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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Take child’s play seriously

Take child’s play seriously

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published Published on Oct 8, 2013   modified Modified on Oct 8, 2013
-The Hindu


After a long and painful period of neglect, India promises to devote attention to the issue of preparing all children for primary schooling. The draft National Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) policy aims to end the "current laissez faire situation" that has led to the mushrooming of expensive crèches, play schools, nursery schools and so on that adhere to no particular standard. On the other hand, there is the major public programme, the Integrated Child Development Services with a national footprint, but patchy outcomes. Policies are only as good as the institutional arrangements they make and the devices that they employ to bring about compliance. The ECCE policy talks of covering 158.7 million children in the 0 to 6 year age group, a category that has traditionally fallen through the cracks when it comes to resource support. In spite of sustained economic growth, the proportion of undernourished children in 2005-06 measured by the National Family Health Survey-3 was the same as in 1998-99, ample proof that the fruits of prosperity are being denied to many. It is crucial, therefore, for a new policy to look at the allocation of funds carefully, and prevent profit-seeking actors from skimming off what is meant to create better anganwadi centres, provide standard materials for a play-based curriculum and good nutrition. Reliance on private partners to achieve universal access, equity and inclusion would be misplaced.

Extensive discussion between the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the States on the ECCE policy is essential because the draft envisages a standardised system for public, private and voluntary sectors. It needs a legal framework that will work smoothly. That there are challenges is evident from the finding of the Comptroller and Auditor General that in 13 States, the performance of the ICDS over a five-year period from 2006 in the delivery of supplementary nutrition and pre-school education - two key goals - was depressingly poor. Infrastructure was so weak that 52 per cent of the anganwadi centres had no toilet, and 32 per cent no drinking water. That the programme should languish in spite of the Supreme Court's intervention since 2001 to universalise and upgrade the ICDS shows deplorable lack of commitment across the political spectrum. There are some positive elements to the draft policy, such as prioritising mother tongue or language spoken at home, followed by exposure to oral English and national or regional language. In the main, it does little to assert the right of the child to care and nutrition, preferring instead to ‘promote,' ‘endeavour' and ‘explore.' The final policy must reflect the national rights-based discourse.


The Hindu, 8 October, 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/take-childs-play-seriously/article5211014.ece?homepage=true


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