According to the revised policy, there is a dire need to give all young children universal access to high-quality Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) across the country, with a special focus on children from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Later, in 2013, the Indian Government released the National Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) policy to provide integrated services for the continuous holistic development of children up to age 6. However, government Anganwadi centres, pre-primary schools, and private nurseries failed to implement it in full force and effect. The New Education Policy 2022 is the first policy that compels schools to embrace ECCE no later than 2030 to ensure that every child entering Grade 1 is school-ready.

Early Childhood Care and Education – A Strong Foundation for Lifelong Learning

According to UNICEF, early childhood is defined as the period that spans from conception up to eight years of age. It is the most critical time for a child’s holistic social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development that lays a solid foundation for lifelong learning and well-being.

Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) is more than preparing children for primary school. While the term ECCE traditionally refers to the education of children from age 3-6, it is ideally a comprehensive approach to programs and policies for children up to six years of age, their teachers, and parents. ECCE, mentioned in the New Education Policy 2022, consists of the following types of learning:

• Flexible
• Multi-level
• Multi-faceted
• Play-based
• Inquiry-based
• Activity-based

These learning methods comprise:

• Alphabets, numbers, and counting
• Colours and shapes
• Languages
• Indoor and outdoor play
• Problem-solving
• Puzzles and logical thinking
• Craft, drama and puppetry 
• Drawing, painting and other visual art
• Music and movement

Moreover, it also focuses on developing:

• Good behaviour
• Social capacities
• Ethics
• Sensitivity
• Courtesy
• Teamwork and cooperation
• Personal and public cleanliness

• Universal Access: Access to free, safe, and high-quality ECCE at Pre-schools/Anganwadis/Balvatikas for all children from 3 to 6 years.

• Foundational Learning Curriculum: For ages 3-8, the curriculum is divided into two parts: Foundation learning curriculum from ages 3-6 in ECCE and 6-8 in classes I and II in primary school.

• Multi-faceted Learning: A strong focus on play, activity, and inquiry-based learning through a flexible learning system to develop Foundational Literacy & Numeracy (FLN).

• Preparatory Class: Before the age of 5, every child will be moved to ‘Preparatory Class’ or ‘Balvatika’ (that is, before Class 1), which has ECCE-qualified teachers imparting play-based learning.

Thus, ECCE gives all young children universal access to quality early childhood development, care, and pre-primary education, enabling them to flourish throughout their lives.

The overall aim of ECCE is to attain optimal outcomes in different domains like:

• Cognitive development
• Physical and motor development
• Socio-emotional-ethical development
• Communication skills development
• Cultural/artistic development
• The development of early language, literacy, and numeracy.

In the context of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), the New Education Policy 2022 tries to focus on two essential components:

• Strengthen the pedagogical and curricular framework for early childhood education with the help of NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training).
• Build high-quality infrastructure with well-trained teachers.

However, after analysing and reviewing the New Education Policy 2022, some challenges are quite visible to be faced by school owners while implementing the ECCE guidelines mentioned in the revised policy. Let’s have a look at them.

Challenges for Early Childhood Care and Education

The challenges and hurdles school owners may face in implementing ECCE include:

• Unavailability of well-trained teachers in Anganwadis, private nurseries, and pre-primary schools;
• Deficiency in supplies and poor infrastructure in Anganwadis for education;
• Anganwadis tend to contain more children from the age group 2-4 and fewer in the educationally critical age range of 4-6-year;
• They also have few teachers specially trained and dedicated to early childhood education;
• Most private pre-schools are based on rote memorisation and lack play-based learning.

With these gaps and challenges identified, there are also opportunities to respond effectively. Now, let’s see how ECCE will be implemented.

Way Forward for Early Childhood Care and Education

The New Education Policy 2022 states that the planning and implementation of ECCE will be carried out jointly by the Ministry of HRD, Women and Child Development (WCD), Health and Family Welfare (HFW), and Tribal Affairs in a phased manner. ECCE will be delivered through a highly robust and significantly expanded system of institutions consisting of:

• Standalone Pre-schools and Anganwadis equipped with high-quality infrastructure, play equipment, and an enriched learning environment;
• Anganwadis co-located with primary schools;
• Pre-primary schools/sections having children aged at least 5-6 years co-located with existing primary schools.

All of these early-childhood educational institutions will recruit teachers/workers well trained in a National Curricular and Pedagogical Framework for Early Childhood Care and Education (NCPFECCE) developed by NCERT for children up to the age of 8. The framework, which is perfectly aligned with New Education Policy 2022 guidelines, the latest research on ECCE, and national and international best practices, is divided into two parts, namely:

• A sub-framework for 0 to 3-year-olds
• A sub-framework for 3 to 8-year-olds

The framework will serve as a guide both for early-childhood educational institutions and parents. Moreover, to prepare an initial cadre of professionally qualified teachers for ECCE, current Anganwadi teachers/workers will be trained systematically according to the NCPFECCE framework developed by NCERT.

Anganwadi workers/teachers who are 12th pass out or have higher educational qualifications will be given a 6-month certificate programme in Early Childhood Care and Education. On the other hand, those with lower qualifications will be given a one-year diploma programme covering Foundational Literacy and Numeracy and other relevant aspects of ECCE. Anganwadi workers and teachers may take these programmes through digital/distance modes using smartphones and DTH without any major disruption to their current work.

Lastly, the New Education Policy 2022 emphasises special attention and priority must be given to socio-economically disadvantaged districts and locations. Also, it highly recommends introducing ECCE in Ashramshalas in tribal-dominated areas in a phased manner.

All these ECCE directives mentioned in the New Education Policy 2022 pave the way for transformational reforms both in pre-primary and primary education, but the key here is better implementation and execution.