2007/ED/EFA/MRT/PI/23

Background paper prepared for the

Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2007
Strong foundations: early childhood care and education

Select issues concerning ECCE india

National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development
2006

This paper was commissioned by the Education for All Global Monitoring Report as background
information to assist in drafting the 2007 report. It has not been edited by the team. The views
and opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and should not be attributed to the
EFA Global Monitoring Report or to UNESCO. The papers can be cited with the following
reference: “Paper commissioned for the EFA Global Monitoring Report 2007, Strong
foundations: early childhood care and education”. For further information, please contact
efareport@unesco.org

1
 Select Issues Concerning ECCE in India - A Case Study

ABSTRACT

In the present paper, an attempt has been made to review the contemporary
scenario of ECCE in Indian context. The paper attempts to present the situational analysis
of the young Indian child by focusing on crucial survival and development indicators. It
also describes the development of ECCE services in the changing Indian context and the
place it has found in constitutional provisions, policies and various five-year plans. A
range of public, private and voluntary initiatives in the area of ECCE have also been
highlighted. The paper also touches the public spending aspect including availability of
external assistance to run various ECCE programmes. Towards the end of the paper,
some crucial issues and concerns like increasing coverage, decentralization, priority and
ownership, quality and regulation, curriculum, training inputs and institutional support
for ECCE initiatives have been identified for further strengthening of this important input
for holistic development of children in India.

National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development

2
The Changing Indian Context
Traditionally in India the early childhood years (from prenatal to five years) are
considered to lay the foundation for inculcation of basic values and social skills in
children. It is believed that these values are imbibed from the family as the ‘sanskaras’
and the scriptures advocate an attitude of lalayat or indulgence as the desirable mode of
child rearing at this stage. Consequently, in the past, much of the early care and education
of the child was informal, within the family and largely through grandmothers’ caring
practices, stories and traditional infant games, handed down from one generation to the
next. This wealth of developmentally appropriate childcare practices is gradually
becoming extinct in the humdrum of more modern provisions for children and changing
social realities.
With growing urbanization and increase in women’s participation in the work
force across the country among all socio-economic groups, there has been a sea change in
social structures and practices in the last few decades. A significant indicator of this
change has been the emergence of the nuclear family, a change which has converted child
rearing from what was traditionally a shared responsibility into the sole responsibility of
the young parents. This responsibility is often further delegated. While in the higher
income brackets children are often left with paid surrogate care givers, in the lower socio-
economic communities the responsibility of care giving get loaded on to the older sisters,
thus keeping them often out of school and robbing them of their childhood. As a result,
given the constant pressures and challenges of day -to day- existence in today’s complex
society, the possibilities of “informal early care and education’ for the young child at
home is becoming less of a reality. It was this changing social context, over the years,
which laid the seeds for the introduction of the concept of Early Child hood Care and
Education (ECCE) in the country.
The earliest formal documentation of ECCE as an organized initiative in India
dates back only to the latter half of the nineteenth century. The early pioneers of the
ECCE movement in India include Gijubhai Badheka and Tarabai Modak among others,
who under the influence of Madame Montessori, established preschool education centers
in Gujarat. In 1946 Madame Montessori met Mahatma Gandhi, who asked her to

3
‘indianize’ her method to make preschool education available to a large majority of
children. That was the beginning of ‘pre basic education’ in the rural parts of the country,
largely through voluntary effort. Till India became independent of the British rule in
1947, the need for ECCE, particularly in the form of preschool education, was primarily
fulfilled by voluntary agencies and private institutions. The first government initiative in
this area was the setting up of a Central Social Welfare board in 1953, which started a
grant –in –aid scheme for voluntary agencies. Over this half century, however, the
concept of early childhood care and education integrating health, nutrition and education
aspects, has taken primacy. India has in this context, been able to put together a fairly
supportive policy framework and has launched some major initiatives for children for this
stage of development. Prominent among these are some federally supported schemes
such as the Reproductive Child Health Scheme, (RCH) in the Department of Health and
Family Welfare, the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) in Department of
Women and Child Development (DWCD) recently rechristened as Ministry of Women
and Child Development (MWCD) and preschool education provisions through some
primary education programs. As a result, there has been noticeable progress over the last
fifty years in provision for children, be it the ICDS or the primary education service
deliveries network across the country.

Emerging Definitions of ECCE and its Significance

Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) found its due place in the policy
framework in India way back in 1986 when an exclusive chapter of the National Policy
on Education was devoted to it. ECCE was defined, in the policy, as an integrated and
holistic concept of care and education of children between 0-6 years from socially
disadvantaged groups. This provision was seen as the foundation for life and a support
service for girls and working mothers. ECCE was further conceptualized as early
stimulation for the children under 3 years and a more organized center based ECCE
program (preschool education) for the 3-6 year olds. The policy emphasized the joyful
nature of ECCE and stressed the need to discourage any formal instruction of the 3R’s at
this early stage of education. In practice, however, ECCE programs for children have
assumed various nomenclatures and definitions, depending on the priority a particular

4
program serves. There are ECE/preschool education programs which are focused only on
preschool education for 3-6 year olds (for example nurseries, kindergartens, preparatory
schools, pre primary etc.).These do not have any health or nutrition component, are often
part of primary schools and generally in the non-governmental or private sector. The
other category is of the more holistic programs of ECCE or Early Childhood
Development (ECD) which address the all round development of the child and adopts a
life cycle approach, as in the ICDS, which targets in addition to the child, the pregnant
and lactating mothers and even adolescent girls.
Research in India provides evidence of the short and long term benefits of good
quality ECCE programs, particularly for children from underprivileged contexts.
Evidence is available of effects of ECD programs in the short-term perspective on
enrollment levels and academic and social preparedness of children for formal schooling.
A longitudinal cum cross sectional study was conducted by NCERT (1993) in eight states
(Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh
and Goa ) on four cohorts of 31,483 children ( Cohort 1,83-84, cohort 2,84-85,cohort
3,85-86 and cohort 4, 86-87 ) . These cohorts of children were followed up right through
the primary classes in terms of retention and a comparison was made of these children
(10,636) with those children (20,847), who had come directly to Grade I, along with
them, but with no exposure to Early Childhood Education. The findings of the study, as
evident from Table 1 and corresponding Figure 1, clearly indicate distinctly better rates
of retention in children with ECE experience as compared to those who have sought
direct entry in Grade 1.
Table1
(Showing Comparative Retention Percentages)
Cohort ECE Direct
Class II III IV II III IV
1 81.56 75.29 68.20 75.80 59.26 51.80
2 89.89 72.76 69.70 67.52 58.81 49.18
3 78.15 70.51 - 69.99 57.18 -

4 85.17 - - 77.13 - -

5
 Figure 1

C o m parativ e R e te ntio n o f 'E C E ' and

'D ire c t E ntry G ro ups '

89.89

85.17
100
81.56

78.15

77.13
90
75.8

70.51
69.99
67.52

69.7
Retention (Percentage

68.2
80

57.18
70

49.18
51.8

60
50
40
30
20
10
0
C la ss II C la ss IV C la ss II C la ss IV C la ss II C la ss III C la ss II

ECE D ire c t

This is further depicted in the corresponding drop out profile (Table 2 and Figure
2) which indicates only 31.8 percent drop out by class IV among children with ECE
experience, as compared to 48.2 percent among those without ECE experience.
Interestingly, the impact of ECE experience on retention in primary grades appeared to be
greater for girls as compared to boys (NCERT, 1993).
Table2
(Showing Comparative Drop out Rates of ECE and Direct Entry Groups for Each Cohort)
Cohort ECE Direct
II III IV II III IV
1 18.44 24.71 31.80 24.20 40.74 48.20
2 10.11 27.24 30.30 32.48 41.19 50.82
3 21.85 29.49 - 30.01 42.82 -
4 14.83 - - 22.87 - -

6
 Figure 2

The Dropout Tre nd

60
48.2
Percentage of Dropouts
50 40.74
40
24.2
30
20 31.8
24.71
10 18.44
0
Class II Class III Class IV

ECE Direct

A national evaluation of the major ECCE programme in the country, namely the
Integrated Child Development Services Scheme (ICDS) was conducted by NIPCCD in
1992 covering 98 districts located across 25 States and one Union Territory to see the
effect of ECE on enrollment, dropout and retention rates in schools. In the study,
information about children in the age range of 5-14 years was disaggregated into two
groups, those with and without pre school education experience. The information was
further classified according to the children’s educational status into three groups, i,e those
in primary schools, those who dropped out before standard V and those never enrolled.
This distribution was done to see the effect of Pre School on enrolment, trends in drop
out rates and on retention in school (Table 3, Figure 3). The findings indicated that 89 per
cent of children with ECE experience were found to be continuing their education in
primary school as compared to 60 and 67.7 per cent without ECE in both ICDS and non-
ICDS areas. Further, lesser numbers of children with ECE were found to be in the never
enrolled category. Thus, the findings clearly indicated the positive role played by ECE in
promoting enrolment, reduction in drop out and greater retention in primary schooling
(NIPCCD, 1992).

