The Early Childhood Journey Begins With NEP 2020

A lot has changed in the National Education Policy of 2020. The Government has finally accepted the need for Early Childhood Education and Care and its need is well documented in the National Educational Policy (NEP), 2020. Here are quick 9 points that you need to know:

1. The 10 + 2 structure has been changed to a 5+3+3+4 structure, a strong base of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) from age 3 is included. 
2. The highest priority is given to achieving foundational literacy and numeracy in the NEP. 2030 is a deadline set to ensure that all students entering 1st grade are school ready.
3. The preschool education system will now have a governing body in form of a collaborative effort between the ministries of Education, Women and Child Development, Health and Family Welfare, Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE), and Tribal Affairs.
4. The NCERT will be the nodal body to shape a new curriculum for ECCE, National Curricular and Pedagogical Framework for Early Childhood Care and Education (NCPFECCE) for children up to the age of eight(0-3 and 3-8 years). 
5. Health check-ups and growth monitoring will be carried out in government preschools as well indicating the importance the government is giving to physical well-being. 
6. The government will be training all the ECCE staff at its preschools in the pedagogy of ECCE.
7. An interesting interim 3-month play-based ‘school preparation module – Bal Vikas’ for all Grade 1 students will be added. This will consist of learning of alphabets, sounds, words, colors, shapes, and numbers, and will involve collaborations with peers and parents, which will be developed by NCERT and SCERTs.
8. Daycare update – Every State will be encouraged to strengthen existing or establish “Bal Bhavans” where children of all ages can visit once a week (e.g., on weekends) or more often, as a special daytime boarding school, to partake in art-related, career-related, and play-related projects. Such Bal Bhavans may be incorporated as a part of school complexes/clusters if possible.
9. To cope up with changing times a national repository of high-quality resources on foundational literacy and numeracy will be made available on DIKSHA – a free e-Learning platform offering quality content for teachers and students for e-learning will add content for ECCE. 

To summarize, the intent and understanding are in the right place. However, the application and execution will hold the key and shape the future.

– GAURAV OSWAL, Founder, Go Alpha