We understand that Kerala is a state that gives increased attention to education. But that consideration starts only from the first class! The reason for saying this is that we have not yet been able to implement a unified educational plan to cover all children between the ages of three and five years. The current status is Anganwadis (child nursery/ Kindergarten) on one side, pre-primaries which have recently become widespread along with schools on another, and private unaided institutions on the other. As the campaign to protect public education enters a new phase and says that improving higher education is the next focus, the government is forgetting its primary responsibility to improve early childhood education.

Early childhood development

A baby’s growth and development start from the moment it forms a living cell in the mother’s womb. Experts say that the lack of nutrition during pregnancy and the physical and mental condition of the mother can affect the future growth and development of the baby.

While lying in the mother’s womb, the baby reacts to the pressure differences in the Womb and the intense sound waves from the outside. After birth, the child’s world of experience expands through contact first with the mother, then with caregivers, and then with the physical world around them. The child is constantly trying to know the world by seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching. Tackles anything he can get his hands on with immense curiosity. Unconsciously arrive at preliminary understandings by comparing experiences. Sensing and knowing are constantly going on. As a result of all this, the baby rapidly passes through many subtle stages of physical, intellectual, emotional and social development. Many of the fundamentals of “education” cognitive, language, physical, thinking, reactive, and expressive skills occur before the age of five. This is the age when most language and math skills are acquired through experience.

New research indicates that some of the child’s emotional characteristics, cognitive styles and social tastes are almost formed by the age of five. The exact milestones of growth and development at this stage have been identified and recorded by paediatricians and psychologists. Here we are skimping on infancy, that crucial and extremely valuable stage of development where 85 percent of brain growth and the basic grammar of the language are formed. Two things can happen due to ignorance of parents, society and government. Either the nourishment, care, safety, and variety of experiences required at this stage may be lacking. Or it may be that natural development is stunted by the “over attention” of adults forcing too many things beyond their age into the baby.

Neighbours context

Many countries of the world have recently given priority to care and education before the age of six. One reason for this is the economic sense that investments made now in the preschool sector will pay back many times over in the future. Another reason is that as the number of working mothers increases in society, the public responsibility to ensure the safety and care of children increases. Another impetus is the spread of the modern view that child development is a process that takes place from birth and therefore requires early attention to nutrition, health, care and education.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child signed by 192 countries in 1989 under the leadership of the United Nations, the Declaration on “Education for All” in 1990, and the Declaration on “Sustainable Development Goals” in 2015 have convinced countries including India of the importance of care and education before the age of five. Taking such calls of the times and the world at face value, many countries have gone a long way in this regard. But in countries like India, where the traditional notion that the upbringing of children up to school entry is the responsibility of the family is entrenched, interventions by central and state governments do not yield significant results. For example, ICDS, the world’s most comprehensive childcare scheme, started in 1975. (Integrated Child Development Scheme) Relative progress is still not achieved in terms of child education.

Children outside the educational institutions

But look at the Scandinavian countries. For example, in Sweden, the government itself takes the initiative to ensure that the mother or, if possible, the parents stay at home by providing 80 percent paid leave for the first thirteen months after a baby is born. After that, the children are enrolled in the general care centre run by the municipality. Then at the age of three, they are admitted to a scientifically based preschool. By the age of six, all are ushered into formal education systems. Each of the above institutions is either under the direct charge of the government or under the control of the government. Wherever the parents have to bear only a nominal part of the cost.

Even in the capitalist nation of America, there are interventions at the federal level to ensure that all children, regardless of rich and poor, have better daycare and preschool experiences. It may be recalled that in 1965, as part of the “War on Poverty”, the Head Start Program was started in the United States for economically disadvantaged children in the age group of 3-6 years, with health and education goals in mind. In 1994, it was expanded to include children aged 0-3 years.

Scientific childcare

The notion that childhood can be manipulated according to the feelings and wishes of adults has long since been questioned. John Amos Comenius, who prepared the first illustrated textbook for children in the 17th century and wrote the book “School of Infancy” for mothers, gave a strong start to this. He pointed out that early infancy is a period of many characteristics and that children understand things best when they interact with the objects around them.

Such ideas, which had been neglected for some time, were reborn when Friedrich Froebel started kindergarten in 1837. There, children are allowed to learn through play using different types of wood blocks and other materials and develop according to their inner rules. In the last century, Maria Montessori, who spread her ideas directly, including in India, reminded us that education begins at birth, that the first years of life are very important, and that children nowadays go through certain developmental stages.