7
 Table 3
(Effect of ECE on Primary School Enrolment)
Educational ICDS Non ICDS
Status With Without With Without PSE
ECE ECE ECE
In Primary 12932 5735 313 1670
School (88.2) (60.0) (89.4) (67.7)
Dropped Out 426 333 14 73
before Standard (2.9) (3.5) (4.0) (3.0)
V
Never Enrolled 1298 3489 23 723
(8.8) (36.5) (6.5) (29.3)

Figure 3

Effect of PS E on Primar y S chool Enrolment of Children

(5-14 Years )
100%

80%
Children (%)

60%

40%

20%

0%
W it h P SE W it h o ut P SE W it h P SE W it h o ut P SE

In p rimary school D rop p ed out beforeStandard V N ever enrolled

8
 Table 4
(Enrolment of Children (5-14 Years) in Primary Schools with ECE
Experience)
Children ICDS Non ICDS
Enrolled Attended Enrolled in Attended
in Primary Pre Schools Primary Pre
Schools Schools Schools
Male 10475 8708(83.13) 1309 200(15.28)

Female 9639 8463(87.80) 1142 185(16.20)

Total 20114 17171(85.37) 2451 385(15.71)

Similarly, a national evaluation of the scheme of ECE (which was being

implemented in nine educationally backward States namely Andhra Pradesh, Assam,
Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West
Bengal) was conducted by NIPCCD in 1994 with one of the objectives of assessing the
impact of ECCE on primary school enrollment, school adjustment and readiness of
children. The findings of the study revealed that 86 per cent of children from ECE stream
joined primary school. Interestingly, the girl’s enrollment was found to be marginally
higher than boy’s enrollment. The high enrolment rate clearly indicated that the parents
sent their children to ECE centers with a view to give them a good head start in
educational pursuits. Further, school adjustment and readiness scale was also
administered on total number of 304 children (152 children in each group consisting of
those who had attended ECE centers and those who did not attend). It was found that
children with ECE exposure scored better in respect of various school readiness
parameters -writing readiness (91%), Sound Discrimination (70%), Pairing of Objects
(80%), and Classification of objects (64%). However, in another study on school
adjustment scores, indicated by attendance, punctuality, personal hygiene and self-
confidence, children with ECE exposure were more or less at par with children who
directly entered primary school (NIPCCD, 1999).
Another micro level longitudinal study, which continuously followed up a cohort
of children from the ECE stage through five grades of primary education, also indicated

9
significant and continuous gains from a quality ECE program on mathematics learning in
the primary grades. (Kaul, 1993). Two other micro level studies (NIPCCD 1985; 1987)
also indicated a positive impact of participation in the ICDS program in language and
cognitive development scores, as compared to a control group, and also indicated better
performance in first and second grades of primary school. The findings of some other
macro level commissioned studies conducted across the country to evaluate the ICDS and
National Crèche Fund and Crèche services for children {NCAER (2001);
NIPCCD(2003,1995);NCERT(2003)} also concluded that ECCE, across different
programmes, is perceived by all stakeholders to have benefited not only the younger
children themselves, but also the older siblings, particularly girls, who are freed from
sibling care responsibility and enabled to join regular schools .
Profile of the Child in India
The Challenge:
Before we delve into any description of the provisions and programs for young
children in India, it would be important to understand the challenge before the country in
terms of what is the child population that is to be addressed and what is the Indian child’s
situation today. As per the Census of India, (2001), children in the age group of birth to 6
years number around 158 million which is approximately 15.2 per cent of the total
population of the country. No other nation in the world including China is likely to enjoy
the benefits of such a large young population in the years to come (Shiv Kumar, 2006).
Interestingly, the Technical group on Population Projections has further projected that in
2016, about 25 million infants would be in need of immunization services and their
mothers will require maternal health services. Similarly, pre school education services
will need to be provided for 72 million children by 2016.

10
 Table-5
Child Population Projections
2006 2011 2016
Age (in Years) Numbers % Numbers % Numbers %
<1(Infants) 24.855 2.27 24.294 2.06 24.918 1.97
1-2(toddlers) 45.865 4.19 48.177 4.09 49.357 3.91
3-5 (Pre 63.731 5.82 70.034 5.94 72.498 5.74
School)
Source: Census of India: Population Projections for India and States 1996-2016,
Registrar General, India for figures from 2001 onwards.

The projections are based on the estimations that an Indian child, born today, can
expect to live 4 years longer than a child who was born in 1991. Also, there are close to
half a million fewer infant deaths than in 1991 and the chances of an Indian child living
up to the age of one has gone up by 20 per cent. The access of 78 per cent of households
in 2001 to safe drinking water has further contributed to improving health and lowering
in particular, the incidence of infectious diseases. However, despite this progress, India
continues to face a huge backlog of deprivations (op cit). These can be traced along the
child developmental continuum presented as Figure 4, which has been conceptualized
and contextualized by Indian experts as a source of reference for planning for and
monitoring children’s development. The continuum passes through five sub stages,
namely, pre natal to one month, one month to three years and three to six years followed
by two sub stages corresponding to primary education. This paper is focused on ECCE
and will therefore be limited to the first three stages. Each sub stage has its own priority
and specific indicators against which the profile of Indian children is discussed.

11
 Figure 4 - An Indian Conceptual Framework for Integrated Child Development

Prenatal to one month

Determinants Indicators
♦Maternal health, nutrition adequacy and ♦Mother not anemic or underweight
quality of care of newborn ♦Child weighs more than 2500 grams
♦Safe delivery, family and community Outcomes ♦Child moves head side to side on being
support for the mother and baby ♦Healthy, responsive stimulated
♦Environmental hygiene, safe water and newborn
sanitation

One month to three years

Determinants Indicators
♦Nutrition adequacy, including exclusive Outcomes ♦Full immunization by end of year one
breast-feeding ♦Freedom from ♦Completion of all prophylaxis (e.g. vitamin
♦Responsive complementary feeding, quality intermittent diseases A) by end of 3 years
of mother/caregiver-child interaction (diarrhea & acute ♦Toilet trained
♦Immunization, management of diarrhea and respiratory infection) ♦Ability to communicate clearly and
other illnesses ♦Nutritional security confidently
♦Health and hygiene practices ♦Curiosity, sociability ♦ Sociability and ability to stay away from
♦Sensory motor and language stimulation ♦Confidence -- self-help family for a few hours
and opportunities for play and exploration and sensory motor skills ♦Appropriate height and weight for age
♦ Cultural attitudes and stereotypes ♦Age-appropriate gross motor and auditory-
visual skills
Three to six years

Outcomes
Determinants ♦ Interest in learning and
♦Quality early childhood care and education. school readiness skills Indicators
♦Basic healthcare services including (language, numeracy and ♦Active participation in early childhood care
disability screening psychosocial skills) and education activities.
♦Nutrition adequacy and incidence of ♦ Activeness, self- ♦ Ability to narrate experience confidently
intermittent diseases confidence, awareness of ♦Demonstration of curiosity
♦Literacy level of parents, educational environment ♦Age-appropriate self-help & social skills
environment at home ♦ Freedom from ♦Age-appropriate height & weight
intermittent diseases, ♦ Regular preschool attendance
nutritional security
♦ Management of any
identified disability
Determinants
♦ Early childhood care and education
experience/ school readiness
♦Access to schooling Six to eight years
♦Nutritional adequacy
♦Quality of school Outcomes
♦Sociability, self- Indicators
♦Socio-cultural factors – extent of inclusion ♦Demonstration of competencies for Class 2
(gender, tribe, caste, etc.) confidence/ self-esteem
♦Ability to read and by end of age 8
♦Early detection of learning disabilities ♦Regular attendance
write, with a continued
♦Social norm, role models and supportive ♦No worm infestation or anemia
home environment interest in learning
♦Freedom from anemia
♦Safe water and sanitation, incidence of
and intermittent diseases
infestation and infection affecting regular
attendance
F l t h

Determinants Outcomes Indicators

♦Quality of school ♦Successful completion ♦Regular school attendance
♦Socio-cultural factors – inclusion (gender, of primary school with ♦Eagerness to learn
tribe, caste), social norm appropriate literacy and ♦Sociability, activeness
♦Health promoting school numeracy skills ♦Demonstration of competencies for Class 5
♦Early detection of learning disabilities ♦Active learning capacity at end of age 11
♦Infestation and infection occurrence, ♦Good health, nutrition ♦Motivation and confidence to continue
nutritional levels, particularly in girls ♦Positive self-image education
♦Supportive home environment, community ♦Coping and social skills
Source: World Bank 2004

