Question : Pre-school Regulation

(a) whether the State Governments have set their own laws for pre-school regulation due to the lack of Central regulation and if so, the details thereof along with the reasons therefor;
(b) whether the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) proposes to come up with a model for pre-school education;
(c) if so, the details thereof along with the salient features thereto;
(d) the time by which it is likely to come into force; and
(e) whether the Government is aware that a large number of children are not attending pre-schools in the country and if so, the details thereof along with the remedial steps taken/being taken by the Government in this regard?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
(SHRI UPENDRA KUSHWAHA)
(a) to (c): The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, which became operative with effect from 1st April, 2010, mandates that all children in the age group of 6-14 years shall be in schools for completing elementary education. Section 11 of the RTE Act emphasises that 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 arrangement for providing free pre-school education for such children.
As per U-DISE data, the details of last three years of Pre-Primary schools/section and Pre-Primary Enrolment in the country are as under:
<pre>
2013-14
2014-15
2015-16
Pre-Primary Schools/Section
255835
272497
274230
Pre-Primary Enrolment
11675079
12753532
12941715
</pre>
NCERT is developing the ‘Guidelines for implementing quality pre-school education for the children of the age of three to eight years’, ‘Curriculum for Early Years’ and ‘Pre-school Exemplar Model’. These initiatives would assist the States in creating regulations and maintaining existing pre-school centers.
The Department of Elementary Education of NCERT has undertaken a programme titled “Situational Analysis of RIE, Demonstration Schools and Designing of Model Preschools”. It is a two years program i.e. 2017-18 and 2018-19.
(d)&(e): Early Childhood Care & Education (ECCE) is one of the six free services provided through Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) located across the country under Anganwadi Services Scheme implemented by the Ministry of Women & Child Development as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. The Scheme is a universal self-selecting Scheme available to all the beneficiaries who enroll at the AWCs. As on 30.09.2017, 3.26 crore children in the age group of 3-6 years are beneficiaries of pre-school education in Anganwadi Centers.
Government of India vide Resolution notified on 27.09.2013 laid down the National Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Policy which conforms to the vision of holistic and integrated development of the child with focus on care and early learning. The vision of the policy is to achieve holistic development and active learning capacity of the child below six years of age. The implementation of the policy is through the States/UTs.
Government of India has approved 14 lakh Anganwadi Centres to States/UTs, out of which 13.53 lakh Anganwadi Centres are operational as on date. A joint advisory has been issued by Ministry of Human Resource Development and Ministry of Women Child Development to all the State/UT Governments to examine the possibility of shifting the Anganwadi Centres to the campus of the nearby primary schools located in the habitation of AWCs catchment to facilitate the transition of the children to the primary stage.
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