 EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND
EDUCATION

Scope of Article 45 of the Constitution

104. The scope of the Constitutional directive (Article 45) of providing, within a specified time-frame, free and compulsory education for `all children until they complete the age of fourteen years', should be enlarged to include ECCE. (5.1.6)

Operational Design

105. Since ECCE is a cross-sectoral programme, addressing the inter-secting needs of children, women and girls, ECCE as a component should receive due attention in all dimensions and stages of education, such as women's education, education of Scheduled Castes and Tribes, elementary education, vocational education, content and process, teacher training, higher education etc. (5.2.0)

Priority

106. ECCE should be included in the Minimum Needs Programme. (5.3.0)

Role and Responsibility of Various Departments

107. The Department of Women and Child Development in the Ministry of HRD at the Centre (and the Departments of Social Welfare in the States) should be held accountable for the implementation of ECCE in all aspects of its operational design, as recommended in the POA. (5.4.4)

108. This Department must also accept the nodal role of stimulating, co-ordinating and monitoring the ECCE work undertaken by other agencies/departments, such as Labour, Works & Housing, Tribal Welfare, Agriculture, Irrigation, Rural Development, Forest etc. (5.4.4)

109. The Department of Women and Child Development (and its counterparts in the States) should seek the setting up of an Inter- Ministerial Committee (and its equivalent in the

Sates), comprising of representatives of the Departments of Labour, Health and Education to assist it in planning, co-ordinating and monitoring the ECCE programmes. (5.4.4)

110. At the same time, the Department of Education cannot, under Article 45, give up its basic responsibility for the education of children from birth to six years, and must ensure that this continuing concern is reflected in action in all dimensions and stages of education. (5.4.4)

Strategies and Models

111. The principles of diversity, flexibility and decentralised funding and management must be incorporated into the policy framework, with a view to widen coverage and improve retention, especially with reference to remote habitations and most underprivileged or migrant communities. (5.5.4)

112. These principles must be reflected in the operational design for developing a country-wide network of ECCE programmes, linking a rich diversity of models and strategies. (5.5.4)

113. Provision should be made for Statutory Cretches and Day Care Centres for both the organised and unorganised sectors and for strict implementation of all labour laws dealing with child care services. These laws should also be reviewed to facilitate easier implementation. (5.5.4)

114. Wherever possible, ECCE centres should be linked physically as well as programmatically with the primary school. (5.5.4)

ICDS

115. In order to broaden access and improve quality, ICDS should move in the direction of becoming a participatory network of decentralised ECCE centres managed by local groups, preferably poor women's groups, under the umbrella of Panchayati Raj institutions, with the Government providing support through essential funding (may be, on a per child basis), training, monitoring and guidance. (5.6.2)

Other Models and Strategies

116. Concrete provisions should be made in financial and programmatic terms for decentralised and community-based implementation of the various models and strategies mentioned in POA, such as-

(i) Strengthening and upgrading all existing models,

(ii) Promoting innovative and experimental models,

(iii) Developing special programmes for specific under-privileged or migrant communities and for remote habitations, and

(iv) Developing and promoting media support on a massive scale (as is being done at present for the adult literacy campaign) for generating public awareness and understanding regarding issue relating to care and education of children in the 0-6 age group. (5.7.4)

Content and Quality

117. The basic principles of curriculum and content of ECCE should be translated into localised content. (5.8.4)

118. Effective field strategies, buttressed by a systematic media campaign (as is going on at present for adult literacy), need to be urgently implemented in order to discourage formal teaching methods and early introduction of 3 R's in ECCE programmes both in the private and the Government sectors. (5.8.4)

119. Appropriate and acceptable ratios of adults to children in ECCE programmes for different age-groups and models should be worked out as guidelines for agencies implementing ECCE and adequate provision be made to proportionately augment the staff of the centres. (5.8.4)

Personnel and Training

120. Recognising the skilled nature of work in ECCE and the links between programme quality on the one hand and wages, job satisfaction, social status and motivation on the other,

the policy for remuneration of ECCE workers spelt out in POA must be implemented with immediate effect. (5.9.9)