12
Sub Stage 1 (Pre natal to One Month)
Safe Motherhood:
Early marriages, which often lead to early child bearing and too closely spaced
pregnancies, continue to pose a serious problem in the context of safe motherhood in
India. Of the 65 per cent girls married by the age of 18 years, 33 per cent are married
before 15 years of age and another 32 per cent between 15-18 years of age (op cit).
Further, 56 percent of the girls who are married by age 19 are pregnant at least once in
their teenage years. There is adequate evidence in the country to show that the younger
the delivering mother is, the lower the chances of safe delivery of a healthy infant. As
indicated in Figure 5, the problem is more acute in the northern states.
Wide prevalence of maternal malnutrition is another dimension with more than 50 per
cent of Indian women being anemic. In the North Eastern and Eastern States like
Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Meghalaya, the percentages
often go even beyond 50 per cent.
Figure-5

Percentage of girls marrying before 18 years of age - 2001

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
India
TN

B ihar
G ujarat
K erala

P unjab

M aharas htra

R ajas than
A P

UP

Source: National Commission on Population 2001

Studies indicate that 40 per cent of pregnant women do not take Iron Folic tablets,
particularly among rural and tribal women. A recent study in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka

13
and Uttar Pradesh (Indicus Analytics, 2003) reported one-third of mothers surveyed as
under –weight at the time of delivery with the problem being more acute among rural and
scheduled caste women. Inter State comparisons again indicates that the problem is more
acute in the northern states of Bihar, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
Safe Delivery:
Safe delivery by trained attendants is the next critical indicator. Across the
country, despite a great deal of advocacy, only slightly more than one fourth of the total
deliveries are still institutional. Majority of the deliveries take place at home with the
assistance of either a Dai (traditional birth attendant) or a relative or neighbour. In terms
of state –wise data on institutional delivery, the Southern and Western States occupy the
top position. Prominent among these are Kerala (97.1 per cent), Tamilnadu (64.7 per
cent), Andhra Pradesh (43.1 per cent), Karnataka (49 per cent) and Maharashtra (48 per
cent). The northern states tend to be the worst performing with Rajasthan and Uttar
Pradesh at 8.1 per cent, Bihar at 15.8 per cent and Punjab at 12.8 per cent only (SRS,
1999). India’s Maternal Mortality ratio (MMR) of 408 deaths per 100,000 live births in
1997 (SRS) is also unacceptably high. It is almost a hundred times higher than what
many developed countries report and also significantly higher than the MMR reported by
Thailand (44), China (56) and Sri Lanka (92).
Sex Ratio:
In the context of child survival, there is an important gender issue as well. While
over all child survival is no longer a major issue, the survival of the girl child or the
female fetus still remains a concern. The sex ratio has dipped at the national level from
945 in 1991 to 927 in 2001 for the 0-6 age group. Surprisingly, the more prosperous
states of Haryana, Gujarat, and Punjab demonstrate the lowest sex ratio. Also,
consistently, across the states, urban figures tend to be even lower than the rural figures
clearly reflecting the need to focus on urban contexts (World Bank, 2004) where better
sex determination facilities are available and exploited.
Birth Weight:
Low birth weight continues to be an area of concern, particularly because of its
proven long-term impact. One third of all births in the country are below the minimum
acceptable birth weight of 2,500 grams (World Bank, 2004). An examination of age

14
appropriate weight among Indian children between the ages of one month to three years
shows that about 17 per cent of children were underweight as against 30 per cent at birth.
Again the children in the rural areas are worse off and, of these more particularly those in
the lowest income quintile. The problem is most acute and concentrated in the central and
northern part of the country, which is also the low female literacy belt. ( Figure 6)
Figure-6

Proportion of children weighing more than 2500g at birth

80
75
70
65
60
55
50
45
40
35
30
MP

Maharashtra
Assam

Bihar
Bengal
UP

HP

AP
Rajasthan

Orissa

Karnataka
Haryana

Punjab

Gujarat

Tamil Nadu

Kerala
West

Source: NFHS II 1999 ALL RURAL URBAN

Breast Feeding and Feeding of Colostrum:

According to the National Family Health Survey II, only 15.8 per cent of children
were reported to have started breast-feeding within one hour of their birth. State wise
variations were reported with Mizoram highest with 54 per cent children, followed by
TamilNadu with 50. 3 per cent, Arunachal Pradesh with 40 per cent and Assam with 44.7
per cent.

Sub Stage 2 (One Month to Three Years)

In this sub-stage the child’s nutrition continues to be a major priority since this is
the critical stage for brain development and is therefore the stage when the child is “at
risk of growth faltering”. Inadequate or inappropriate feeding practices, poor access to
health care and sanitation and general neglect cause a substantial proportion of children
to become moderately or severely malnourished by the age of 6-18 months. There is a

15
clear realisation in the country that improving child’s nutrition and increase in pre natal
coverage can reduce infant mortality.
Figure-7

State wise Trends in IMR (per 1000 live births)

120

100
IMR per 1000 live births

80

60

40

20

0
TN

India

Bihar
MH
Kerala

Goa

Karntaka

Haryana

Punjab

Rajasthan

Orissa
Delhi

Gujarat
HP

AP

Assam

MP

UP
West Bengal

Source: NFHS I (1992-93) & II (1998-99) NFHS I NFHS II

Infant Mortality Rate:

The IMR is perhaps the single most important indicator illustrating the level of
human development of a nation or a state. In 2003, India reported an IMR of 60, which
translates into 1.6 million infant’s deaths in a year – most of which are avoidable. The
national figure, however, camouflages wide variations within the country. An IMR below
10 indicates a high level of development, and in India, as many as six States/UTs are
gradually approaching this level with IMR of Kerala (14.5), Mizoram (13.7) , Goa (16.7),
Pondicherry ( 20.9), Andaman and Nicobar Islands ( 13..9) and Daman & Diu ( 6.8). The
states within the highest category, on the other hand, are Orissa (96.7), Madhya Pradesh
(89.5), Uttar Pradesh (84.4) and Rajasthan (81.2)(Figure 7). High female illiteracy in
these areas along with the problem of lack of access to health services in remote rural,
tribal and hilly areas are major factors associated with high IMR. On a more positive
note, fifteen States and 3 Union Territories have achieved the national goal of reducing
IMR to below 60 by the year 2000 AD (DWCD, 2002a).
Again, though urban and rural IMR have overall come down over the years, the
disparity between the two has increased in recent years, with the rural – urban differential
in IMR in 2003 being higher than what it was in 1990. This is a cause for concern.

16
Further, the IMR among Scheduled Caste communities was found to be 83 and among
Schedule Tribes 84 which is almost 30 per cent higher than in the general
community.(National Family Health Survey-2 (1998-99).
Figure-8
Decline in mortality rates from 1992/3 to 1998/9

120

100
Mortality rate (/1000)

80

60

40

20

0
NFHS-1, 92/93 NFHS-2, 98/99
Neonatal Infant Under-five

Source: IIPS 1995; IIPS and ORC Macro2000

Gender differentials in IMR have also been a cause for concern in many states of
India. .In several States particularly Haryana, Maharastra, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil
Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh, the IMR
among females was found to be higher than that for males indicating a definite gender
bias.
Nutritional Security:
A significant number of children below the age of three years suffer from
endemic malnutrition. The studies conducted by National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau
and Food and Nutrition Board of Department of Women and Child Development ( 2002)
indicates that as many as 12.3 per cent of children were found to be severely
malnourished, 29.1 per cent moderately malnourished and 37.1 as mild malnourished,
leaving only 21.5 per cent children in the normal nourishment zone. However, no
significant difference was found so far as gender differentials in mal -nourishment are
concerned. Cross- state variations indicate the incidence of severe malnutrition in the age
group 1-5 years to range from less than 5 per cent in some southern states to 26 per cent
in Bihar. The India Nutrition Profile Study (2002) found that the maximum number of

17
severely malnourished children were found in Bihar (26%) followed by Tripura -Urban
(19 %) and Rajasthan (10 %). These variations indicate the need for better targeting of
interventions under the child development programs. (Fig 9)
Figure.9
Average energy intake and prevalence of underweight among children under three
across states (rural), 1972-73 to 1999-2000
3500 70

% underweight rural children <3y

3000 60
Energy intake (kcal)

2500 50

2000 40

1500 30

1000 20

500 10

0 0
Haryana

Maharashtra

MP
Kerala

Punjab

Karnataka

Rajasthan

Bihar

Orissa
AP

UP
Gujarat
Tamil Nadhu
Assam

West Bengal

1972-73 1983 1993-94 1999-2000 % underweight children <3, 1992/3 % underweight children <3,