Discoveries in psychology in both halves of the 20th century reemphasized the importance of experiences in child development. Cognitive constructivist Jean Piaget’s findings, seeing the ages 0 to 2 as one stage and the ages 2 to 7 as another, clarified how children learn about the world and the role of novel experiences in it. Piache drew the world’s attention to the psychological processes behind development and learning. Seeing the child as an active learner, he explained, based on long-term studies, that development occurs with child growth and is an evolution from concrete to abstract thinking. In doing so, the long-held, discourse-based understanding of how children can be shaped in any way is strongly challenged in the public consciousness.

Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky highlighted the influence of society and culture on the child’s transition from lower to higher mental processes. He pointed out that when engaging in preschool activities such as make-believe/pretend play, children are working at a higher level than their existing mental state. Preschool children’s pretend play plays a critical role in achieving self-control, internalizing social norms, and following rules. Vygotsky and other social cognitive constructivists have explained how children mature into formal development through such experiences in the preschool stage, through interactions with the environment and society, and interactions with adults, peers, and more knowledgeable others.

The emergence of new paradigms

Drawing energy from ideas like the above, many preschool models emerged around the world in the 1960s and 1970s. The most notable example is Reggio Emilia, which has a history of 75 years. “It began as a preschool in a northern Italian suburb, built of hand-baked bricks by a group of poor farmers trying to recover from the ravages of World War II. As the message spread to the neighbourhood, a dozen or so women-led organizations sprung up here and there. Loris Malaguzzi, when the municipality of Reggio took them over in the 1960s. It grew into a great movement led by an educator. Reggio still stands as a shining example of a local government actively involved in early childhood education, an approach built on the ideas of John Dewey, Piache, and Vygotsky. Reggio remains a shining example of a local government actively involved in early childhood education.

Today, many preschools that have adopted the “Reggio approach” are operating in countries such as the United States, England, Australia, and China. The main feature of this method is the project activities that are formed by identifying the children’s interests. The activities that the children say, do, draw, and create are documented by voice, photo, video, and notes and shared with parents, a practical model of continuous assessment. Reggio Preschools have been able to develop and among those who have seen this first-hand are the leading figures in modern educational thought, Jerome S. Bruner and Howard Gardner.

The High Scope curriculum model, which was started in 1970 at the Perry preschool in Michigan, USA, under the leadership of David P. Weikart, a psychologist, is being implemented in many countries today with local changes. The basis of this is the view that children construct knowledge. Researchers who observed the children educated here for forty years have scientifically convinced the world that this preschool experience had a great positive impact on the children’s later learning and life.

Endeavours For Quality Of Education

Following the popular kindergarten method and the Montessori system, preschool research is proceeding worldwide today in a variety of ways, backed by new insights. The project method, which evolved from the ideas of John Dewey and was later greatly developed by the likes of Lilian G. Katz, is in effect in many places, including in Reggio. After Scandinavian countries such as Denmark and Sweden, forest-based preschools spread to countries like Germany, Scotland, and Canada another notable model. Many see this as an antidote to the “nature deficit disorder” that afflicts them in the new era when the destruction of nature is increasing and children are crammed into concrete buildings and in front of computers.

Regardless of method and name, age-appropriate experiences from home, daycare centre, preschool, and preparatory school for the age groups (0-1) years, (1-3) years, (3-5) years, and (5-6) years respectively. There is a growing awareness in the world today that it will give good results in later education and life. But unlike many other countries, we still try to keep children at home until the age of three. In the following period, the general position is to keep the children in any institution available nearby depending on the financial situation. Anganwadis are the refuge of the vast majority. The fact is that a good number of children do not even get a such good fortune in India. Children of tribes and others belong to this category. Even the new National Education Policy (NCF-2020) is aimed to start alternative education centres in the neighbourhood for such people through some agency and to train them in a little “literacy” and “numeracy”. Children learning the High Scope curriculum model, which was started in 1970 by psychologist David Weikart at Perry Preschool in Michigan, USA.

