ASER data shows early education is crucial, one-size-fits-all policy doesn’t work

While helping children get a head start in the early years is important, it is critical to ensure that all stakeholders — parents, teachers, policymakers and textbook developers — understand that the key words are “quality” and “developmentally appropriate”.

As implementation of the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan rolls out across the country, ASER data on young children suggests that a “one size fits all” solution is unlikely to be successful. (Illustration by Mithun Chakraborty)

Early childhood education, or ECE, is included in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030 that were approved by India among many countries around the globe. SDG Target 4.2 states that by 2030 countries should “ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education”.

This global goal emerged thanks to extensive international research in disciplines as varied as neuroscience, psychology and economics, which show that early childhood — defined internationally as the age group of 0-8 years — is a critical period. During this time, the foundations of life-long learning are built, with 90 per cent of all brain development taking place by age six.

In India, too, the importance of early care and stimulation has been recognised in the National Policy on Early Childhood Care and Education (2013), which aims to provide “developmentally appropriate preschool education for three to six-year-olds with a more structured and planned school readiness component for five to six-year-olds.” The recently created Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan scheme has also brought renewed focus and attention on ECE through the Integrated Scheme on School Education that aims to treat school education “holistically without segmentation from pre-nursery to Class 12”.

There are currently two main avenues for accessing early childhood education in India. The most widespread comprises the 1.3 million anganwadi centres run by the Ministry of Women and Child Development across the country under the Integrated Child Development (ICDS) Scheme. The other is the burgeoning private sector, with more than 40 per cent of privately managed primary schools reportedly offering pre-primary LKG and UKG classes as well. Some states in India offer a third possibility as well, in the form of preschool classes integrated within government primary schools, for example in Assam and Jammu & Kashmir.

According to the RTE Act, enrolment in formal schools should begin at age six, with ECE exposure recommended for children between age three and six. However, 26 of India’s 35 states and union territories allow children to enter Class 1 at age five. National trends from the recently released Annual Status of Education Report (ASER 2018) indicate that enrolment patterns broadly meet these policy prescriptions. At age three, two-thirds of children were enrolled in some form of preschool; while seven out of every 10 were enrolled in primary school at age six. But we also see that fairly large proportions of children are already in primary grades even at age three and four; and many are still in preschool at age seven and even eight.

As with many estimates at the all-India level, these national trends hide major variations, both across the country as well as at different ages. For example, at age three, national policy recommends that children should be in an ECE programme. Gujarat comes close to meeting the norm, with well over 90 per cent children in some form of preschool, the majority in ICDS Anganwadis. In contrast, in Uttar Pradesh, almost two thirds are not attending anywhere. At age four, almost a quarter of all four-year-olds in Rajasthan are already in primary school, with almost equal proportions in government and private schools. But in Assam, about seven out of 10 children are attending an anganwadi. At age five, nationally, about a third of all children are already in primary school. But in UP, close to two in every 10 children are not enrolled anywhere; and, in Rajasthan over 60 per cent children are in primary school. At age six, although all children are expected to be in primary school, over 40 per cent of all six-year-olds in both Telangana and Assam continue in some form of pre-primary class.