Source: IIPS and ORC Macro 2000

Child Immunization:
Despite regular immunization programs, over 50 per cent of one-year-old children
in India have not been fully immunized and the number of fully vaccinated children in
India aged 12-23 months is still only 42 per cent.( Fig.10) There are again wide
disparities across states with Assam, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar
Pradesh performing most poorly. The best performing states so far as full vaccination is
concerned includes Tamilnadu (88.8), Goa (82.6), Himachal Pradesh (83.4),
Kerala(79.7), Maharashtra ( 78.4) and up to some extent Punjab ( 72.1). While overall
there is an increase in the number of children receiving Vitamin A, about two thirds of
the child population has still not availed this benefit, raising an issue of service delivery.
(Figure -10)

18
 Figure-10

Percentage of one year olds fully immunized - 1998-99 (NFHS

Percent of total population of 1 year olds II)

100

80

60

40

20

0
Rajasthan

Maharashtra
Karnataka

Haryana

Punjab
Bengal

Tamil Nadu
Pradesh

Pradesh

Pradesh
Gujarat

Himachal
India

Kerala
Bihar

Assam

Orissa
Madhya

Pradesh
Andhra
West
Uttar

Sub Stage Three (3- 6 Years )

As the child moves into this sub stage, the developmental priority shifts to early
childhood education, although health and nutrition continue to be critical concerns.
However, there has been slow progress in making Early Childhood Education available
to all children. This is evident from the fact that from 15 percent of the 3-6 year olds
enrolled in 1989-90 the percentage improved to only 19.6 percent in 1996-97 and is
currently 20.95 percent only.(Source: Lok Sabha, Starred Questions, 2004,reported in
www.indiastat.com). Though, there are no figures available on unrecognized private
sector initiatives (including family day care homes, nurseries, kindergartens and pre-
primary classes), which are significant, the estimated number of children enrolled is
about 10 million (National Focus Group, 2005).
It needs to be acknowledged that in a country as diverse and large as India,
achieving universal access is not an easy task. The sheer magnitude in terms of numbers
is a major dimension of the problem ( Rao And Sharma, 2002). In India, as in majority of
other developed and developing countries, all three channels – public, private and

19
 voluntary – are actively engaged in providing early childhood education experiences
through a variety of modes and of varying degree in quality. (Table 6)

Table-6.
(Beneficiaries Coverage under various initiatives having ECE Component)
Programmes Number of Beneficiaries Coverage
Centres
ICDS 744887* 23 Million

Rajiv Gandhi National Crèche Scheme for 22038** 0.55 Million@

the Children of Working Mothers
***Pre Primary School 38,533 (1, 94,000) approximately 0.02
Million
NGO Services for ECCE Varying from 3-20 Million****
Private Initiatives 10 million approximately
(2001)****
*Ministry of Women and Child Development (as on 30th, Sep, 2005)
** Ministry of Women and Child Development -Web Site. (www.wcd.nic.in)
***Early Childhood Care and Education – An Overview (Ministry of HRD, 2003)
**** Report of the National Focus Group on ECE appointed by NCERT under initiative of National
Curriculum Framework Review, 2005.
@ The figure has been arrived assuming 25 children per crèche center.

Figure - 11
Percentage of children benefiting from ECCE
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Meghalaya

Mizoram
Manipur
Haryana

Madhya Pradesh

Gujarat
Bihar

Jharkhand

India

Punjab

Goa
Kerala

Andhra Pradesh

Karnataka
Maharashtra

Tripura

Nagaland
Uttaranchal

Sikkim
Uttar Pradesh

Tamil Nadu
Rajasthan

Chhatisgarh
West Bengal

Assam
Orissa
Himachal Pradesh
Jammu & Kashmir

% of 0-6 enrolled in SNP % of 3 to 6 Years attending anganwadis

20
 While inter state variations in coverage of Pre school enrollment exist, hardly any
state or Union Territory shows high coverage (Fig.11). The northern states again are the
worst culprits. (NSSO, 55th Round Employment Survey, 1999-2000). More than 25 per
cent of children enrolled in Pre School Education belong to States such as Kerala,
Maharashtra, Punjab and Tamilnadu. Gender disparities in favour of boys are observable.
The gross enrolment ratio for boys in the ICDS was reported to be 17.3 as against 16.9
for girls (Government of India, 2000; Kaul, 1999). As per the statistics available with the
Department of Elementary Education & Literacy the total number of children enrolled at
the pre-primary level are 46,23,168 of whom 21,43,099 (46percent) are girls.
ECCE provision is very unequally distributed within States/UTs, with particularly
pronounced rural/ urban/slum disparities. According to the 2001 census, the share of
urban population in the country is approximately 27.78 per cent (expected to go up by 33
per cent), and some states have reported this to be much higher (MHRD, 2004).
However, only about 13 per cent of all ICDS projects (Rural, Urban and Tribal) are
located in urban areas.
Child Development Index:
The above review of indicator-wise status of children, while not painting a very
satisfying picture, also does not give a full sense of the overall status. A recent study by
the World Bank (Reaching out to the Child, 2004) computed a Child Development Index
(CDI) by way of measuring average achievements of a country with regard to basic
dimensions of child development including Infant Survival Rate (ISR- the direct opposite
of IMR), One year old children with full immunization (FI), Net School Enrollment
(NER) and School Primary Completion Rate (PCR). From these indicators, CDI was
calculated giving equal weightage to all indicators.

21
CDIj = 1/4 * j (Xi);
where CDIj is for the jth state , I indicating the indicators used such as the ISR,FI,NER
and the PCR. So,
Child Development Index (CDI) = (ISR*0.25)+(FI*0.25)+(NER*0.25) + (PCR*0.25)

CDI was calculated using the same methodology as was used by Planning Commission,
GOI (2002) for calculating HDI.

Figure 12 using some of the indicators for two time periods, NFHS-I (1993) and
NFHS-II (1999) illustrates the comparison and reflects a definite improvement in overall
child development in all states. However, the level of improvement is better for those
states that were already higher on the CDI. It also illustrates a significant positive
relationship among indicators, so that the states performing poorly on one indicator tend
to perform poorly on most of the other indicators. And the indicators are evidently
interdependent as well reflecting a concentrated and cumulative ‘syndrome of
disadvantage’. This clearly indicates the need for a multi-sectoral, convergent approach
to child development. Though all the states have improved their performance between
1993 and 1999, the all-India average (69.13) is still a matter of concern – particularly
when compared to the more acceptable range demonstrated by states like Himachal
Pradesh 91 and Kerala 92. It is clear that the national average has been pulled down by
the lower levels of improvement of states such as Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Assam
and West Bengal. Not only are these states unable to take advantage of existing schemes,
which they need the most, but also their capacity for utilization of interventions is limited
due to weaker governance. Such a syndrome makes it imperative to target these states
more specifically if the national average on the CDI is to be improved and the
millennium development goals achieved.

22
 Figure- 12.
Child Development Index

100
Child Development Index: Percent

80

60

f
40

20

0
India

Maharashtra

Haryana

Himachal
Assam
Rajasthan

Uttar Pradesh

Orissa

Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Punjab

Tamil Nadu

Kerala
Bihar

Gujarat

Karnataka
West Bengal

Madhya

Pradesh
CDI- 1993 CDI 1999

Providing for the Child in India

An Enabling Policy framework
The overall progress at the national level in child development, although still
leaving a wide scope for improvement, could be attributed to a distinct acknowledgment
of the significance of ECCE/child development in the Indian social and political contexts.
This is clearly evident in the constitutional provisions, legislative measures, policy
frameworks and public initiatives in place for the protection, welfare and development of
children.
Constitutional Provisions:
There are several provisions in the Constitution of India either as a Fundamental
Right or as a Directive Principle of State Policy that have been used to promote ECCE
services in the country. As a Fundamental Right, Article, 15(3) of the Constitution of
India empowers the State to practice positive discrimination favouring economically and

