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5.7.3 A number of underprivileged communities have been described in POA (Para 7) and more could be identified for special attention, but again no provision has been made for priority action for this purpose.
5.7.4 The POA talks in Para 12 of the need for media support for conveying messages to parents and community, for training of personnel and for stimulating programmes for children. There is, however, no information about the steps taken in this direction so far, except about some sporadic micro-level experiments.
Recommendation 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 underprivileged 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.
Content and Quality 5.8.1 Recognising the holistic nature of child development, NPE rightly places emphasis on the comprehensive and integrated nature of ECCE. Its emphasis on a child-centred approach and on the primacy of play and activity as the core of curriculum, while also discouraging the early introduction of formal teaching methods and 3 R's, is specially welcome.It is, however, necessary to clarify that this special focus on individuality of the child is to be viewed as a means to battle against the prevailing pattern of conformity, uniformity and the authoritarian attitudes and relationships between adults and children, and is not intended to dilute the social, collective and co- operative dimension of child development. Further, neither the Policy nor the POA speaks about the need to translate basic curriculum principles into localised content appropriate to varying social, physical and cultural environments. In this regard the role of lullabies and word plays needs to be emphasised.
5.8.2 While the POA is unambiguous in cautioning against the dangers of using formal methods of teaching and early introduction of the 3 R's, no strategies for achieving this objective seem to have been worked out.,
5.8.3 Since the development of children proceeds through interaction with adults and amongst themselves the quality of ECCE is critically dependent on the quality of adult-child interaction, which in turn is intimately affected by factors like adult-child ratio, training, and the mental and social attitudes of the concerned adult. The link of the adult worker's response with wages, working conditions, job satisfaction, motivation, social status and recognition will be taken up in the next section.
5.8.4 Because of the nature of childhood, the adult-child ratio, which is so vital for development, has to be quite different from that in higher stages of education. For infants in the age group of 0-3 years, a ratio of one to three to five may be acceptable (in affluent countries this is as low as one to two, while even a very poor developing country like Vietnam lays down and maintains a ratio of one to seven). For children between three and six, a ratio of one to fifteen is ideal, but up to twenty-five may be accepted. While recognising the crucial importance of adult-child ratio, the POA in Para 5 shies away from laying down desirable ratios, and there is no indication that any steps have been taken to improve the prevailing ratios, which tend to be fairly high in many cases. Acceptable adult- child ratios for different age-groups and for different models (e.g. family day-care would have different standards) must be suggested as goals.
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Recommendations i) The basic principles of curriculum and content of ECCE should be translated into localised content.
ii) 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.
iii) 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.
Personnel and Training 5.9.1 The NPE is silent on the entire subject of training for ECCE and on the status of the child care worker. The skilled nature of ECCE work must be accorded its due social status in the policy framework itself. The POA, however, does recognise the links between motivation, wages and job satisfaction and unequivocally accepts both the long-term goal of bringing full time child care workers on par with primary teachers, and the short-term goal of raising their emoluments above the minimum wages earned by unskilled workers (Para 6). However, there are no indications that concrete steps have been initiated towards this end; while the Anganwadi worker barely manages to get minimum wages proportionate to the hours of work, her helper may be getting one-third to one-fourth of this! There is also an immediate need to bring creche workers (who work full-time) above the minimum wage level.
5.9.2 A major lacuna of the POA is the failure to locate the overall coordinating responsibility for training and preparation of ECCE personnel in any one agency. And even the steps which have been worked out in relation to training have not been implemented (Para 11). One reason for this may be lack of clarity as to who is to implement them.
5.9.3 The responsibility for teacher education and personnel training for ECCE must lie with the Departments of Education, both at the Centre and in the States/UTs, since it concerns professional and vocational education in a holistic framework. This calls for close co-ordination between the Department of Education and the Department of Women and Child Development at the Centre (and their counterparts in the States/UTs) as well as all other user departments/agencies. Also, the content and methodology of early childhood education must be reflected in a
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concrete form in the training of elementary school teachers, an aspect ignored by the POA.
5.9.4 Training and development of ECCE personnel must be promoted at three levels:
- first level, i.e., grass root workers or para-professionals,
- second level, i.e., professionals, and
- third level, i.e, supervisors, trainers, managers and administrators.
5.9.5 The current training courses available in the country (see Table 3) should be reviewed from this perspective and become the starting points for developing a country-wide network of ECCE training programmes.
