Fwd: [se-ed] DISCUSSION: Strategies to Increase Focus on EarlyChildhoodCare and Development. Reply by 12 March 2010

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Kanav Hasija <kanav.hasija@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 10:38 AM
Subject: Re: [se-ed] DISCUSSION: Strategies to Increase Focus on EarlyChildhoodCare and Development. Reply by 12 March 2010
To: Education Community <se-ed@solutionexchange-un.net.in>

Moderator's Note: Dear Members, here is the response from Kanav Hasija on the discussion issue, we posted yesterday evening on early childhood care and development. We look forward to very rich discussion among members on the subject. As you would know, there is another query running simultaneously on education of urban slum children. Until 4th March, that query would also remain open for members to share their responses.

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Hello All,

First of all I would like to quote that percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) to education expenditure has not increased considerably in the past even after the enactment of 'Education for All'.

If one reads the schedule A of 'Right of children to free & compulsory education act', you will notice that the schools are not uniform and have segregations like alternative schools, EGS centres etc. There is no uniformity and universalization of Elementary Education (UEE).

My suggestions would be:

• Education Expenditure - RTI needs to filed on government expenditure on education to figure out the financial condition and policies to be made as govt. claims that they don't have enough funds for right to education for children below 6 years of age.
• Two needs, One Act - It is true that children from age 2 or 3 - 6 years must be given right to education with nutrition and environmental support. Though a research needs to be done on the needs of children from age 3-6 and children from age 6-14. The needs seems to be different and government can cut upon some expenses in different need structure. Example if government bears Rs. 1000 annually on a child from age 6-14 years, government might spend Rs. 400 annually for a child from age 3-6 years.

Though, two acts need not be made for separate age groups. Two clauses with different responsibilities of the organizations can be included in the same act. Two acts will lead to more loopholes, improper implementation and less co-ordination between the two.

• Uniformity- There need to uniformity in the education system especially for the first age (3-6 years) as building blocks for all must be same. India agreed on UEE in Jomtien & Dakar and must follow on the same lines.

 

Thanks & Regards

Kanav Hasija

Kharagpur Consulting Group

Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur

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Moderator's Note: Dear Members, after a long time, we are happy to initiate a discussion on Early Childhood Care and Education for members' advice. As all of us would agree, this issue is of significance, given the importance of 0-6 years, in a persons' life. The kind of developmental and early learning opportunities as well as nutrition and health inputs a child is able to receive at this age, has a lot of bearing on her future.  

We are happy to announce that Venita Kaul, a known specialist in the area of Early Childhood Care and Development has agreed to be the Guest Moderator for this discussion. Venita Kaul recently retired as Senior Education Specialist from World Bank, India office and has written extensively on the educational and developmental needs of this age group. Even after her retirement from the World Bank, her focus is maintained on ECCD. We are sure members would be forthcoming in sharing their advice and suggestions for better strategization of ECCD in the country.

We look forward to your active participation.  

Shubhangi

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Dear Members, 

I work for Center for Early Childhood Education and Development (CECED), which is located in Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD). CECED's mission is to contribute to the national goals of social justice and equity by advocating for and promoting every child's right to a sound foundation for life, through contextually appropriate and inclusive ECED and to place ECED in the forefront of policy formulation and effective programme implementation.

After a long battle, education has become the fundamental right for children in the age group of 6-14 years. However, the Right to Education Act has left out the very important age group of children below 6 years. The reason given is the fact that 86^th Constitutional Amendment and its Article 21A through which right to education was accepted as a fundamental right, talks about children between the age group of 6-14 only.

Therefore, the Act clearly excludes and thus violates the right of the 0-6 and 14 to 18 year old children. As a Bill flowing out of the Amendment, it is clear that the Bill can not go beyond Article 21A, which makes it imperative that the 86^th amendment must be re-amended to correct this anomaly, and when that happens, the change needs to be reflected in the corresponding Act at that point of time. 

However, this omission has resulted in the exclusion of 17 crore children of 0-6 years age group from their entitlement to education as their fundamental right, which is a major cause of concern, given that this age is now empirically established as the most important and formative stage of a person's life. Given this concern, the issue of inclusion of children below 6 years in the Right to Education bill is being raised in several forums.   

In the context of the above, we invite members to share their views on how they believe this important age group and its entitlements should be catered to.

We wish to hear your advice on the following:

• Should it be a justifiable right for only 3-6 year olds and that also to center based Early Childhood Education? Or should it be a right to a stimulating, healthy and enabling environment for all children, from birth to 6 years no matter where they are located? If it is the latter, what kind of government's commitment and public provisions would define this right operationally?
• If it should be only for 3 to 6 year olds and through a center based provision, what steps would be needed to ensure access to every child, given the wide variations in quality? If it is not conceptualized as institution/center based ECCD, but more holistically, what would be the monitoring mechanisms to ensure that every child's right to sound ECCE is fulfilled?
• Should there be a separate act for the right to education and development of 0-6 age group? Or should it be part of the Right to Education Act, given that the nodal Ministries for the two are different (for elementary education it is the Ministry of Human Resource Development and for ECCE it is the Ministry of Women and Child Development

Your inputs and advice will strengthen the advocacy and efforts of diverse sets of people in the area of ECCD and would also give us a clear direction to design our own activities and efforts as a Centre dedicated to early childhood care and development

Regards,

Venita Kaul

Center for Early Childhood Education and Development (CECED)

Ambedkar University,

Delhi

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