23
educationally weaker groups. This allows for special provisions for girls and children of
disadvantaged social groups and children in difficult situations. Initially, the Indian
Constitution committed to provision of ‘free and compulsory education for children up to
fourteen years of age’. In the absence of a lower age limit, early childhood education
services were considered as part of the constitutional commitment. However, the
subsequent Eighty Sixth Amendment to the Constitution in 2001 divided the span of 0-14
years into two clear categories to cover their interests under separate articles in the
constitution. Article 21A has been introduced which makes Elementary education for 6-
14 year old children a Fundamental Right. With a great deal of protests from several
professional organizations and the civil society, ECCE has been included as a
constitutional provision but not a justiciable right of every child through Article 45 which
reads as follows: “The State shall endeavor to provide ECCE for all children until they
complete the age of six years”.
Policy Provisions
Constitutionally, child development and education are concurrent subjects, which
imply a shared federal and state responsibility in ECCE service delivery. However, the
actual provision of ECCE services is governed by a plethora of policies and related
action plans beginning with the National Policy on Education (1986) which viewed
ECCE as “an integral input in the Human Resource Strategy, a feeder and support
program for primary education and a support service for working women”.
• National Policy on Children (1974) and National Box 1.1 lists some of the more prominent
Plan and State Plans of Action for children (1992),
policies, which provide an enabling
• National Nutrition Policy (1993) which recognized
children below six years as high-risk groups to be context for provision of ECCE services in
given high priority.,
• National Policy on Population, 2000 sees the health
India.
of the children as a clear strategy for population
stabilization.
ECCE in Successive Five Year Plans
• National Policy on Empowerment of Women (2001), From Child Welfare to Child
supported provision of childcare facilities, including
crèches at work places. Development: The well being of children
• National health Policy (2002) targeted reduction in has been an integral part of India’s
IMR to 30/1000 live births and MMR to 100/lakh by
the year 2010 and advocated contextualized developmental planning since 1951, when
strategies
• India also ratified Convention on Rights of the Child India became a republic. However, until
in 1992 and reaffirmed its commitment to children,
which resulted in formulation of policy framework the third five-year plan, ECCE continued
to prepare a National Charter for Children. National
Commission for Children has also been set up. The
commission as visualized would protect/safeguards
the rights of children with a strong legal base. 24
to be in the purview of the voluntary and private sectors. In 1968, on the recommendation
of the Ganga Saran Sinha Committee, ECCE (then termed pre school education) was
included in the business of the government. Yet, all the way till the Fourth Plan, ECCE
continued to be treated as a welfare provision under a scheme of Family and Child
Welfare for rural areas. The objective of this scheme was to provide comprehensive child
welfare services to pre school children for their all round development. The fifth Five-
year plan saw a clear shift in approach from child welfare to child development. Planning
became inclined towards integration and convergence of sectoral social inputs for the
well being of infants, children (upto the age of 6 years) and pregnant and lactating
mothers. This shift culminated in the declaration of the National Policy for Children,
1974 and a conceptual move to integrate early services for children. Since then, every
successive five year plan, reaffirmed its priority to the development of early childhood
services as an investment in HRD and stressed the importance of involving women’s
groups in the ECCE programmes, particularly under the decentralized Panchayati Raj
System or system of local government.
From Child Development to Child rights:
The current Tenth five year Plan (2002-2007) focuses on a right based approach
to the development of children with major strategies envisaged to reach out to every
young child in the country, to ensure survival, protection and development. The Tenth
Plan also recognizes the increasing need for support services for Crèches and Day Care
Centers for children of working and ailing mothers, especially in the context where more
and more women are coming out for employment, both in organised and unorganised
sectors.
The Government of India ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,
1989. It also took into cognizance the concerns emanating from this convention and its
specific emphasis on children below three years. During the Eighth- Five Year Plan
(1992-1997), a National Plan of Action: A Commitment to the Child, 1992 (NPA)
was accordingly formulated. With the framework of NPA, each State was encouraged to
formulate its own State plan of Action for Children based on the status indicators for
child development and resource situation in the States. The State Plans of Action are
expected to deal with multi-dimensional issues for child protection, survival,

25
development and growth and gives time-bound goals and strategies to guide the course of
action.
Inter Ministerial Coordination:
Given the integrated nature of ECCE, the major responsibility for this stage of
child development rests with Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD).
Various other ministries like Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MH&FW),
Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment (MSJ&E), are also involved in one way or other in provisioning of ECCE
services, each bearing their respective sectoral responsibility for particular age group of
children in the delivery of nutritional, health and educational components. Given this
multi-sectoral arrangement and the fact that Early Childhood Education (ECE) is
acknowledged as the first step in the education ladder,the Department of Education had
also launched several initiatives dovetailed to its primary education programmes. The
extent of coordination between Department of Education and Department of Women and
Child Development is evident from several initiatives like synchronizing the timings of
ICDS centers with primary schools so as to free the girl children from the burden of
sibling care and enable them to attend primary schools, relocating the ICDS centers in the
primary school premises as far as possible, introducing the component of school
readiness as initial part of primary education curriculum, continuing with play based
methodology in grade 1 and 2 etc.
Very recently, the total responsibility of ECCE has been shifted from the
Department of Education within MHRD to a newly created Ministry of Women and
Child Development. This has been possibly done due to the fact that the largest
programme of ECCE, the ICDS, is being implemented by this Ministry. The ICDS
programme is currently being expanded both quantitatively as well as qualitatively. By
transferring the ECE component to this Ministry, it is hoped that the coverage will
expand and more children would be able to receive the care and education envisaged
under the ICDS programme. However, it is too early to comment upon the practical
implications of this decision; it is also likely to generate a debate about the issue of
ownership of early childhood education and its absence of priority and location within the
education sector.

26
ECCE Services in India
India has 28 states and 7 union territories and administrative, legislative and fiscal
powers are distributed between the central and state governments. ECCE provisions in
India are available through three distinct channels -- public, private and non-
governmental.
Public Initiatives:
Public, government sponsored programs are largely directed towards the
disadvantaged communities, particularly those residing in rural areas. While there are as
many as 130 programs under the auspices of various departments and ministries, which
target the development of children specifically 0-6 years, the more prominent ones are
discussed below:
ECCE Programs under Department of Women and Child Development:
Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)
As a sequel to the adoption of the National Policy for Children, Government of
India initiated the Integrated Child Development Services Scheme (ICDS), on pilot basis
in 1975. Over the last three decades, however this scheme has emerged as a major
national strategy for promoting holistic early childhood development in the country.
Beginning with 33 Projects in 1975, ICDS has now expanded to 6113 sanctioned projects
in all 35 States/ Union Territories in the country. Each Project covers a Block, which is
the smallest administrative unit. Of these, 5635 are currently operational with 7,44,887
Anganwadi Centers ( ECCE centers) as on 30th, Sep,2005. Though the programme
mainly covers rural and tribal population, however, it is also operational in urban areas
through 523 ICDS projects to cater to the population living in slums and underdeveloped
areas. As stated elsewhere in this paper, though the share of urban population in the
country is approximately 27.78 per cent, however, only about 13 per cent of all ICDS
projects are located in urban areas thereby providing services to the urban poor.
The ICDS offers a package of health, nutrition and preschool education services
to children, from pre natal stage to the age of six years and to pregnant and lactating
mothers, following a life cycle approach. Some ICDS centers, which are typically for 3-6

27
year olds for preschool education, have been extended to include crèches for the younger
children. But the number of these crèches is insignificant. In fact a study conducted by
NIPCCD (2003) found that these crèches are for the most part custodial in nature and
tend to miss out on the early stimulation and psycho social interaction that is important
for the under 3’s.
The Government of India has identified eight flagship programmes in which
ICDS figures as one of them. In view of the importance of the programme, the
Government of India had made almost two times increase in budget estimate for ICDS in
financial year 2005- 06. Realizing that supplementary nutrition is the most important
component of the scheme, recently in the year 2005, financial norms concerning
supplementary nutrition have also been doubled. Government of India is now assisting
the States to the extent of 50 % of the actual expenditure incurred for supplementary
nutrition or 50 % of the cost norms, whichever is less. The total budgetary allocation for
ICDS has now been further increased from Rs. 331.50 million to Rs. 408.70 million in
the budget for the year 2006-07. The universalisation of this program has been identified
as the basic strategy to achieve the first goal of ECCE under EFA, as envisaged in the
Dakar conference held in April, 2000.
ICDS scheme is being implemented not only with State owned resources but also
with the external assistance from plethora of both multi lateral and bilateral agencies.
Starting with World bank assisted ICDS - I in the states of AP and Orissa and followed
with ICDS II in Bihar and MP (1993-2002) with full utilization of approved IDA credit
of US $ 194 million, the ICDS III project covers five states of Kerala, Maharashtra,
Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu with approved IDA credit for the project of
US$ 300 million including nationwide ICDS training component project UDISHA.
World Bank assisted ICDS component of APEAR programme was made effective in
1999-2004 to cover 2651 child development blocks of Andhra Pradesh. The total IDA
credit is US$75 million.
In order to meet the massive training needs of ICDS functionaries, from the
inception of the programme itself, GOI formulated a Comprehensive Training Strategy
(CTS) for different functionaries involved in the programme. National Institute of Public
Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD) is identified as the apex institute for

