INTRODUCTION

Early childhood education is a widely accepted term to describe a program aimed at

providing all round development for children between ages of 2 and 6 years. It paves
the way for effective learning. The child is prepared in all respects to profit from
schooling during this period. Enriched environment is to be provided for the
receptive mind of the child.
Early Childhood Education is understood by different people differently. Some view
it as a pre school, a nursery or a Montessori school with focus programme, aimed
towards 3 6 yrs. olds. But they are all different from each other. ECCE has
received high priority in India and focuses on Children from conception to 8 years of
age. It retains the same educational thrust but enlarges its scope by including the
CARE component. ECCE provides all relevant services from pre natal, through
ante natal to post natal services, early stimulation program for 0 3 years, day care
facilities for the disadvantaged, family care programs and so on thus, solving the
broader purpose. Change is continuous throughout human life span but remarkable
progress due to these changes is evident in the early years. Thus, early childhood
period is ideal for learning new skills.
It has been observed that environment from the first six to seven years of life is very
significant for development. Therefore, all kinds of facilities should be provided to
the child to explore, to enquire, to play and to interact with his peers for optimum
education. The early childhood education should, therefore, be according to the
physiological and psychological needs and conditions of the child as it:
Improves group socialization.
Inculcation of healthy habits.
Stimulation of creative learning process.
Enhances scope for overall development.
Prepares the child for future education.

 Provides foundation for a healthy adulthood.

ECE Movement in India
Pre independence era
Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and those early steps have
been taken by voluntary organizations and all private institutions since the
prehistoric times. Educational thinkers and practitioners starting from Mahatma
Gandhi, Tarabai Modak, Gijubhai Badheka and Maria Montessari have contributed
their mite to the growth and development to the early childhood education and have
dedicated their whole life for the cause of children.

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948):

Mahatma Gandhi's scheme for pre-basic education formulated in the late thirties was the first
indigenous scheme for education of very young children and several educational reformers
and social workers endeavored to put it into action at the field level. Gandhiji criticized the
traditional education as mostly literary and theoretical. The methods of teaching followed
were verbal and passive. He therefore, introduced craft as the centre of teaching learning
process. The craft chosen according to the local needs and conditions should be productive
and partially supportive.
Jugatrambhai Dave, Nanabhai Bhatt and Tarabai Modak were some of the early pioneers of
the early childhood education movement in our country. They were all inspired by the downto-earth, grassroots level approach of Mahatma Gandhi's pre-basic-education scheme.

Gijubhai Badeheka (1920) and Tarabai Modak (1936):

Gijubhai Badheka started working in the field of preschool education in 1920 at
Bhavnagar in Gujarat. He was later joined by Shrimati Tarabai Modak. Both of them
together prepared material for pupil teachers and started a training college for
preschool teachers. Later on he founded a society for preschool education and
published literature in this rather neglected area of education.
Tarabai Modak 1936
In 1936, she started Shishu Vihar Kendra at Bombay which served as a center of
preschool educational training. This center functioned in a well to do locality. In the
year 1945, she moved to Bordi and formed Gram Bal Shiksha Kendra there. She
worked in Bordi for twelve years and then shifted her entire institution to the tribal
area of Kosbad in 1950 where she tried her methods on the most neglected tribal
children. Her contribution lies in the development of Balwadis. A balwadi,
developed by Tarabai, is a type of indigenous nursery school.
She started two types of Balwadi at Bordi-Central Balwadis and Angan Balwadis.
The central balwadis were run during the regular school hours. Angan Balwadis
were started at the convenience of the children in their own localities.
Maria Montessori, Early 1930 s
The most dominant influence that can be felt even today, in contemporary Indian
education scene, particularly with reference to early childhood education, is that of
Madam Maria Montessori. Montessori viewed the child as an active explorer,
discoverer and manipulator of the environment, as well as the social being. She
emphasized the unique individuality of each being, and the child was perceived as

inherently good (1967). Self education or auto education is a unique feature of

Montessori Method. Spontaneity is an essential characteristic of her education. She
believed that the child should be provided with an environment full of external
means of auto education. One of her major innovations was to bring the childs
senses directly into contact with meaningful material.. Madam Montessori
powerfully influenced Annie Besant, a theosophist and she and Rukmani Arundale
helped Montessori se up a teacher- training center at Adyar, near Madras (Mohanty,
J. and Bhagyadhar, M., 1994)
During the pre-independence period all these efforts were confined to the voluntary
sector and received no support from the government. It was for the first time that, in
1944, a government document, popularly known as the Sargent Committee Report,
emphasized the importance of pre-primary education and linked it with the child's
educational performance in primary school. The report viewed pre- primary
education as a necessary adjunct to primary education.

