The draft National Education Policy (NEP) prepared by the committee headed by former ISRO chairman K Kasturirangan has proposed to address the formative stage of every child in India, with a special focus on the growing-up years till a child attains the age of six.

The learning process for a child starts right at birth, with neuroscientific research showing that over 85 per cent of a child’s cumulative brain development takes place prior to the age of six, pointing out that it is of critical importance to provide all care during a child’s early years in order to inculcate a sustained and healthy brain development and growth.

Therefore, NEP emphasises on Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), as part of the foundation building stage of school education, with three years of pre-primary education. A single curriculum and a pedagogical phase of “play and discovery-based learning” for every child in India in the 3-8 age group is necessary, it says.

Various Indian and global research studies tracking student learning outcomes indicate that children who are left behind in the cognitive years tend to lag behind all through their education life. 

There seems to be a learning crisis in India, with a majority of children enrolled in primary schools failing to attain basic literacy and numerical skills. A major part of this crisis appears to be occurring well before children enter grade-1, and also a large number of six-plus children entering grade-1 without much early childhood care and education. There are also too many children enrolling in this grade even before they have attained the age of six on account of lack of suitable pre-primary options. 

This deficiency also tends to create serious socio-economic inequalities in the society, compared to the children from well-to-do families, who enjoy greater access to superior learning resources, a healthier ecosystem at home, in addition to better nutrition, healthcare, and a better pre-school.

Superior care, proper nurturing, balanced nutrition, appropriate physical activities, a positive psycho-social environment, and positive cognitive and emotional stimulation during a child’s first six years are considered extremely critical by the draft NEP to ensure proper brain development leading to desired learning outcomes.

The draft NEP bases its hypothesis on the study of brain scans of those children who have encountered various levels of neglect or deprivation in their early years, resulting in undesired deficiencies in the development of a child’s critical brain zones, with corresponding adverse effects on cognitive and emotional processing.

Investment made in better ECCE programme by India could expect a return of Rs 10 or more for every Re 1 invested, in the long run, according to the draft report.

Starting 0-3 years, it is imperative to provide better health and nutrition for both mother and child, cognitive and emotional stimulation of infants through talking, playing, moving, listening to music, and stimulating all the other senses like sight and touch. Exposure to languages, numbers, and simple problem-solving is also considered important during this period.

In the second phase of 3-6 years, along with continuation of healthcare and nutrition programme, self-help skills, motor-skills, hygiene, management of emotions such as separation-anxiety, being comfortable in peer group, moral development including the difference between “right” and “wrong”, physical movements and exercises will be incorporated. The entire learning module would include expressing and communicating thoughts and feelings to parents and others, and focussing and sitting for longer periods of time in order to complete a given task. This would be followed by supervised play-based learning, as individuals as well as in groups, in order to build a child’s abilities in a natural way. These would include people skills like co-operation, teamwork, social interactions, compassion, equity, inclusiveness, cultural appreciation, curiosity, creativity, as well as the ability to successfully and respectfully interact with teachers, fellow students, and staff.

With a goal to achieve a well-rounded learning outcome, the ECCE would include proficiency with alphabet, languages, numbers, counting, colours, shapes, drawing and painting, indoor and outdoor play, puzzles and logical thinking, visual art, craft, drama, puppetry, music, and movements.

NCERT is going to be entrusted with developing a two-part curricular and pedagogical framework as per NEP guidelines

Part-1 meant for 0-3 year olds, parents as well as anganwadi teachers and workers, would help induce appropriate cognitive stimulation of infants and young children. This would be achieved by making simple low-cost learning aids. Example: Baby rattles using a plastic bottle and colourful hard candy, simple melodic and percussion instruments that can be hit with sticks, hats and boats made from folding newspaper. These could form craft exercises for children in anganwadis, and also would be distributed to parents

Part-2 would address the needs of 3-8 year olds, called Foundational Stage, parents and anganwadis, pre-primary schools, and grades 1 and 2. These would include flexible, multilevel, play-based, activity-based, and discovery-based system of learning. The objective would be to teach the alphabet, numbers, basic communication in the local language/mother tongue and other languages, colours, shapes, sounds, movement, games, elements of drawing, painting, music, and the local arts, socio-emotional skills such as curiosity, patience, teamwork, cooperation, interaction, and empathy required for school-preparedness

In order to ensure smooth and effective implementation, the draft NEP proposes to integrate early childhood education with the school education system in consultation with the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MHFW). This plan is envisaged to be finalised by the end of 2019 by a special task force jointly constituted by the MWCD, MHFW, and MHRD