Lok Sabha Question No. 1305 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-11
Subject: Pre-Primary Education
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Prince Raj

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1305

ANSWERED ON 11/12/2023

## Pre-Primary Education

## 1305. SHRI PRINCE RAJ:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government has any policy to make pre-primary education as an integral part of India's public school education system;

(b) whether  the  Government  is  planning  to  introduce  pre-primary  classrooms  mandatory  in Government primary schools and if so, the status, State-wise, especially in Bihar;

(c) the steps taken by the Government to resolve the ambiguity related to the provisional structure of the pre-primary education and also the source of fund for it; and

(d) the details of the status in Bihar especially in Samastipur and Darbhanga districts?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SMT. ANNPURNA DEVI)

(a)  to  (c):    The  National  Education  Policy  (NEP),  2020  has  recommended  modification  of structure  in  school  education  with  a  new  pedagogical  and  curricular  restructuring  of  5+3+3+4 covering ages 3-18 for ensuring continuum in education. In this structure, the initial five years are termed as foundational stage that includes 3 years of preschool education and Grade 1 and 2.

The Government of India has launched the National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy  called  'National  Initiative  for  Proficiency  in  Reading  with  Understanding  and Numeracy- NIPUN Bharat' on 5th July 2021 under the aegis of Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Samagra  Shiksha.  The  mission  aims  that every child in the country necessarily attains foundational literacy and numeracy by Grade 2 by 2026.

NEP  2020  envisages  that  prior  to  the  age  of  5  every  child  will  move  to  a  'Preparatory Class'  or  'Balavatika'  (that  is,  before  Class  1),  which  has  an  ECCE-qualified  teacher.  The learning in the Preparatory Class shall be based primarily on play-based learning with a focus on developing cognitive, affective, and psychomotor abilities and early literacy and numeracy.

The Ministry of Education had launched the Integrated Scheme for School Education named as 'Samagra  Shiksha'  in  2018.  Its  framework  acknowledges  school  as  a  continuum  from  preschool, primary, upper primary, secondary to senior secondary levels and set financial norms for the same in alignment with NEP 2020. For pre-primary education, all Government schools are supported  as  per  the  financial  norms  under  Early  Childhood  Care  &  Education  (ECCE) component which are as follows:

- i. Recurring Grant, including manpower  deployment  and  other teaching learning aids/materials  of  up  to  Rs.  2  lakh  per  school  per  annum  for  pre-primary  sections  in Govt. primary Schools.
- ii. Provision  of  up  to  Rs.  500/-  per  child  per  annum  for  pre-primary  sections  in  Govt. Schools.
- iii. Non-recurring grant of up to Rs. 1 lakh per school for Bala Features, Child friendly furniture, outdoor play materials etc. for pre-primary sections in Govt. Schools and colocated Anganwadis (once in 5 years)

Education is in the concurrent list of the Constitution of India. Under the Samagra Shiksha scheme, financial assistance is provided to States and UTs for undertaking various activities for universalization  of  school  education.  The  financial  assistance  is  based  on  the  annual  plans prepared  by  the  States  and  UTs  as  per  their  requirements/  priority  and  is  reflected  in  their respective Annual Work Plan and Budget (AWP&B) proposals. These plans are then appraised and  approved/estimated  by  the  Project  Approval  Board  (PAB)  in  the  Department  of  School Education  &  Literacy  in  consultation  with  the  States  and  UTs  as  per  the  programmatic  and financial  norms  of  the  scheme  and  physical  and  financial  progress  of  the  State  for  the interventions approved earlier.

The total number of pre-schools, State-wise, including Bihar is at Annexure-I.

(d):  There  are  11  and  2  schools  having  pre-primary  sections/  Balvatika  in  Samastipur  and Darbhanga districts of Bihar as per the UDISE+ (2021-22), respectively.

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ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (c)  OF  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  1305  TO  BE  ANSWERED  ON  11.12.2023  ASKED  BY HON'BLE  MEMBER  OF  PARLIAMENT  SHRI  PRINCE  RAJ  REGARDING  'PREPRIMARY EDUCATION'

| S.No.   | State/UT                           |   Number of Government Primary Schools having Pre Primary Section |
|---------|------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1.      | Andaman &Nicobar Islands           |                                                               292 |
| 2.      | Andhra Pradesh                     |                                                              3644 |
| 3.      | Arunachal Pradesh                  |                                                               682 |
| 4.      | Assam                              |                                                             25285 |
| 5.      | Bihar                              |                                                               206 |
| 6.      | Chandigarh                         |                                                               106 |
| 7.      | Chhattisgarh                       |                                                               129 |
| 8.      | Dadra &Nagar Haveli and Daman& Diu |                                                                80 |
| 9.      | Delhi                              |                                                              1622 |
| 10.     | Goa                                |                                                                65 |
| 11.     | Gujarat                            |                                                               160 |
| 12.     | Haryana                            |                                                              1676 |
| 13.     | Himachal Pradesh                   |                                                              4828 |
| 14.     | Jammu &Kashmir                     |                                                             20676 |
| 15.     | Jharkhand                          |                                                             15986 |
| 16.     | Karnataka                          |                                                              1710 |
| 17.     | Kerala                             |                                                              3386 |
| 18.     | Ladakh                             |                                                               735 |
| 19.     | Lakshadweep                        |                                                                19 |
| 20.     | Madhya Pradesh                     |                                                              1506 |
| 21.     | Maharashtra                        |                                                              2686 |
| 22.     | Manipur                            |                                                              1064 |
| 23.     | Meghalaya                          |                                                              4675 |
| 24.     | Mizoram                            |                                                               455 |
| 25.     | Nagaland                           |                                                              1713 |
| 26.     | Odisha                             |                                                               945 |
| 27.     | Puducherry                         |                                                               298 |
| 28.     | Punjab                             |                                                             12909 |
| 29.     | Rajasthan                          |                                                              2317 |
| 30.     | Sikkim                             |                                                               778 |
| 31.     | Tamilnadu                          |                                                              7469 |
| 32.     | Telangana                          |                                                              1061 |
| 33.     | Tripura                            |                                                               121 |
| 34.     | Uttar Pradesh                      |                                                              3538 |
| 35.     | Uttarakhand                        |                                                                11 |
| 36.     | West Bengal                        |                                                             65312 |
|         | INDIA                              |                                                            188145 |

Source: UDISE+ 2021-22