In July 2020, India’s new National Education Policy was launched, and two important elements stand out in the education of young children. First, the age range 3 to 8 is recognised as the “foundation stage”. Pre-school years are now seen as part of the continuum that leads into the first two grades of the formal school system. Second, the policy lays out clear goals—every student will attain foundational literacy and numeracy by Grade 3. The document goes on to underline that this is “an urgent national mission” with clear timelines and further states unequivocally that “the rest of this policy will become relevant for our students only if this most basic learning requirement (i.e., reading, writing, and arithmetic at the foundational level) is first achieved. These two elements provide an exciting opportunity to build India’s education system, starting with fundamental
In addition to strengthening the classroom environment and practice in early grades, another force for fuelling and supporting children’s learning is becoming increasingly visible. This is the effort of parents, particularly young mothers’ engagement in their children’s learning. The current cohort of mothers of young children (ages 3 to 8) differs from their counterparts even ten years ago. These women have benefited from the last two decades of progress in universalising elementary education. They have high aspirations for their children’s educational attainment. Further, for a variety of reasons, for women, wage work or participation in the labour force outside the family is currently low in India. These demographic trends come together to provide an additional boost for building strong foundational skills for young children.
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This article is written by Rukmini Banerji, CEO, Pratham Education Foundation and published by Forbes India on June 11, 2024.
