Lok Sabha Question No. 344 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-12-18
Subject: Pre-school Regulation
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: NARANBHAI KACHHADIA, BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO, KUNWAR HARIBANSH SINGH, ASHOK SHANKARRAO CHAVAN, VIJAY KUMAR S.R., SUDHEER GUPTA, GAJANAN CHANDRAKANT KIRTIKAR

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.344 TO BE ANSWERED ON 18.12.2017

## Pre-school Regulation

## 344.    SHRI NARANBHAI KACHHADIYA:

SHRI BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO:

KUNWAR HARIBANSH SINGH:

SHRI ASHOK SHANKARRAO CHAVAN:

SHRI S.R. VIJAYAKUMAR:

SHRI SUDHEER GUPTA:

SHRI GAJANAN KIRTIKAR:

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (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 preschools  in  the  country  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  remedial  steps taken/being taken by the Government in this regard?

## A N S W E R

## 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 1 st 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:

|                             |   2013-14 |   2014-15 |   2015-16 |
|-----------------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Pre-Primary Schools/Section |    255835 |    272497 |    274230 |
| Pre-Primary Enrolment       |  11675079 |  12753532 |  12941715 |

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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