28
 training of functionaries of this programme at national level. While, NIPCCD organizes
the foundation and refresher Training Courses for middle managers of ICDS namely
Child Development Project Officers/Assistant Child Development Project Officers
(CDPOs/ACDPOs), a net work of 45 Middle Level Training Centers and about 400
Anganwadi Training Centers undertake the task of organizing training programmes (Job
and Refresher both) for middle level workers known as Supervisors and grassroots level
workers known as Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) respectively. Over five hundred
thousands ICDS functionaries have been given Job Training Course and about two
hundred thirty thousands functionaries have been given refresher training till now since
inception of the programme. Further, in order to make the ICDS training more dynamic
and responsive to the local needs, demand driven and learner centered, the MWCD came
out with the World Bank Assisted ICDS National Training Programme Project UDISHA
– a national initiative of vibrant training and communication package for HRD and
capacity building of child care workers. Covering all the 35 States/UTs, the project
UDISHA has succeeded in providing quality training to a large number of ICDS
functionaries and other staff from line departments.
Impact assessment of the ICDS indicates a positive effect on reduction in Infant
Mortality Rate (IMR), increase in immunization coverage, improvement in nutritional
status of children and their continuation into primary school (NIPCCD 1992). A mid term
evaluation of ICDS in two states, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, however, presented a mixed
impact of the program. On the positive side, the program interventions have been able to
bring down the IMR to 62 and 93.6 per thousand births respectively in the two states. The
proportion of low birth weight babies has also come down to 20 and 23 in the two states
respectively. But on the less positive side, despite rapid expansion of the services, the
nutritional and health status of children below 6 years and of the pregnant and lactating
mothers continues to be a matter of concern. While overall ICDS has made some impact on
incidence of severe malnutrition, the problem of moderate and mild malnutrition continues
to be rampant.
A common criticism of ICDS programme is about the focus in the program on the
older age group of 3-6 years for nutrition and other services, at the cost of the under 3’s
which is the more critical growth faltering stage. Also, the focus is more on the feeding

29
aspect rather than on promoting behaviour change in child care practices in the community,
which is likely to be more sustainable. A possible reason for this situation is that
communication and behaviour change are much more complex and intangible as compared
to feeding children or doing some activites with the older preschool children. The
Anganwadi workers are also often not very well educated and do not have the required
skills to take on this complex challenge.
There are also wide state-wise differences in quality and impact, with the
southern states performing better. This may be largely due to the higher literacy rates and a
better governance environment. However, this situation is now being corrected under the
programme not only by reorienting the Anganwadi workers about the importance of the
criticality of the younger sub –stage, but also by closer monitoring as well as counseling of
mothers.
With six cross- sectoral services to be delivered through one community based
service provider for all children from pre natal to six years, the ICDS service delivery is
indeed a tall order. A commonly observed outcome of this is that among the six services,
preschool education is the one that is most ‘time and effort’ intensive if done well, and is
therefore in many cases not given due attention.

Early Childhood Education Scheme:

The Early Childhood Education Scheme (ECE) was started in 1982 by the
Department of Education as a distinct strategy to reduce the drop out rate and to improve
the rate of retention of children in primary schools. The scheme was transferred to
Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) in 1987–88. This scheme of
providing grant –in –aid to voluntary organizations to run preschool education centers,
was being implemented in nine educationally backward states (Andhra Pradesh, Assam,
Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West
Bengal) in the areas not covered by ICDS. This scheme has been discontinued with effect
from 1st April, 2001 in view of universalization of ICDS).

Scheme of Assistance to Voluntary Organizations for running Crèches for

Children of Working and Ailing Mothers

30
 The above federally sponsored scheme was started in 1975 in pursuance of the
priority objectives of the National Policy for Children,1974. Its aim was to provide day
care services for the children (0-5 years) of mainly casual, migrant, agriculture and
construction labourers .The scheme also catered to children of those women who were
sick or incapacitated due to sickness or suffering from communicable diseases. Central
Social Welfare Board (CSWB) an autonomous body under the Ministry of Women and
Child Development, Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW) and Bhartiya Adim Jati
Seva Sangh (BAJSS) two national level voluntary organisations were responsible for
implementing the scheme. An evaluation carried out by NIPCCD in 1995 on erstwhile
Crèche services revealed that more than 60 per cent of children attending the Crèches were
receiving pre school education but there was a need to improve the quality.
National Crèche Fund
The National Crèche Fund (NCF) was set up in 1994 to meet the growing
requirement for crèches with a corpus fund made available from the social safety net
adjustment credit from the World Bank. Crèches under this scheme provided day care
facilities, supplementary nutrition, immunization, medical and health care and recreation
services to children below five years. Children of parents whose family monthly income
did not exceed Rs 1,800 (USD 40) were eligible for enrollment. The scheme was being
implemented through NGOs/mahila mandals/state governments. NIPCCD in 1995
conducted the national evaluation of NCF scheme covering aspects such as attainment of
objectives, adequacy of infrastructure facilities, and training status of crèche workers,
assessment of quality and coverage of services. The study concluded that a majority of the
mothers and children were satisfied with the quantity and quality of supplementary
nutrition and most of the beneficiaries and community leaders had a positive perception of
the program.

Rajiv Gandhi National Crèche Scheme for Working Mothers

Keeping in mind the need for an effective and expanded scheme for childcare
facilities, a new crèche scheme named Rajiv Gandhi National Crèche Scheme has been
recently launched for the children of working mothers. The scheme has been designed by
merging the existing two schemes of National Crèche Fund and the Scheme of Assistance

31
to Voluntary Organisations for running crèches for Children of Working and Ailing
Mothers. Under the scheme, the crèches are being be allocated to the States/UTs on the
basis of the proportion of child population. Uncovered districts / tribal areas under the
scheme are being given highest priority so as to ensure the balanced regional coverage.
The services being provided include sleeping facilities, health care, supplementary
nutrition, immunization, pre school education etc. Every crèche unit would provide these
services for 25 babies for eight hours i, e from 9.00 a.m to 5.00 p.m. Currently, 22038
crèches have been sanctioned to run across the country.

ECCE under Primary /Elementary Education Programs: Some Innovative

Initiatives
District Primary Education Program: (DPEP)
Taking cognizance of the importance of ECCE as an important factor in
promoting retention of children in primary schooling, this component was included in the
design of the externally funded District Primary Education Program (DPEP).The benefits
of ECCE were seen in terms of not only the children’s own preparation for primary
schooling, but also as a service for releasing girls from the burden of sibling care to
attend school. The approach under DPEP was one of convergence. It provided for
strengthening of existing provisions for ECCE through the ICDS wherever ICDS
centers were already there and strengthening their linkage with primary schools. This was
envisaged through (a) relocating the ICDS centers to the primary school premises, as far
as possible, (b) synchronizing the timings with primary schools so as to facilitate girls’
participation (c) training the ICDS service providers in ECCE and (d) providing play
materials for children. The ICDS service providers were compensated for the longer
working hours from the DPEP budget. New centers were opened on the same model, only
where ICDS was not physically in operation. Programmatic linkages were also attempted
between pre- school and primary school under DPEP, by introducing the component of
school readiness as an initial part of the primary curriculum and by continuing the play
based methodology in grades one and two. An evaluation of DPEP indicates that girls’
enrolment and school attendance was found to be higher in DPEP states with ECCE
centers than without ECCE centers ( Rao & Sharma,2002). The evaluation also observed

32
that the DPEP model for ECCE (adjacent to and part of the school) is more effective in
providing the children an stimulating educational environment and in creating a sense of
‘bonding’ with the school which can go a long way in promoting retention..
Unfortunately, with most DPEP projects closing within the next year the sustainability of
this effective convergence model are seriously in doubt.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA):

The SSA, which is a flagship program of the Government of India (GOI) for
universalizing Elementary Education and which has succeeded the DPEP, unfortunately
did not incorporate the ECCE component of the DPEP in its full form. Instead it provided
for a limited ‘innovations grant’ for ECCE for each district, which did not allow for
scaling up of the facility. While the reason for this omission is not clearly known in te
program, it is an unfortunate exclusion , given the positive impact seen under DPEP. A
possible reason could be the exclusion of the under 6 age group from the legislation
recently enacted by the National Parliament for making elementary education a
fundamental right and therefore a justiciable national commitment towards children, but
only from 6to 14 years of age! However, subsequent to the launching of the SSA, the
GOI recently also launched the National Programme for Education of Girls at Elementary
Level (NPEGEL) under the umbrella scheme of SSA for especially backward
administrative blocks. Provision has been made under this programme for opening of
childcare centers at the cluster level to facilitate girls’ participation in elementary
education..
Mahila Samakhya :
The Mahila Samakhya Programme is a programme for the education and
empowerment of women in rural areas, particularly of women from socially and
economically marginalized groups. Under this program, ECCE activities are being taken
up in villages on a need based criteria. Resource persons are providing training for
childcare workers with the help of specific modules developed by the Department of
Human Development, MS University of Vadodara (MHRD, GOI, 2003).

