Despite a mountain of evidence proving that the socio-economic benefits of investing in education of youngest children by far exceeds social returns on investment in school and higher learning, early childhood care and education (ECCE) is cruelly neglected in 21st century India. Although the Central government’s Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme to provide nutrition to newborns and lactating mothers, was introduced way back in 1975, it hasn’t been expanded or sufficiently funded. Moreover, though the 1.34 million anganwadis run under ICDS are mandated to also provide early childhood education, this mandate is severely neglected because the budgetary provision made annually for the programme (Rs.15,873 crore in 2016-17) barely covers the cost of nutrition of the 84 million children under-5 years lucky enough to be admitted into them. The remaining 80 million children in this vulnerable age group are left to the mercy of their impoverished households and NGOs. Children born into middle class households have the good fortune to receive ECCE of varying quality ranging from mere crèche services to thoroughly contemporary, globally comparable early childhood education in the country’s estimated 300,000 privately promoted pre-primaries or preschools. Although it is customary for armchair Left intellectuals who dominate the academy and media, to label private education providers or edupreneurs as profiteers, in EducationWorld we have always admired ECCE edupreneurs for the important service they provide to the community at what by global standards, are very modest tuition fees. Therefore, to encourage them to continuously improve the quality of education and nurturance they provide to youngest children, and also to enable young parents to choose pre-primaries most suitable for their children, every December we commission a nationwide survey to rate and rank the most admired pre-primaries in a rising number of cities. Last year, field researchers of the Delhi-based Centre for Forecasting and Research Pvt. Ltd (C fore) — our partners in this annual exercise — rated and ranked the most well-known pre-primaries of ten cities inter se. This year, they have evaluated preschools in 16 cities. Rural areas are not covered because there’s little awareness of the concept of professionally administered ECCE, or its importance. The EducationWorld India Preschool Rankings 2016 featured in this issue will be followed up with the EducationWorld Early Childhood National Conference 2017 scheduled for January 21 in Bangalore when the country’s top-ranked proprietary and franchised preschools will be celebrated and awarded. ECCE promoters, practitioners and professionals are invited to register on www.educationworld.in In EducationWorld, we accord very high importance to professionally administered ECCE for all children. It’s time the Central and state governments — and the public — did likewise.
