A new Early Childhood Education (ECE) report, released by a leading non-profit organisation working in the primary and pre-primary education sector in India, recognised the need for “Play-based learning” as a fundamental curriculum for children to learn faster and effectively.

The report also underscored the need for classroom resources to be more user-friendly to promote their usage among children.

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The Central Square Foundation (CSF) released the report titled “Building Strong Foundations: Examining Early Childhood Education in India”. The report stems from an in-depth Situational Analysis Study conducted across 200 Early Childhood Education (ECE) classrooms in India aimed at validating existing research data and identifying opportunities for enhancing ECE programmes, shed light on crucial aspects that call for urgent and immediate action.

Speaking at the release of the report, Shaveta Sharma-Kukreja, CEO and MD of CSF, said, “The future of ECE in India hinges on addressing systemic challenges and operational hurdles to effectively implement well-crafted policies. Despite their forward-looking nature, these policies struggle to translate into optimal student learning outcomes and school readiness.”

“Elevating the status of ECE and allocating increased financial resources are critical steps in that direction. Enhanced policy implementation aligns with Sustainable Development Goals and the NIPUN Bharat Mission, ensuring improved learning outcomes for all children,” she said.

Recognising the imperative need for research on programmatic factors affecting the quality of ECE, CSF delved into the intricacies of the ECE ecosystem across select states. The primary and secondary research looked at aspects of ECE delivery including curriculum design, teaching-learning time, effectiveness of learning, teacher training, monitoring quality, and parental perception.

The report advocates for prompt remedial actions to address these gaps and ensure a robust learning foundation for young students. It further aims to understand the current models of public provisioning of ECE in India, study different aspects of delivery that affect learning in the classrooms and outline the way forward for other stakeholders within the ECE ecosystem.

For this Study, CSF reached out to a mix of Anganwadis, co-located Anganwadis, and pre-primary sections in government primary schools (either as 1-year or 2-year pre-primary programme) between March – May, 2023, across seven states – Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.

The survey analysis was partly supported by Key Education Foundation, a non-profit working in the space of early childhood education, which conducted research on classroom curriculum analysis on pedagogy, ease of use and teaching-learning resources.

The report recognises the global outlook and progressive nature of India’s ECE policies while at the same time it observes that the country’s early learning outcomes are sub-par.