33
 Janshala :
Janshala (GOI-UN) programme, which has now closed, was a collaborative effort
of the GOI and five UN agencies (UNDP, UNICEF, UNESCO, ILO and UNFPA) to
provide program support to the ongoing efforts towards achieving Universal Primary
Education. The programme established pre schooling as a vital component for improving
children’s learning and development and ECCE centers were set up on the same
convergence model as under DPEP. Women’s groups were mobilized to set up and
manage the ECCE centers. These centers were set up in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra
Pradesh and Orissa. In the case of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, a large number of such
centers were set up, on community demand, primarily in hilly and tribal areas that led to
an increase in girl’s attendance in schools( MHRD,GOI,2003). Again, the sustainability
of these centers is not certain with closure of the program.
While all these innovative initiatives have demonstrates some good practices in
ECE, the scaling up of these has been an issue. While there may be several factors
hindering this, a significant reason is the inability of the states to take on the additional
liability due to acute paucity of resources, human and financial. At the same time, it
needs to be put on record that there are several features of the DPEP and some other
projects, not necessarily related to ECCE, which have actually informed the design and
implementation of the subsequent SSA program, which was another federally supported
program.

Preschools attached to primary schools:

The Education/convergence model of ECCE is one of ‘center attached’ to the
primary school. Currently only 14.27 per cent primary schools have attached pre primary
sections. (NIEPA, 2003)

Voluntary/NGO Initiatives
The ECCE services being provided by voluntary and non governmental
organizations play a vital role in providing education for all ages in socially and economic
backward areas. These organizations primarily work with special communities in difficult
circumstances like tribal people, migrant laborers and rural children in specific contexts.

34
They run crèches and ECCE centers by mobilizing local resources. Some NGO’s also run
mobile crèches, which move along with the construction labour from one site to another.
Although effectiveness of these programs has not been systematically evaluated, children
who attend them are more likely to move on to primary schools and parents have generally
reported positive outcomes (Swaminathan, 1998). Some of the NGO’s designed programs
(such as those run by Ruchika, SEWA, Nutan Bal Sangha, etc) have also demonstrated
successful methodologies for meeting child care needs of diverse communities. These
organizations are largely funded by the Government, National and International aid
agencies. In addition to these, some universities also have Laboratory Nursery Schools
attached to them, particularly to Departments of Child Development. The curriculum in
these pre- schools is generally more innovative and developmentally appropriate. Various
religious groups often also run some pre schools some of which are fairly competitive
with preschools in the private sector.
Private Initiatives
Private initiative here refers to fee charging/profit making initiatives in ECCE. In
India, as elsewhere, ECCE falls in a dual track mode (Swaminathan, 1993, 1998). While
the public sponsored ICDS caters to children from disadvantaged communities, private
initiatives are targeted towards children of socio- economically better off families. These
impart pre school education through nurseries, kindergarten and pre primary classes in
private schools. Though exact figures are not available, it is estimated that about 10
million children receive ECCE from privately owned programs (Sharma, 1998). This type
of pre schooling is oversubscribed and the competition for spaces in the lead schools is
intense, with as many as 300 children competing for a single opening (Prochner, 2002).
This phenomenon is not limited to the elite. In fact, it has resulted a in what may be
termed a bourgeois revolution by the growth of consumer class and more parents who are
able to purchase their children a pre school experience (Stern, 1993). A study in
Tamilnadu found that even parents from low-income communities in urban areas sought
private pre schools for their children once they reached the age of 4 years
(M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation, 2000). The committee appointed by
Government of India on ECCE also reports that socially and economically upward mobile
families are often fleeing from public initiatives towards locally available alternative, so-

35
called English medium schools. In the absence of any system of regulation or even
registration at the ECCE stage, the education offered by these programs is of wide range.
Some of these pre-schools are more of ‘teaching shops’ that do not respect/regard the
developmental norms of children. In some cases the quality offered can often be counter
productive to children’s development and may even be described as ‘miseducation’.
(Kaul, 1998).

Some Issues and Concerns

Increasing Coverage:
Despite the regular expansion of the ICDS, the coverage of children for ECCE is
still as low as 20 percent. This is an issue of both inadequate access and inadequate
quality of service delivery. With ICDS continuing to be the main vehicle for ECCE, the
GOI is proposing to expand the service further and universalize it within the next few
years. While this is a welcome proposal, the risk is of expanding too fast and
compromising on quality. Also, it may amount to ‘doing more of the same thing” which
has shown benefits to an extent but not commensurate with the investments made. A
recent study on nutrition has indicated three mis matches in implementation of ICDS,
which may need to be addressed. These pertain to mismatch of services, beneficiaries and
geographical areas. (World Bank, 2005) The service mis -match refers to issue of too
much focus on providing food security through supplementary nutrition rather than on
improving child –care behaviors and educating parents, which would have more
sustained impact. The second mis- match relates to inadequate focus on the youngest
children i.e. children below 3 years who can potentially benefit most from the ICDS
interventions. The third mismatch relates to the need for better targeting of geographical
areas, castes and communities that need the interventions the most. . Some of the areas
requiring strengthening have been identified as targeting of the poorest communities,
contextualizing of the program design, rationalizing of the workload of the service
provider, promoting utilization through improvement in quality of service delivery,
greater accountability and outcome focus and closer convergence with allied sectors.(
World Bank, 2004).

36
 Decentralized and holistic planning for children:
Given India’s diversity and scale the planning process and designing of
interventions for children have to be contextualized. This can only be possible through a
decentralized and participatory approach to planning and implementation. The Education
sector already has experience of this approach to some extent and the programs /services
for younger children would need to learn from this experience and reach out to children
in a more targeted and local specific mode.
Priority to and Ownership of ECCE:
Very recently, the total responsibility of ECCE has been shifted from Department
of Education within the Ministry of Human Resource Development to a newly created
Ministry of Women and Child Development. Though, it is too early to comment upon the
implications of this decision, however, it is likely to generate a lot of discussion and
debate about the issue of ownership and its logistic location with the education sector.
Quality and regulation of Early Childhood Education:
Research has indicated that the extent of ECCE impact is directly related to
quality of provision. The current approach in the public sector has been more of a
minimalist approach, which is not likely to pay dividends. It is important to at least ensure
basic learning conditions for children, including availability of professionally trained
teachers. In addition to ensuring basic infrastructure and provisions two important aspects
that have direct implications and need to be addressed are the ECCE curriculum and
training.

Curriculum in ECCE for 3-6 year olds:

In India, in terms of policy and aligned curriculum goals, there is a clear
understanding that the first six years of life are critical for laying a sound foundation for a
child’s lifelong learning and development. It is in this context that ECCE is seen as a
means for compensating for the cognitive and social deprivation experienced by a large
number of children from impoverished settings in their early years. ECCE aims to
promote all round development of the child from prenatal stage to 8 years. This implies
addressing different aspects such as cognitive development, language development, social

37
and emotional development, physical and motor development, development of creativity
and aesthetic appreciation, development of values related to personal, social and cultural
life, scientific ways of thinking and inculcation of healthy habits. The activities,
experiences and environment necessary for promoting the development in all the above
areas constitute the core of an ECCE curriculum. The curriculum is envisaged in three
sub-stages ---early stimulation for under 3’s largely through parental involvement and
education in a relatively unstructured mode, the organized center based play and
development- oriented curriculum for the 3-5 year olds and the school readiness
curriculum which overlaps for the 4-6 year olds and includes reading and writing
readiness and number readiness, as a preparation for primary schooling. This
developmentally appropriate thrust in the curriculum has been reiterated all the way back
from the National Curriculum Framework for Elementary and Secondary Education
(NCFESE 1988) through the National Curriculum Framework (2000) and now the more
recent National Curriculum Framework (2005). This framework, in addition, views
education of child from ECCE to grade II along a continuum and emphasizes continuity of
approach and methodology. All curriculum frameworks discourage formal teaching as
well as formal evaluation of children at ECCE stage. The National Council of Educational
Research and Training (NCERT) has over the years published several guidebooks and
training manuals for ECCE to be used by the states and agencies implementing ECCE.
Prescription vs. Practice:
While, a favourable policy framework and appropriate curricular guidance is
available in the country for ECCE; the reality is that there is a large gap between what is
prescribed or suggested and what is practiced. In a study conducted by the NCERT (1998)
it was found that almost all the ICDS centers observed adhered to teaching of 3 R’s (
reading, writing and arithmetic) and there was a virtual absence of any play activities.
Typically, the activities of pre school education under ICDS are conducted for a period
ranging from 45 minutes to two hours duration daily, with minimal play and learning
material support and that too, largely in the absence of sufficient outdoor and indoor
spaces, basic infrastructure facilities and competent workers. Pre school education in
private/ public nursery schools, again, is largely a downward extension of primary
education curriculum, with teachers often having no ECCE training. Surveys have shown

