(a) whether the Government has any proposal for convergence of National ‘Early Childhood Care and Education’ (NECCE) policy with primary education in the country; and
(b) if so, the details thereof along with the steps taken/ being taken by the Government in this direction?
MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI MANEKA SANJAY GANDHI)
(a) & (b): The common goal of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) and primary education is to provide opportunities for holistic development, active learning capacity of children and to prepare them for further advancement in the educational system. The curriculum and pedagogy in Early Childhood Education aims to stimulate the different domains of development and to facilitate transition to the primary education.
The Ministry of Women & Child Development, the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the State Governments have worked closely with each other to develop the National ECCE Policy with the National Curriculum Framework and a Quality Standard Framework for ECCE.
Further, the convergence in many instances has been facilitated by co-location of Anganwadi Centres and primary school campus or establishment of Anganwadi Centres in close proximity with schools.
At the implementation level, the respective Departments are expected to build on the conceptual synergies and promote approaches that will enable children to make the transition easily from the Anganwadis to the school system and to make them better learners.