When Coming To Kerala

Kerala is becoming a country where most mothers go to work after recovering from maternity care. Bottle milk and the care of an adult will be available to the baby later. It continues until about three years of age. By then, the parents will have decided whether to enrol their child in an anganwadi, public school pre-primary or private institutions that require a large donation and fees. Their financial status and future dreams will influence this decision. Some people think that the child should be enrolled in a private institution later, there is a program for enrolling the child in an Anganwadi or a neighbourhood school’s pre-primary called “Irutham Ummada” for the time being. At the age of five, a seat in the first class of a private school will be fixed by donating. Most parents do not consider the child’s developmental needs or the experiences that the child will get in that institution at this stage.

For parents who want their children to play, have fun and go through scientific experiences and achieve natural development, the reality is that satisfactory functioning institutions are not available anywhere. It may be the opinion of those concerned that there are Anganwadis all over the country and pre-primaries in every school. Anganwadis indeed have a theme approach and a monthly theme chart in principle. But the workers there lack the physical facilities, expertise, will and support to fully implement them. For them, education is only one of many responsibilities.

Pre-primary in public schools, whether government-sanctioned or not, pre-grade 1 is dictated by the discretion of the pre-primary teacher or parental pressure. Other teachers in the school are generally not ready to guide them or see the preschool as an integral part of the school. In many schools, the pre-primary section was started only as a permanent investment for the first class.

Even though SCERT’s “Kalipatta” (Teacher’s Aid) and “Kalithoni” (Worksheets) are available in the institutes started and approved before 2012, most of them are teaching books from private publishers. Regrettably, the Department of Public Education is still not serious about recognizing all preschools working with all public schools and providing extensive training to teachers and bringing them into the mainstream of public education.

An attempt by the previous government to hold a national seminar on pre-schools and create a curriculum for pre-schools, teacher’s aids and activity cards for children had given rise to high hopes. A few people were also trained in association with IRTC, Palakkad. But all of that was confined to the 2267 public school pre-primaries established before 2012 which were recognized by the government. Under the leadership of the Department of Women and Child Welfare, the construction and training of such materials are also going on for Anganwadis. But only a small fraction of them are reflected in the field.

Government efforts to create a comprehensive preschool policy are years old. The fact is that it has yet to get anywhere due to opposition from the private sector. During the previous government’s tenure, SCERT decided to make a new one. It has been tried and the first part of it has been handed over to the Govt. But the second part, which includes the core proposals, is still in the formative stage.

What is the requisite?

The state government still has no control over private preschools. Even in the institutions under the government, the government does not interfere with the will. The time has come for this situation to change. While improving higher education and striving for academic progress in school education, pre-primary is an area that needs to be addressed more. Under the Right to Education Act (RTE-2009), state governments are not barred from interfering with preschools. According to the Panchayati Raj Act, the local bodies are also responsible for the management of Anganwadis.

According to the National Education Policy of 2020, education above the age of three years comes under the scope of school education. Realizing the importance of pre-five years of age in child development, the state government should take the initiative now to implement a comprehensive policy and scientific interventions as soon as possible. for this,

1. Conceptualization activities should be done on child education and learning before the age of five years. A comprehensive overview evaluating the emerging psychological perspectives, neuropsychological findings, and the many national and international laws, declarations, and precedents that have emerged in this field should be finalized soon.
2. Based on this, the State Government should formulate a Child Development Policy up to the age of (0 - 5/6) and make comprehensive legislation.
3. As a first step, the government should take decisions and steps to consolidate at least one year of preschool activities before the first class in public schools. Government should be involved in providing physical facilities, developing curriculum, appointing teachers, empowering them and ensuring parents' participation. Some of the responsibilities for this should be shouldered by the state government and others by the local governments.
4. Along with this, every Panchayat/Municipality/Corporation should achieve the target of setting up at least one Pre-School which is exemplary in terms of physical, academic and social aspects within the next five years.
5. (3 - 4/5) The facilities of Anganwadis functioning for age group should be developed in parallel and its educational content should be improved and it should be raised to the preschool level.
6. Various efforts should be encouraged to set up good daycare centres for children under three years of age at low cost.
7. Educate parents and the general public about the need and methods of scientific preschool.

Conclusion

In short, we should at least give up the superstition that education starts at the age of five. If not, the path we are doing to our precious childhood will continue like this. If the delay continues, the best intervention to increase the pace and quality of educational progress in the state will be prolonged in the absence of vision and lack of prioritization. Let it develop into a meaningful program of action under the leadership of the new Education Minister.

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