5.9.6 The content of training must be holistic and the methodology should become dynamic, interactive, paricipatory and related to real- life situations. An internship approach to training should be adopted at all levels and for all models with different mixes and degrees of field placement, with or without supervision, as appropriate to local conditions. These models should be closely related to the localised styles of manangement and supervision.
5.9.7 Training has to be visualised as a continuous, ongoing process linked to supervisory and management structures. In keeping with the basic principles of diversity, flexibility and decentralisation, a variety of training models and strategies should be the objective. Accreditation should be used as a tool to strengthen and upgrade training programmes, but not to promote uniformity.
5.9.8 Though the POA talks of creating a system of accreditation (Para 11) , no steps have been taken so far towards this end. Once accreditation is worked out, it should be possible to re-design recruitment rules/service conditions for emeployment in both the public and private sectors, and for local bodies undertaking ECCE. This should make it easier for other departments/agencies to organise ECCE programmes. It would further promote decentralisation, as the Panchayati Raj institutions and local women's groups would be able to draw upon the trained cadres from accredited institutions, without being dependent upon the bureaucratic machinery.
5.9.9 With the adoption of appropriate adult-child ratios, and the expansion of ECCE programmes, ECCE is likely to become a vast generator of skilled employment for women and as such should find a significant place in Vocational Education.Although referred to by the POA, there is no evidence of any action having been taken to develop vocational courses on ECCE, or to promote the existing CBSE course through accreditation and
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incorporation in recruitment rules. Keeping in mind the low level of female education in many parts of the country and the difficulty of finding suitable local candidates at the +2 level, the feasibility of developing Vocational Education in ECCE after Class VIII itself, should also be seriously examined.
Recommendations i) 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.
ii) 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 & 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 coordination with the nodal and other related departments/agencies would be necessary.
iii) 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.
iv) 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, paraprofessional, 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.
v) 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).
vi) 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.
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vii) Measures should be initiated to re-structure the training programmes of elementary school teachers all over the country to integrate and emphasise the child- centred 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.
Decentralisation 5.10.1 The NPE states that the 'local community will be fully involved', but fails to spell out, in the POA or elsewhere, a strategy to decentralise management and institutionalise local community control. ICDS, the chief vehicle for ECCE, has come to acquire the characterristics of rigidity, bureaucratisation, low performance, lack of community participation, and insensitivity to local needs, patterns and socio-cultural conditions. This also appears to the true of other Central Schemes of financial assistance to voluntary organisations and other agencies for ECCE.
5. 10.2 Interestingly, a major reason for Government's reluctance, besides the usual resorce constraint, in upgrading the status and emoluments of ECCE workers seems to be the prospect of employing lakhs of additional workers. Thus ECCE is trapped on a vicious cycle. The low status and emoluments and lack of promotional avenues are constraining the motivation and performance of workers, but their status and service conditions cannot be rationalised as long as the Government continues to be the employer. The official rationale for low emoluments is the assumption that these workers are not employees, but only local volunteers. While this assumption obviously does not hold water when the Government becomes the recruiting agency, it may have validity if the workers are recruited and managed by local women's groups and/or village-level committees through village or Mandal Panchayats. Under the latter conditions, the ECCE workers may be willing to work with comparatively higher motivation even on relatively low emolumets (but not the pitiful levels prevailing now). It is time that we introduce a sense of realism in our management systems, instead of planning on the basis of the illusion of voluntarism that doesn't exist, and move in the direction of non- formalising ECCE institutional framework.
5.10.3 There is indeed no alternative to handing over of the management of ICDS and other ECCE programmes to local groups, preferably poor women's groups, through the Panchayati Raj framework. This would be consistent with what is being recommended by this Committee in the case of school education too. The principles of local community control along with accountability should be the touchstones of management system for ECCE. In order to establish operational linkages with elementary education, ECCE should be included in the charter of responsibilities of Educational Complexes being proposed for decentralising planning and management of school education.
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Recommendations i) 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.
ii) The management of Anganwadis and other ECCE centres should be fully handed over to voluntary organisations and/or 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.
iii) In order to ensure diversity, flexibility and responsiveness to local needs and socio-cultural conditions, the community groups and/or 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.
iv) 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.
v) ECCE should be included in the charter of responsibilities 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 executive bodies of the Complexes.
vi) 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.
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vii) 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 Educaitonal 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.
viii) 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 guidelines;
(c) providing training through SCERT/DIETs;
(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.
ix) The State Government should also ensure that representatives 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.