---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Multiple Contributors <se-ed@solutionexchange-un.net.in>
Date: Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 4:38 PM
Subject: Re: [se-ed] DISCUSSION: Strategies to Increase Focus onEarlyChildhoodCare and Development. Reply by 17 March 2010
To: Education Community <se-ed@solutionexchange-un.net.in>
From: Multiple Contributors <se-ed@solutionexchange-un.net.in>
Date: Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 4:38 PM
Subject: Re: [se-ed] DISCUSSION: Strategies to Increase Focus onEarlyChildhoodCare and Development. Reply by 17 March 2010
To: Education Community <se-ed@solutionexchange-un.net.in>
Moderator's Note: Dear Members, we are posting our last responses from B.L.Kaul, Ganesh Upadhyay and Rajan Thampi to the discussion on Strategies to Increase Focus on Early Childhood Care and Development. We thank all our members for their responses and look forward to the same anticipation and active participation for our next query to be posted soon.
Mina Swaminathan's elaborate explanation of development of a child up-to six years is quite interesting. It is indeed true that development of a child starts from the time of conception. The development in the womb is guided by the genetic composition of the foetus and the environment provided by the mother. While we can hardly do anything with the genetic make up the environment of mothers' womb and nutrition provided by the mother through placenta is extremely important for the proper growth of the foetus. I am constantly reminded of this fact by a CRETIN living in my neighborhood. Had the medical facilities available then in the village where her parents lived 35 years ago when she was conceived she would be a normal woman today. The absence of Iodine in her mother's diet made all the difference to her life.
The first six years after birth of a child are most important for the growth of the body and brain. A child is born with a certain number of brain cells and unlike other body cells they do not have the capacity to divide and increase in number. They can grow but not multiply. Brain cells grow at the expense of proteins fed to a child. Unfortunately majority of our children do not get adequate amounts of proteins in their diet. This fact needs to be emphasized that the first six years of a child are crucial for the development of his/her brain and proteins play a crucial part during this period .Proteins being building materials for the body too their presence in the diet are also very essential.
So we need to educate our people about this. It is not only the meat and eggs that are a rich source of proteins. There are cheaper sources of proteins available in the country which need to be popularized.
Right to education and right to care need to be defined operationally for the kind of services they need for their implementation and making them justifiable. The entitlement of a child under 3 for care and education, is closely linked with the entitlement of mother and this is more relevant especially for disadvantaged and weaker sections of society.
Right to health , right to food, right to play are some of the rights which are operationally clearer and feasible to and stimulation be implemented as components of holistic development. Thus home based care and education for Under Three need to be given attention more than ever for realization of the goals set forth. This is of course linked with the parental wellbeing and competency to deal with issues of the child's right to development. Under NREAGA the provision made for crèche has remained unutilized mostly because of the lack of awareness of communities to take advantage of the provision.
As far as the Pre Primary Education is concerned, it should be with MHRD and habitation level plans for ECCE be made along with the SSA plans for implementation and monitoring. One year pre primary though out the country with all institutions of elementary education be made available as was proposed by the Planning Commission and also recently by the Knowledge Commission. This however should not dilute the demand for care and development as justiciable right of young children.
I fully agree with the idea of Ms. Latha Bhaskar in regard with the three sections. But out of my experience with early child care and development and my continuous interaction with the anganwadi workers, ICDS officials and care givers especially mothers, I feel that it is not only the responsibility of anganwadi workers to provide opportunity for early learning but also of care givers including male counter parts. The ECCD should not be considered just as center based learning. It should have wider horizon which includes family and community who should provide every possible opportunity for a child to learn, it could be through center or in child's environment/surroundings. This is possible only when care givers/community as a whole, ready to play a proactive role in providing opportunity for children in Exploring, experimenting and learning.
With regard to the act, I personally feel that it is high time to recognize ECCD/ECCE as a separate entity and make every individual to understand the importance of early child care. I strongly feel that Anganwadi workers should be kept away from other activities like survey and other mobilization activities.
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 86th 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 86th 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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Ch.Santakar
Pujariput
Koraput-764020
Orissa
Mob:09437192553
e-mail:santakar@gmail.com
web:www.koraputonline.com
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