121. The overall responsibility for teacher education and personnel training for ECCE at all levels must be accepted by the Departments of Education, both at the Centre and the States/UTs in close co-ordination with the Department of Women and Child Development at the Centres and their counterparts in the States, while developing mechanisms to respond to the needs and perceptions of the users and programme implementers, such as the Departments of Labour, Forest, Irrigation, Works and Housing, Rural Development etc. as well as the private sector. For the other components of ECCE (health, nutrition etc.), a close co-ordination with the nodal and other related departments/agencies would be necessary. (5.9.9)

122. Working through Educational Complexes (as proposed elsewhere), DIETs should assume responsibility for training in ECCE and establish a field-based networking relationship with ECCE programmes. For this purpose DIETs should build up their own training capability. (5.9.9)

123. Building up on the base of available training pattern (Table 3), a network of modular training programmes for ECCE must be developed at all levels (grass roots, para-professional, professional and supervisory) through a diversity of models and strategies, with content to meet the holistic goals of ECCE and a participatory methodology using the basic principle of internship with different degrees of field placement. (5.9.9)

124. A system of accreditation of training programmes and agencies in ECCE must be developed as indicated in POA (this would also promote diversity and decentralisation). (5.9.9)

125. Action should be taken soon to develop Vocational Education of ECCE at the +2 level in all States/UTs. The feasibility of organising ECCE training following Class VIII should be examined on a priority basis with a view to

widen the social base and availability of ECCE workers. (5.9.9)

126. Measures should be initiated to re-structure the training programmes of elementary school teachers all over the country to integrate and emphasise the child-centered and non-formal approaches of early childhood education in the primary schools, especially at the early stages, with a view to improve schools' capability to receive and retain children. (5.9.9).

Decentralisation

127. The ICDS and other related Centrally Sponsored Schemes for ECCE may be shifted to the States/UTs following the completion of the present phase. The State/UT Plans should then be proportionately augmented with additional funds with conditionality of non- divertibility and accountability. (5.10.3)

128. The management of Anganwadis and other ECCE centres should be fully handed over to voluntary organisations and/or local community groups, preferably poor women's groups, through the Panchayati Raj framework. Village-level and/or Mohalla-level Committees may be constituted by local bodies, with at least half of the members being poor women and with suitable representation of Anganwadi workers, for planning, co-ordinating and monitoring of a cluster of community-based centres in a village or town. Needless to add, the principle of community control over ECCE programme would carry with it the principle of full public accountability to the community. (5.10.3)

129. In order to ensure diversity, fiexibility and responsiveness to local needs and socio-cultural conditions, the community groups and village or mohalla-level committees would be fully responsible for designing the model and strategy for the local ECCE centre, while being expected to ensure the minimum programme recommended by the State Government. Experimentation and innovation in approach to training, recruitment of personnel and management would be encouraged and be provided for. (5.10.3)

130. The Village or Mohalla-level Committee or the community group responsible for managing the ECCE centre would also be free to mobilise additional resources, in addition to the State resources, while subjecting itself to both financial and social audit. (5.10.3)

131. ECCE should be included in the charter of responsibili- ties of the Educational Complexes proposed in the school education sector. Women and other community groups managing ECCE centres and Anganwadi workers may be suitably represented on the executed bodies of the Complexes. (5.10.3)

132. The role of the Educational Complex would be to develop a perspective plan for ECCE for the region covered by it and to assist the local committees and groups by arranging for training (through DIETs), supplying educational and other materials (not locally available) guidance in budgeting, coordination, promoting mutual exchange of information and, most importantly, monitoring. (5.10.3)

133. Since the ECCE centre would be accountable to the community it is serving, the monitoring role of the Educational Complex as also of the State Government assumes special significance. While the Educational Complex would make its report on individual centres available to the community/village as an input in the awareness-raising process, the State Government would monitor the Complex as a whole and release its report for public action at the Block or district level. In this framework, supervision as a means to control and improve performance becomes superfluous. (5.10.3)

