age and
developmentally appropriate practices. Equal focus in these years must also be on encouraging the
child’s interaction with the environment, active participation in-group activities and enhancing creativity
and problem solving.

In India , a majority of the population, particularly of the lower socio-economic strata, only have access to early childhood education imparted by the government through the Zilla Parishad Aanganwadis.

The Aanganwadi centres have various elements that they focus on: health, vaccination, maternal health, adolescent health, pre-primary education etc. Pre-primary education only serves as one aspect of a larger agenda, thereby diluting the focus of the early childhood education intervention. And as research supports in the absence of a good quality ECCE program children directly enrolling in Class One find it difficult to cope with the education being imparted. Age and developmentally appropriate intervention in the early years is an imminent need to ensure that children can transition smoothly into formal schooling.

The National Education Policy 2020 clearly states that “Early childhood education is the greatest and most powerful equalizer” Good quality early childhood education focuses on providing first-hand experiences to children in ways that would ensure, development of skills related to the process of learning. There is an immense need for early childhood education to be experiential and wholesome with stimulating play environments that aid in the Physical, Intellectual, Language, Social and emotional development of the child.

In this quarter Save The Children India has inteacted with various internal and external stakeholders also participated in discussions on NEP2020 to further strengthen and allign internvetions of the organisation in Early Childhood Education.

Thank You