PANEL DISCUSSION Do we need to set minimum learning outcomes in ECCE? The second panel discussion chaired by Summiya Yasmeen (SY), managing editor of EducationWorld, featured Dr. Shailaja Menon (SM), professor at the School of Education, Azim Premji University, Bangalore; Deepa Bhushan (DB), head of Billabong High International schools; Hazel Siromoni (HS), director of Maple Bear India; and keynote presenters Nan Civel (NC) and Dr. Adarsh Sharma (AS). In a high-voltage debate, the panel debated ‘Do we need to set minimum learning outcomes in ECCE?’. Excerpts from the lively 90-minute discussion. SY: The context of this debate is that India doesn’t have a national ECCE curriculum setting minimum learning levels, though a National ECCE Policy was approved in 2013 by the UPA II government. Consequently, preschools in the private sector devise their own curriculums and pedagogies. Most countries including the US, UK and Singapore have prescribed minimum child development outcomes — cognitive, emotional, social, language and literacy, etc — in ECCE. Do we need to prescribe them in India as well? AS: In academic circles, we have developed several curriculum frameworks and policies for ECCE. But all this research is confined to books and documents. There is no link between research and policy in India. That’s the big problem. The babu or bureaucrat goes by his whims and decides what’s good for children. Therefore, I am not surprised that we haven’t been able to set any clear child outcomes in ECCE. All exist on paper, nobody has been able to standardise and implement them. HS: Unfortunately, few educators in India have a clear understanding of what is ECCE. We still loosely use ‘playschool’ to describe an ECCE centre, and parents and primary schools have different expectations of pre-primary education. First we need to evolve a consensus as to what’s the objective of ECCE and then draw up age-appropriate learning outcomes. There is no dispute that the early years are critical to helping children develop the skills needed to become independent learners. Poor ECCE results in poor primary-secondary learning outcomes. In Pisa 2011 (Programme for International Student Assessment) which measures the learning outcomes of 15-year-olds worldwide, Indian students were ranked second last among 74 countries. Instead of addressing this problem, India has withdrawn from the test. SM: Learning outcomes is a controversial issue, and across the country there’s a live academic debate about whether we need to set them. The audience needs to understand the nuances of this debate. The National Policy on Education 1986 defined minimum levels of learning for primary-secondary children, as did the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2000. But NCF 2005 declined to set minimum learning outcomes for school children. Now we are talking about introducing minimum learning outcomes for children in early years education. Delegates here need to know why standardised learning outcomes were eliminated for older children. The reason is that humans are bio-social cultural beings. They are different because of differences in language, culture, child rearing practices, and societal expectations. In a highly heterogeneous society, setting standardised learning outcomes…
