NEP 2020: SCHOOL EDUCATION | ECCE: Change in governance

August 6, 2020

The NEP identifies that over 85 percent of a child’s brain develops by the age of 6 and emphasises on providing critical importance to appropriate care and stimulation of the brain in a child’s early years for healthy brain development and growth. It states that it is, therefore of the utmost importance that every child has access to quality early childhood care and education (ECCE).

The overall aim of Early childhood care and education (ECCE) will be to attain optimal outcomes in the domains of physical and motor development, cognitive development, socio-emotional-ethical development, cultural/artistic development, and the development of communication and early language, literacy, and numeracy.

Change in governance

1. The responsibility for ECCE curriculum and pedagogy will lie with the MHRD to ensure continuity of curriculum and pedagogy from pre-primary school to primary school, and to ensure due attention to the foundational aspects of education. The implementation of early childhood education will be carried out jointly by the Ministries of HRD, Women and Child Development (WCD), Health and Family Welfare (HFW), and Tribal Affairs. A special joint task force will be constituted for the continuous guidance of the integration.

2. Trained and qualified social workers from civil society organizations/departments of Social justice and Empowerment could be connected to the schools through various innovative mechanisms to be adopted by State/UT Governments. If every literate member of the community could commit to teaching one student/person how to read, it would change the country’s landscape very quickly; this mission will be highly encouraged and supported. Lack of shortage of staff due to fostering innovative models such as peer-tutoring and volunteer activities with volunteers from both the local community and beyond – to participate in this large-scale mission of the schooling system.