38
that little thought is given to the principles underlying ECCE as a specific sub-stage of
education with its own characteristics and curriculum. This gap between policy and
practice can be specifically attributed to the absence of any system of control and
accreditation system in India, which could regulate the quality of ECCE. This has
provided a situation of laissez faire which has in turn resulted in a mushroom growth of
private unrecognized institutions, particularly in the urban sector; these institutions have
no qualms about adopting the primary curriculum at a stage when children are not
developmentally ready, and implementing it in a in a rigid and regimented way; thus
imposing academic pressures on young children; these pressures become the starting point
of the phenomenon referred to as “curriculum load”, which can be very counter productive
to learning. In 1990 the Government of India set up a committee under a well-known
scientist to suggest ways to reduce the academic burden. The committee raised the issue
of not only the physical load of the curriculum because of the large number of textbooks
to be carried, particularly in private schools but interestingly also raised the issue of load
of non-comprehension. It observed, “a lot is taught but little is learnt or understood”.
Teaching of Three R’s, Formal Evaluation, admission at an early age of 2 or 2 and half
years, admission tests for children and parents, home work, demand for English as
medium of interaction, and a large number of books from private publishers prescribed by
schools for young kids are other areas of concern which relate to curriculum of ECCE and
are more specific to private nursery and primary schools. These practices are
acknowledged to be detrimental to the health of children and of the system as a whole and
the policy documents lay stress on the need to educate the community to be more selective
and/or demanding as consumers which could serve as an effective monitoring /regulating
device. This aspect needs to be promoted further.
Training Inputs and Institutional Support:
Effective preparation of teachers/service providers for ECCE is another issue,
which is expected to determine quality. Corresponding to the range of ECCE programs
and initiatives in India there is a variety of training provisions in ECCE, as well. These
range from the two year integrated Nursery Teachers’ training program (NTT) which
aims at preparing teachers for pre school stage (3-6 years) and for the first two grades (6-
8 years) of the primary stage, In addition, the curriculum of higher/ senior secondary

39
stage of education (+2) in Central Board of Secondary Education, National Institute of
Open Schooling and many State Education Boards have also included early childhood
education as an area of vocational education. In addition, The Open and Distance
Learning mode of training is also being used extensively to offer Certificate and Diploma
courses in ECCE. Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), National Institute
of Open Schooling (NIOS), and several other State Specific Open Universities (SSOUs)
like Kota Open University of Rajasthan, Bhoj Open University of Madhya Pradesh, and
RPDT Open University of Uttar Pradesh also offer specialized certificate and/or diploma
courses in ECCE through Open Distance Learning system. The eligibility qualification
for admission to these programmes is senior secondary pass. The duration of these
programmes have been kept as flexible as a candidate can complete it within the range of
one to four years. The National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) has also
undertaken the task of accreditation of the institutions offering Pre primary and Nursery
Teacher Training Courses. Currently, there are 124 NCTE recognized pre primary and
nursery teachers training courses with an intake capacity of 5938 students in the country
(NCTE, 2005). These institutions are functioning in fifteen States. However, because of
the norm, these courses are not available in as many as many as twenty States/UTs,
which do not have even a single recognized Pre School/Nursery Teacher Education
Institutions( Pandey, 2005).
While there is wide spectrum of training provisions, there are marked variations
as well, which reduce the scope for any standardization or quality control. While
minimum educational eligibility criteria ranges from no bar (as in case of ICDS
community workers) to primary standard (as in case of crèche workers) to high school
pass (as in case of Balsevika) to class XII (as in case of IGNOU and Integrated Pre
primary and Primary Teachers Training), there exists marked variation in duration of
training too. This varies from a few days (in case of several NGOs which run their own
courses) to fortnight (as in case of ICDS) to relatively longer time frame (as in two years)
for the integrated training ( Pandey,2004). The National Council for Teacher Education
(NCTE), which is a statutory body, has laid down the norms and standards for two
programs namely Pre School and Nursery Teacher Education Programmes. These norms
laid down by NCTE are now expected to impact on quality.

40
Public Spending on Children:
For the very first time, this year (2004-05), the Ministry of Women and Child
Development (MWCD) in Government of India undertook a ‘child budgeting’ exercise to
look at provisions and expenditures for children more holistically. This portends well for
a more comprehensive approach towards planning and budgeting for children in the
future. The public funds allocated to children are classified under four heads in the child
budgeting exercise: ICDS & Nutrition, Education, Health and Child Protection and
others.
As per the Constitution of India, child related provisions are in the concurrent list
of responsibilities with the States having a prominent role in service delivery. However,
most of the states spending are on recurrent items of expenditures, it is the funds which
are made available through the Centrally Sponsored Schemes, that provide for reform and
quality improvement.
Overall, there has been an increase in expenditure on children as a percentage of
GNP from 2.66 % in 1993-94 to 3.26% in 2001-02 (DWCD, Annual Report, 2004-05).
As indicated in Figure 13 below, in terms of relative contributions, both the central and
State contributions show steady increases over time, especially since 1997-98, with the
states’ contribution being significantly more dominant.
Figure-13

Trends in overall Expenditures on Children by Centre and

states
80,000
70,000
Rs. in crores (current prices)

60,000
50,000 Centre
states
40,000
Total
30,000
20,000

10,000
0
1993-94

1994-95

1995-96

1996-97

1997-98

1998-99

1999-00

2001-02

2002-03
2000-2001

ye ar

Source: Annual Report 2004-05, Department of Women and Child Development

41
The central aid for children’s programs in various sectors has increased steeply from 0.5
per cent in 1990-91 to almost 28.7 per cent in 1997-98 and 25.9 per cent in 1999-2000.
During the nineties, central spending on education and health increased as a percentage to
total spending on children as compared to nutrition and early childhood development. A
breakdown of the central budget shows that in terms of priority, government spending on
children has been highest on education (for instance, in 2001-02, 1.9 per cent of the
central budget was allocated for sectoral spending on children; of this more than half (56
per cent) was on education alone). The spending on education has almost doubled since
the mid nineties, a period when the government launched many schemes such as DPEP
and SSA. In terms of relative allocations sector wise, now (2004-05) education accounts
for around 69% of all allocations for children (Figure-14).
Figure-14

Comparative Sector-w ise Allocations for Children - 2004-05

11% 2% 18%

69%

Child Development and Nutrition Elementary Education

Health Child Protection and Others

Source: Annual Report 2004-05, Department of Women and Child Development

Keeping in view the cumulative impact along the child development continuum,
another important dimension is the relative spending on different sub-stages of child
development. While global research indicates that 85 percent of a child’s core brain
structure is already formed by age three, so that investing in the early years is critical, the
trend indicates, as evident in figure 15, actual spending per child on children below 6
years is almost one-eighth of the spending on children in the 6-14 age group, across all
states indicating a gross neglect of the foundation years of childhood. In this context, it
becomes significant that the GOI has substantially increased its outlays in the current

42
financial year for the universalisation of the ICDS programme and the focus of the
programme is also expected to shift to the critical first three years of life.
Figure 15
Critical Period In Brain Development – Financing Gap

7000 100
90

Cumulative brain development

6000
80
Spending per beneficiary

5000 70

percentage
4000 60
50
3000 40
2000 30
20
1000
10
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Age (years)

Average spending per beneficiary in the age group Cumulative brain growth

Source: Karoly et al. 1998

While the overall outlays have been increased, a critical issue would be targeting
funds according to the needs. Paradoxically, as indicated in figure 16 , the states that are
low on the CDI, also tend to be spend less per child in the ICDS programme, indicating a
vicious cycle of low capacity leading to lower allocations which result in still less of
capacity building ending in lower outcomes.
Figure 16
Per Child Expenditure Under ICDS (2001-2002)

1000

900

800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

Operation Nutrition

Source: Planning Commission, GOI 2002b.

43
 Therefore, while need-based targeting of funds is essential, this needs to be
accompanied by capacity building measures and governance reforms to maximize the
utilization and ensure child development outcomes.

--------------------------000000------------------------

44
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47
 CONTRIBUTORS

1. Dr. A.K.Gopal, National Institute of Public Cooperation and

Director (I/C) Child Development, 5, Siri Institutional
Area, Hauz Khas
New Delhi-110016

Ministry of Women and Child

2. Shri K.P.Singh ,
Development,
Director
Government of India
Shastri Bhawan
New Delhi-110001

3. Dr .D.D.Pandey National Institute of Public Cooperation and

Asstt Director Child Development, 5, Siri Institutional
Area, Hauz Khas
New Delhi-110016

National Council of Educational Research

4. Dr.G.C.Upadhyaya, Reader
and Training
Sri Aurbindo Marg,
New Delhi –110016

National Institute of Educational Planning

5. Dr(Ms) Neelam Sood
&Administration
Fellow
Sri Aurbindo Marg,
New Delhi-110016

6. Prof (Ms) Vineeta Kaul* The World Bank*

Senior Education Specialist 70, Lodhi Estate
New Delhi-110003

* Ms. Deepa Sankar , Economist at the World Bank contributed significantly in the
sections on Public Spending and Child Development index.

48