134. The role of the State Government may be confined to:

(a) ensuring essential funding (may be, on a per child basis) for ECCE through the Panchayati Raj institutions/Educational Complexes;

(b) spelling out policy imperatives and broad guide-lines;

(d) supplying materials not available locally;

(e) promoting lateral exchange and analysis of information and experiences amongst Educational Complexes;

(f) co-ordination;

(g) monitoring; and

(h) raising public awareness and giving media support. (5.10.3)

135. The State Government should also ensure that repre- sentatives of the user agencies and programme implementers (e.g. Departments of Labour, Irrigation, Forest, etc., and voluntary organisations) are included in the State-level structures set up for planning, programme formulation, designing curriculum, and development of training models and strategies, so that their needs and perceptions find adequate expression. (5.10.3)

Resources

136. A Central Fund for child care services should be set-up at the national level. (5.11.0)

137. The Government should provide a substantially higher allocation for ECCE, spelling it out as a percentage of GNP, keeping in view the estimated requirements of Rs. 4900 crores per annum even for achieving the POA targets to be reached by the end of Eighth Plan in a phased manner. (5.11.0)

138. A 10-year action and resource allocation plan for building up a national network of child care services be prepared, such that at least 70% of the children below six would be covered by an essential package of services by 2000 AD, as suggested in POA. (5.11.0)

139. Funds for the national network may be drawn from five sources as given below :

(a) Government : As per Article 45 of the Constitution, the Central and State Governments would have to

bear the major responsibility for funding the pro- gramme. These funds may be drawn by pooling together the provisions made in the respective budgets of the Departments of Education, Women & Child Development, Health and Labour for this purpose. To facilitate this, an Inter-Ministerial Committee may be constituted. The Government Departments which employ labour (e.g. Irrigation, Rural Development, Forest, Works & Housing etc.) should henceforth be required to make a pro- portionate provision for expenses on child care services and contribute this money to the Central Fund.

(b) Employers : A special welfare cess for the Central Fund should be levied on all employers, whether in the private or in the public sector, regardless of the sex of the workers employed. No distinction need be made on the basis of the type of employmentsalaried, daily wage or some ether form.

(c) Local Bodies : Panchayats, Municipalities and Corporations may be encouraged to raise additional funds for ECCE through special local cess/taxes.

(d) Parents : With community control, it should become possible for the Village/Mohalla Committee to raise a certain fraction of the needed resources from the parents at the local level, as a voluntary contribution on a monthly basis. In the organised sector, this contribution could be collected through the trade unions.

(e) Donations : Tax incentives may be given on contributions to the Central Fund. (5.11.0)

140. A special allocation of additional funds, say Rs. 100 crores, be made for 1991-92 to undertake preparatory work consisting of an awareness-raising media campaign, upgradation of the existing ICDS and other centres, developing decentralised structures at the grass roots, building up training programmes and promoting action research in alternative models. (5.11.0)

Monitoring and Evaluation

141. DIETs and Educational Complexes, rather than any higher level structures, should have a major role in both planning and execution of the system of internal monitoring and evaluation. (5.12.0)

142. The State Government should also organise an indepen- dent system of monitoring and evaluation of the programme at the level of Educational Complexes only (i.e., not at the level of individual centres) and make its reports available for open and public consideration at the District or Block level. (5.12.0)

143. One major objective of these exercises should be to use the findings as a direct input for renewal/strengthening of the programme at the local level. For this, it would be necessary to foster lateral inter-action and exchange of findings (complex to complex or centre to centre or centre-complex), rather than the exclusive vertical and upwards flow indicated in the POA. The reports from monitoring and evaluation exercises should also be released for open interaction at both the formal and informal fora with a view to build up public pressure for programme efficiency. (5.12.0)

144. The Index of Human Development should be a dynamic concept and be made public as a means of monitoring as well as community intervention in the programmes. (5.12.0)

EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION