Fwd: [se-ed] DISCUSSION: Strategies to Increase Focus on EarlyChildhoodCare and Development. Reply by 17 March 2010

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Multiple Contributors <se-ed@solutionexchange-un.net.in>
Date: Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 3:29 PM
Subject: Re: [se-ed] DISCUSSION: Strategies to Increase Focus on EarlyChildhoodCare and Development. Reply by 17 March 2010
To: Education Community <se-ed@solutionexchange-un.net.in>

Moderator's Note: Please find below the responses form Parul Taneja, Radhika Herzberger and K. Lakshmi on the issue.

---

Parul Taneja, National Council of Education Research and Training, New Delhi

Thank you for giving us opportunity to share our views on the issue. It is sad that right to education bill excluded 0-6 year's age group.

I feel that it is the right of every child to a stimulating, healthy and enabling environment, from birth to 6 years no matter where they are located.

• The government's commitment and public provisions would define this right operationally by first including 0-6 in the right to education act and secondly by focusing on implementation part and later evaluating/monitoring it.
• It should be part of the Right to Education Act, but there needs to be one Ministry designated which would looks into holistic needs of the children from conception to 18 years. Moreover, it should be inclusive in nature.

---

Radhika Herzberger, Rishi Valley Education Centre, Andhra Pradesh

Designing schools to function as resource centers for the village in which they are located is an excellent way of addressing the issues raised by Vinita Kaul. My observations here are based on the experience of one-room schools located in one of the drought districts of Rayalseema in Andhra Pradesh, and may not be relevant to urban situations. At least half of India continues to live in its villages, so my suggestions may have some bearing on the debate.

If elementary schools, balwadis, and adult education programmes are located within grounds that have fruit bearing trees and medicinal plants, reciprocal bonds are created between the school and the community, which  facilitate good education besides taking care of the needs of children of all ages.  If the school grounds are additionally used for conserving local biodiversity, and conducting adult education programmes based on local cultural expressions, we might even be able to bring local culture into  classrooms and help preserve our natural and traditional heritage;  educational institutions  can sow the seeds of a village commons.

If constructivism is goal set by educationists in India today, the design I have sketched above would help create a pluralistic educational system that takes account of local culture.  

---

K.Lakshmi, Resource Center, Andhra Mahila Sabha, Hyderabad 

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?

Every child should be ensured the right to a stimulating healthy and enabling environment and cannot be discriminated on any ground. Without this support , right to education provided after 6 years or even at the age of 3 wouldn't compensate for the loses already suffered .Hence it becomes obligatory on the part of the state to ensure needed support for development right from birth.

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?

For 3 to 6 years group- it is the most vulnerable group undergoing all sorts of experiments .This is the stage where quality can be ensured only through proper regulation.

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 

ECE (3 to 6 yrs.) should be part of Right to Education act, so that continuum is ensured in the education ladder.

---

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

---

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

--
Ch.Santakar
Pujariput
Koraput-764020
Orissa
Mob:09437192553
e-mail:santakar@gmail.com
web:www.koraputonline.com