Bridging the Skilled-Resource-Gap in ECCE

Among the key problems facing the Indian ECCE (Early Childhood Care and Education) sector currently is capacity utilisation and an equally critical unavailability of skilled resources. Most ECCE programs, though have spread to smaller towns, villages and urban slums etc., are yet to offer quality curriculums disseminated by skilled resources focusing on the holistic development of the child as against  the myopic standard, cryptic and isolated approach. Even though the government in 2013 had approved the proposal of the National Early Childhood Care Education (ECCE) Policy, the focus is mostly on enhancing access and developing a national curriculum framework. Issues of training and developing of a skilled resource pool, critical to drive outcomes, have been side lined.

Unfortunately, it is also widely perceived that not much expertise or technical knowledge is required for the implementation of such programs and hence, the quality of ECCE programs has been adversely impacted.  Training systems are archaic and requisite qualifications are low due to absence of any such mandate by any state government. Undoubtedly, nothing could be more off-the-mark.  Various childcare programs from institutional care, adoption centres, maternal and child health programs, programs for children with special needs require well trained professionals with a sound knowledge regarding child development and requisite skills to work with children.

In the last two decades, issues relating to ECCE have been in focus since government’s adoption of the National Policy on Education (NPE) in 1986 and The Revised Policy Formation (POA) in 1992. In spite of this however, in India, home to the largest number of children in the world at 170 million children (census 2001) between 0-6 years, ECCE remains a privilege for majority of the children. A mere 32% of pre-primary age children are enrolled in such education programs. Even though there has been a marked increase in government-led ECCE programs, the coverage of children under such programs remain dismal. As per ‘ECCE: An Overview (MHRD 2003)’ - a mere 19.6% children between age group 3-6 years were covered under ECCE programs such as ICDS and ECE schemes, crèches and balwadis in the voluntary sector supported by DWCD in 1996-97.  

This is alarming if we were to look at scientific global studies having established that the first 6 to 8 years of a child’s life are most critical for lifelong development due to the rapid pace of development. Absence of a stimulating and enriching environment often irreversibly reduces the possibility of achieving ideal potential. Increased industrialisation, migration, change in traditional family patterns and urbanisation has impacted the quality of child care available. Hence the developing and initiating of quality early child care programs and enhancing inclusiveness is of utmost importance.  

At present most of the programs create their own in-service training for skills for specific programs, also curtailing mobility of workers.  The ability to understand the crux of the content, program and adapt the knowledge garnered and skills to create opportunities for children’s optimum growth and development is most essential though for now, grossly lacking.

In-line with the Modi government’s directive and impetus for advancing vocational training for skill development, recently, TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences), Mumbai, began its ‘school of vocational education programme’. I have had the privilege to connect with likeminded educators and professionals from ECCE and we are dedicatedly attempting to arrive at a dynamic and relevant curriculum framework and are excited with the prospects of the introduction of a first-of-its-kind vocational education programme in ECCE.  While there can’t be a better way than involving school operators and knowledgeable experts from the industry for this magnanimous task of also establishing a strong quality assurance system in place, it is also certain that there needs to be a holistic approach to tackle issues concerning ECCE.

One of the ways of developing and grooming such skilled workers is through concerted efforts to set up training programs while also amplifying policy measures in the sector. Vocational education courses in ECCE backed by relevant policy measures to build on awareness, capacity utilisation, requisite qualifications and guidelines, financial monitoring and evaluation is the need-of-the-hour. It’s time the government works alongside private sector players and encourages skilled, talented and committed professionals to take up the unparalleled goal of shaping the future of our country. We must make it our number one priority to provide quality childcare to ALL our children including the whopping 70% who are currently deprived of this basic right.

What Is Stopping Us Let Our Children PLAY?

It is that time of the year when young and old alike, look forward to joyously swirl around in circles and play to the tune of dandiya beats. The thrill of just letting go and truly enjoying oneself with the company of those you cherish or even by oneself is liberating. It also captures the essence of play.    

The importance of play has been well documented. Plato (429-347 B.C.) had reportedly observed, “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” In the eighteenth century Rousseau (1762/1930), in his book ‘Emile’ wrote about the importance of observing play as a vehicle to learn about and understand children. The importance of play in education also has been well documented. And yet, alarmingly we are now moving toward a culture which either treats play as an appendage or has more frighteningly, with the advent of technology, attempted at substituting or overriding it.

Incidentally, last week, I had presented a ten-minute documentary film (shot in 2 settings - Kangaroo Kids, Kandivali and the shots of the Aarey milk Adivasi children) on 'Building perspectives through play' in ‘Kaleidoscope of Play in India – 2014’, a national conference conducted by the International Play Association (IPA) ,India and Centre for Human Ecology, TISS. We were a group of highly involved educationists, school administrators, NGOs and advocates promoting true ‘inclusion’ in education and life beyond school and for the right of children to play and express themselves.

It was an opportunity for all Parents, Teachers, Trainers, Facilitators, Students to have a plethora of information on Play- its benefits and the Right of every child to play on one platform. Perhaps, the existence of an international NGO fighting for the rights of children (as defined by Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child), since 1961, itself is rather unfortunate while telling. To some, this might even seem absurd and confounding.  Don’t children play all the while? Do they? Not if we take into account the shrinking and disappearing playgrounds, the rising number of child labourers and the displacement of physical play that technology has induced.

Play now has disparate notions. We see children being shuttled from one hobby class to other, with little time for unstructured play – to just be. We have also seen children as young as four just hooked onto their gadgets, playing mobile games, beating each other’s scores and their parents’! On the other hand we also see well-intentioned albeit misguided parents stacking up children’s bedrooms with toys up to the ceilings, which most researchers would say hamper the creativity of children due to overstimulation. Contrastingly, for children from underprivileged sections play might entail playing with the dirt, rubble, and whatever leftover materials you could make them or just running around. Such an environment is marked by a dearth of stimuli. The trick is to find that balance. If children irrespective of socio-economic backgrounds were left to themselves, they would love to play with objects most connected with nature or day-to-day activities, which they could most relate with.

Children love to express themselves with sand, mud, paint and among toys, building blocks which proves as a fantastic stimulant. Toy blocks and other construction toys might not be as flashy as battery-powered robots or video games. But, as developmental psychologist Rachel Keen notes, parents and teachers "need to design environments that encourage and enhance problem solving from a young age" (Keen 2011).

Children learn best through hands-on experiences, and block play is a valuable part of cognitive development in preschoolers. Using blocks, children can piece together shapes to create a bigger picture, whether it is a representation of something they have seen or from their imagination. Exploring with blocks also nurtures an understanding for math, science, language and dramatic play. Construction toys also ideally help children develop motor and spatial skills, hand-eye coordination, creative and divergent thinking, social and language skills.

Children in any setting love to play, imagine, role play - let them. Make sure to indulge their creative fantasies and topsy-turvy ideas when invited into their make-believe world. Above all, keep up the spirit of play in daily routines. Play is a state of being and need not really have a demarcated time to allot to it. It is a way of life! Why must we inadvertently deprive them of their right to just be?

‘As astronauts & Space travelers, children puzzle over the future;  As dinosaurs & princess they unearth the past; As weather reporters & restaurant workers they make sense of reality; as monsters & gremlins they make sense of the unreal’ - Unknown