Post independence era

During the post-independence period, the movement for the education of young children drew
great support from the private and voluntary sectors. Apart from its educational values, the
'welfare' dimension also gained recognition. The preschool education component of ECE has
shown a positive impact on retention rates and achievement levels in primary grades. There is a
sufficient evidence to indicate that early childhood represents the best opportunity for breaking
the inter-generational cycle of multiple disadvantages-chronic under nutrition, poor health, and
gender discrimination and low socio-economic status. Apart from these educational values, the
welfare dimension also gained recognition. Along with welfare dimension developmental
dimension is also gaining importance in the present scenario. The focus on childs development
is given more importance rather than on its welfare.

It was in the Fifth Five Year Plan that the provision of an integrated package of essential
services to young children and pregnant and lactating mothers was conceived and the integrated
Child Development Scheme (ICDS) was launched in 1975 with 66 pilot projects. The package
of services provided by the ICDS scheme includes supplementary nutrition, immunization,
health check-up, referral services, nutrition and health education, and pre-school education. The
ICDS is broadly conceived as an integrated intervention strategy for the holistic development of
the young child in the wider context of the family and the larger social group in which the child
lives. The integrated package of services, of which non-formal pre-school education is a
component, is delivered through the anganwadi (courtyard school) by an anganwadi worker
who is picked from the community and given three-month training. ICDS is currently the
biggest programme of early childhood development. It has demonstrated that even a modest
investment in child development goes a long way in developing human resources.
India is home to the largest child population in the world. The development of children is the
first priority on the countrys development agenda, not because they are the most vulnerable,
but because they are our supreme assets and also the future human resources of the country. In
these words, our Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-07) underlines the fact that the future of India lies
in the future on Indian children- across income groups, geographical locations, gender and
communities.
The National Policy on Education (1986)
It has given a great deal of importance to early childhood and education (ECE). It views ECE as
an important input in the strategy of human resource development, as a feeder and support
programme for primary education and as a support service for working women of the
disadvantaged section of society'.
In the process of planning and formulating policies related to ECE, one major drawback that
one faces is the lack of a well developed body of research in this field. It is only in the last two
decades that researchers from various disciplines have become interested in studying the young
child's growth, development and learning process. Unlike in the West, where the young child

has attracted the attention of anthropologists, psychologists, educators, nutritionists, linguists,

etc. who have studied the child from their respective perspectives, in India the young child as a
subject of research has been neglected. The little research that is available today is scattered,
piecemeal and in small watertight compartments.
For an adequate understanding of current developments and the situation in any field of
knowledge, knowing and understanding its history becomes an important exercise. It not only
helps to view current developments in the right perspective but also aids in meaningful planning
of future action. Unfortunately, the researchers in the field of early childhood education have
failed to do this.
Issues and Concerns in Early Childhood Education
Since the pre-independence era, socialist, communists, educationists and even the
government has been continuously working in the education sector for the betterment of
children but still optimum results are not reaped. We do not say progress had not been made
but still a new approach for quality education is required in the early childhood education.
Some of the primary concerns of the present era are:-

Poverty: still a curse

J. Bank (1997) in his paper Teaching Strategies for Ethnic Studies stated that India is a
developing country and despite of diversity, poverty is also a limiting factor which in some
cases may hamper the development of a child in his early years. Rather poverty is one
aspects of diversity that is gathering more attention as the number of children living in
poverty rises. Very little emphasis has been placed on working with students from poverty,
even though poverty crosses all racial and ethnic boundaries. But, Pellino (2006) found out
that children of poverty are more likely to attend schools with fewer resources as well. Even
though teachers might not be able to change someones financial circumstances, they can

affect students success by learning to identify and use the resources that the students do
have.
Wages do matter:
In todays time when everybody is after money the wages in this sector are not satisfactory
enough to motivate professionals to enter into this field. Sharon L.K., N. Richard and H.
Carol (2002) has also suggested that early care and education staff should earn wages linked
to those earned by public elementary school teachers, with salaries varying depending on
locale. They recommended that we use the starting salaries for an elementary school teacher
with a Bachelor of Arts or science degree as an anchor point. That is, the starting hourly pay
for a child care teacher with a Bachelors degree should be equal to that of an elementary
school teacher with the same levels of training, professionalisation and work responsibilities.
This is one of the primary reason that male professionals are not keen to enter in this field as
in our society they are considered to be the main bread earner and with such low wages it
will be difficult for them to meet the required parameters of their family sustainability.
Teachers qualification
Bowman, B., M.S. Donovan and M.S. Burns, eds., and Committee on Early Childhood
Pedagogy, National Research Council, 2000 recommends that all groups of young children
(age 3 and older) should have a teacher with Bachelors Degree including Early Childhood
Specialization.
It should be seen that Early Childhood teachers have training and professional competence.
Teachers with comparable qualifications and experience should receive the same salary and
benefits, whether teaching in a public elementary school or in early childhood education.
Staff should have a range of formal qualifications, with a portion of center teachers and
family child care teachers holding bachelors degree and administrators holding advanced
degrees. Entry level positions should me maintained so that pre service qualifications do not
become a barrier to individuals from low socio economic strata or minority groups seeking
to enter the field.

