By Aena Rawal

Abstract  

The groundbreaking Right to Education Act of 2002 excludes children aged 0 to 6 years. ECCE (Early Childhood Care and Education) encompasses a wide range of services that support the holistic development of young children from birth to six years of age. These include early childhood education, care and nurturing, and health and nutrition. The essay emphasizes the necessity of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) becoming a fundamental right. It also attempts to comprehend the significance of Anganwadi Centers in satisfying such needs. 

INTRODUCTION  

Years ago, French revolutionary Danton declared, “After bread, education.” In this regard, education is one of the basic needs, along with food, clothing, and shelter. Each has the right to education, according to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). In India, the Acharya Ramamurti Committee issued the first official recommendation for education to be recognized as a fundamental right in 1990. And, with the 86th amendment to the Constitution, the Right to Education was established as a fundamental right. According to the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act of 2009, the responsible government is required to provide free and compulsory elementary education in a neighborhood school to all children aged 6 to 14 years (The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Second Amendment) Bill, 2017, n.d.). The landmark judgment lays the groundwork for guaranteeing that every child has the right (as an entitlement) to a high-quality primary education and that the state follows through on this commitment with the help of families and communities. It does, however, exclude children under the age of six and thus deprive them of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). ECCE refers to the set of processes and inputs that little ones require to assure their subsequent social, emotional, and cognitive development, which includes health, nutrition, care, and early learning opportunities. Goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, which aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all,” has added ECD or ECCE as a significant component. “By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care, and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary school,” states Target 4.2 (UN, 2015) (Goal 4 | Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2023).Along with 193 signatories of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), India has also committed herself to work towards their attainment. The Indian government has repeatedly demonstrated its commitment to making education available to all children in the country. However, by excluding ECCE from its scope, the legislation’s influence is diminished. 

ENFORCEABILITY OF LEGISLATIVE MANDATE 
The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 (or the RTE Act) of 2009, reiterates Article 21 of the Constitution. However, there has been limited discussion of one of the Act’s most overlooked clauses, which imposed a legislative duty on the Central and State governments to provide ECCE (Pandey, 2022). “Section 11 states that, with a view to prepare children above the age of three years for elementary education and to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of six years, the appropriate Government may make necessary arrangements for providing free pre-school education for such children.”. Through Section 11 of the RTE Act, what was then incorporated in Article 45 of the Constitution as a non-enforceable directive concept was turned into an enforceable duty for the State to provide for ECCE. As a result, citizens now have a legally enforceable right to demand ECCE as a matter of statutory right. 

INDIA’S PRESENT STANDING ON EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION 

Anganwadi centers, under the Ministry of Women and Child Development, have long provided the following services: (i) supplementary nutrition, (ii) pre-school non-formal education, (iii) nutrition and health education, (iv) immunization, (v) health check-up, and (vi) health referral Services (Demand for Grants 2023-24 Analysis : Women and Child Development, n.d.). These Anganwadi centers are now part of the Saksham Anganwadi and POSHAN 2.0 umbrella schemes. Services at Anganwadis are provided by a local woman worker and a helper, who are assisted by health personnel.With respect to data from the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the number of centers grew year on year from 2016-17 to 2021-22, reaching 1.4 million in June 2022.  Anganwadis centers serve about 3.02 crore children in the age group 3-6 years as beneficiaries of pre-school education (2020-21) ⁵. As a result, it is most likely the largest community-based rural ECCE provider in the world. 

Following the publication of the ASER (ASER: Annual Status of Education Report, n.d.)  an organization responsible for doing field research on many aspects of education in rural India, there has been greater commitment to children’s education. In rural India in 2022, 75.8% of 3-year-olds and 82% of 4-year-olds were enrolled in some type of preschool, a figure better compared to 2018.  The proportion of children in this age range not enrolled in school has decreased dramatically. These findings demonstrate considerable progress towards the NEP (National Education Policy) goal of universal early childhood development, care, and education by 2030. 

However, the scenario is not all positive. Regardless of an increase in the number of such anganwadis across the country, the number of 3-6-year-old children enrolled in preschool education has steadily declined during the same period. The report also highlighted the overburdening of Anganwadi Centers. Aside from that, these centers prioritize nutrition and health for both mother and child, frequently overlooking children’s pre-primary educational requirements. The single Anganwadi provider is responsible for six unique services making it impossible to provide efficient early childhood education. The NEP acknowledges the need for adequate facilities and workers who are prepared to educate young children, but the recent rise in coverage, as well as the transition from private LKG and UKG courses to government AWCs, places an enormous additional burden on the existing system (ASER: Annual Status of Education Report, n.d.) . Due to the shortage of anganwadi centers and low quality of service delivery, people have to resort to private centers that do not follow recommended practices. 

Anganwadi Centres and private preschools function on fundamentally different concepts, with Anganwadi Centres primarily acting as nutrition/daycare centers and private preschools largely serving as a downward supplement to demanded elementary schools. Neither paradigm offers children the suitable environment and inputs they need at this age.  Essential elements of successful early childhood education initiatives are almost entirely absent in both models, which place a heavy emphasis on the formal teaching of reading, writing, and arithmetic (3Rs). Some of the drawbacks with anganwadis are as follows: • Inadequate classroom infrastructure and learning aid • absence of plan • Formal education is mixed with some free play,  rhymes, and improved social interaction; and a community worker is offered with limited on-the-job training. Private pre-primary schools, on the other hand, face challenges such as: High pupil-teacher ratio • Fixed weeklong schedule with monitoring • Focussed formal education on rote retention and no age-appropriate activities • Teachers untrained in ECE

Another critical problem is improper resource allocation (Sharma, 2022)   In 2020-21, the government dedicated only 0.1 per cent of GDP to ECE, and its average yearly spend of INR 8,297 per child is far below what is required to fulfill international standards. Likewise throughout India, budget allocation differs per state. In 2020-21, Haryana provided INR 16,506 per child, whereas West Bengal allocated only INR 5,346. Only a minority of schools reported having a distinct instructor or separate money for pre-primary classes.  Therefore, it is vital for the state to enhance its spending on anganwadi services so that children between three to six years of age can avail of good-quality early education.  The NEP’s ambitious aim may prove difficult to realize without the allocation of committed human and financial resources.

Additionally, proper data collection is required. The scarcity of data on ECE interventions has hampered the country’s planning procedures. There exists an imperative for disaggregated, real-time physical and financial data that supports proper early education planning, budgeting, and monitoring at all levels.

CONCLUSION
Unfortunately, in our community, young children are separated depending on their economic circumstances. A clear division between households that can afford early childhood education and those that cannot has been framed.  There are children who can receive decent preschool education and others who cannot, who must make do with substandard Anganwadi education or none at all. A legal provision of ECCE under the RTE places the obligation on the state to fulfill the requirements of children in distress. The major responsibility for safeguarding basic human rights such as education, health, infrastructure, and employment rests with the state. In its full bench judgment in the Unnikrishnan Case (1993), the Supreme Court confirmed the right to early childhood education as a basic right. The RTE Act of 2009, which guarantees the fundamental right to education in India, has deliberately omitted preschool education and care from its purview. This exclusion is incongruent with the fact that children aged 0 to 6 years have a fundamental right to care, safety, nutrition, and education. The violation of these rights are justiciable, and therefore, it is imperative that the RTE Act be extended to ensure the protection of young children’s care, education, and overall development.  

About the Author

Aena Rawal is presently pursuing a Masters in Public Policy degree at the Jindal School of Governance and Public Policy. She has a strong passion for different areas including State and Government, Program Evaluation, Sustainable Development, and Foreign Policy.