{"id":2497,"date":"2021-04-22T20:33:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-22T15:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/squarepanda.in\/pandablog\/?p=2497"},"modified":"2021-04-23T11:51:09","modified_gmt":"2021-04-23T06:21:09","slug":"quality-matters-why-providing-equal-access-to-foundational-learning-is-only-step-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.squarepanda.in\/pandablog\/quality-matters-why-providing-equal-access-to-foundational-learning-is-only-step-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Quality Matters: Why Providing Equal Access To Foundational Learning Is Only Step 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Early Childhood Care and Development or ECCE. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This term has gained much attention across India, a country that has long since taken strides to bolster early development with world-famous schemes like the ICDS scheme<\/a><\/strong>, and more. The NEP 2020’s focus on bringing early childhood education into the formal schooling framework serves to support such schemes, and revive interest in ECCE. While the focus is on providing equal access to early childhood education across the nation\u2019s grassroots, this is only the first step towards becoming a literate India. What we need is equal access to quality<\/strong> early education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Global and national organisations both heed this fact; renowned children’s social welfare organisation, the United Nations Children\u2019s Fund (UNICEF), always prefaces the word education with ‘quality’ across their policy documents and resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This, however, begs the question…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Do We Define \u2018Quality\u2019 In ECCE?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This definition differs from country to country, and even across the stakeholder groups, depending on values, socio-economic context, and more. Research has tended to use structural or process dimensions, or both, to gauge the quality of preschool programmes (Lamb, 1998). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Structural measures refer to staff\u2013child ratios, staff qualifications, teaching experience and stability, health and safety factors, and the physical setting. Process measures include the quality of interactions between staff and children. These measures are then related to favourable child outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Low-quality Programs Hinder Progress<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research is clear; early experiences have a longstanding impact on children<\/strong><\/a>. To summarize, all brain development depends on what we have experienced before. All our neural pathways are formed as a result of repeated actions, and occur from the bottom up. These early experiences<\/a><\/strong> shape our learning capacities, our behaviours, and even our physical and mental health. When these early experiences \u2014 of which early education is majorly responsible for \u2014 are not supported by an adequate quality of ECCE, we risk our children\u2019s future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Square Panda India Recommends: How We Go About Implementing Quality In ECCE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n