Early childhood development can significantly shape an individual’s life. It is a prominent and formative stage and if not executed properly can hamper a child’s growth, eventually hampering his/her upcoming life. Early years are crucial to promote sustained and healthy brain development. It is a delicate stage and should be treated carefully because getting the foundations right has huge long-term benefits. In this stage, education be it textual or environmental plays the supereminent role. Early childhood education is fundamentally important as children are the very future of every country. ECCE provides stimulation that helps children gain cognitive, social and emotional skills which equip them for future learning. Cognitive skills entail improved language, problem-solving abilities and critical thinking. Emotional skills encompass stress-coping abilities and fortitude. Social prowess includes cooperating, sharing and empathy among children. Comprehensive and quality early childhood education sets the stage for lifelong learning and achievement. The India Early Childhood Education Impact Study 2017 also finds that children who have access to quality early childhood education are more likely to have higher learning outcomes in primary grades.
At the current time, there is a severe learning crisis in India, where children are enrolled in primary schools but fail to attain even basic skills. A large proportion of children in pre-school and Grades 1 and 2 are not receiving developmentally appropriate education suited to their needs. In our country, the education sector is usually given short shrift. Yes, stating the obvious, the current government in the form of NEP( New Education Policy) has recommended 6% of the GDP to be allocated to the education sector which is more than the last 3 budgets but then again the discrepancy between recommending and implementing is something we’re all familiar with. According to a survey in the research paper titled “NEP 2020-A Review cum Survey Based Analysis of Myths and Reality of Education in India” by Sunita Khatak, Naman Wadhwa and Rajesh Kumar stated that “Sixty per cent of the correspondents were sure that the New Education Policy would bring constructive changes at the grass root level whereas 35% of them being sceptical of the NEP bringing any positive changes to the society and 5.5% being negative about it”. Rightfully so, this is the status not just from the eyes of a layman but the ground reality considering the new policy.
The rift between initiatives and implementations could be resolved in the following ways-
1) Play-based and quality education – Early childhood education should be in accordance with their capacity and mental bandwidth. Spawning and promoting a learning environment where children feel free to express themselves, answer in the way that best suits them and deflect from what is textually admissible is required. Less focus should be placed on homework and critical assessments as they tend to circumscribe a child’s growth.
2) Subsiding rural-urban disparity – Early childhood education is an important investment that should not be curtailed due to economic disparities. Equal access to education is indispensable. It is imperative for policymakers, educators and communities to prioritize and support initiatives that ensure all children have access to high-quality early childhood education.
3) Multilingual pedagogy – It is important to address language diversity so children can understand better and get adequate support in learning during this critical phase of life. Early years are crucial for language procurement which is why language heterogeneity should be emphasized.
4) Tackling the lack of incentive and training for teachers – ECCE teachers often receive lesser compensation since their efforts are overlooked and not given the same weight as their peers. As a result, unqualified teachers are admitted. The Government and other organizations should superintend training ECCE teachers and compensate them fairly as their contribution is vital to effective education.
Individuals from less fortunate family units skip ECCE simply due to economic injustice, which impairs their child’s developmental maturation. It is essential to address the issue of inadequate awareness and discriminatory implementation of early childhood education. Parents from underprivileged backgrounds lack the ability to provide education that will ameliorate their child’s life. There are abounding organizations working to reduce the disparity in education attainment. One such organization is “Pehchaan The Street School” This is a non-profit managed solely by volunteers to bridge societal gaps via the power of education. The organization relentlessly works to upswing access to early childhood educational programmes. The organization provides fundamental knowledge and skills to ensure a well-rounded education for all children. The members and volunteers engage with the community to create a supportive environment for early childhood education. By including recreational activities such as sports, games, dance, arts and crafts, the organization ensures that children are learning in a lively and expressive atmosphere. They prioritize social learning and offer skill enhancement courses to promote self-reliance among children as they recognize the key role of early childhood education in attaining future success.
To learn more about the organization and support its endeavours kindly visit –
Website link – https://pehchaanstreetschool.org