Decreasing Age Range of the child in preschool

Previously, the family system in India was the joint family system, the mothers used to be
with the child for most of the time but the times have changed now, the families are not only
becoming nuclear but even the mothers are stepping into the jobs. This leaves them with less
time to be spent with their children.
Today, the parents have found an easy solution to escape from this liability by getting their
child enrolled into a preschool at a very young age even when their childs separation
anxiety has not got settled. For their own professional gains they are neglecting their roles as
parents. Thus, the age range instead of going upwards it is going downward.
Parent Involvement is essential:
Parent involvement with childs education has become a major issue in this era of increasing
concern about the quality of education. Parent involvement includes several different forms
of parental participation in childs life, education as well as his/her daily tasks. Parent
involvement during early childhood period helps the child to form and shape his or her own
academic self concept.
Pre-school and pre-school teachers play a vital role in involving the parents with the childs
curriculum thus; they should be well trained to do so. But it is often found that lack of
planning and lack of mutual understanding between teachers and parents results in
ineffective parent involvement.
Multiculturality:
Considering our own country India, the land of multiculturality and diversity with so many
languages, different attires, cuisines and various codes of conducts. A country that has
distinct cultures right from Kashmir to Kanyakumari sometimes creates challenges for the
preschool teacher. They have to deal with a number of culturally and linguistically diverse

children in a single classroom, thus providing them appropriate education and care and also
have to work effectively with their families.
Despite numerous efforts in schools, administration, and teacher training still majority of
classroom teacher believe that they are not able to meet all the needs of the children and
families from diverse backgrounds as stated in the paper Preparing teachers for Culturally
Diverse Schools, by C.E. Sleeter (2001). Hence measures are required in this field to train
the teachers working with such group of students. They should be sensitive enough to bring
best out of a child despite of his/her limitations.
Quality of preschool education:
For decades we have known that something is a miss in early care and education. Years ago
it was observed that the field was facing a trilemma- a near by inescapable tension among
programme quality, staff compensation and affordability of care. Todays reality is that even
with increased communities to ECE from without the government, quality remains
embarrassingly poor. Staff salaries are inadequate and high quality care is not affordable for
most parents.
The date reflects the reality that there is an overall quality problem, but the question arises
that why is the quality poor?
The answer is two fold. Most important the resources to do the job are simply inadequate.
As it was stated by Layzer and Collins (2000) that, most states meet or exceed the quality set
aside under the child development fund. They fund various small efforts without a coherent
strategy to address the underlying causes of poor quality.
To address the situation, many in the field are studying what is needed, finding innovative
approaches to revenue generation and considering inventive financing schemes (Mitchell,
Stoney and Dichter 2001).
While inadequate resources are absolutely the first and major problem, they are not the only
issue. How the resources are spent is also critical. In spite of maybe important efforts to
improve quality, funds have been inadequate and strategies insufficiently comprehensive to
make a real difference in the quality of care most children receive. It is as though we keep

planting seeds in the same flower bed year after year without fertilizing the soil, and then
wonder why the flowers do not thrive.
Men in Early Childhood Education
A quick peek in any child care center, preschool or elementary school will show that there
are very few men who work with young children. This absence of men raises important
question for the profession of ECE. Are we providing positive role models for girls and
boys? Are we responding to the concerns of fathers and mothers in the families we serve?
Are we inclusive, diverse profession we claim to be?
The answers to these questions would be positive more often if more men worked in ECE
programmes. It was observed by Kennedy (1991) and Neugebauer (1994) that: a major
barrier to men becoming ECE teachers is the pervasive belief in our society and in our
profession that men are less able to care for en educate young children than are women.
To counter this belief and recruit more men to work with young children will take a
comprehensive and systematic effort. (Cunningham 1998, 1999).
Programme administrators such as directors and principals can set the tone and create the
expectation that male teachers will be welcomed and supported in ECE settings. It was
reported that once admitted colleagues should not expect men to assume the role of
disciplinarian, playground manager or substitute custodian just as they would not expect
females to have predetermined roles based on gender (Sargent 2001). Early childhood
teachers can begin to make children aware that males can be teachers by using language free
of gender bias and by selecting, displaying and reading childrens books that show men as
fathers, nurturers and teachers (Heller 1994).
It was observed by Cunningham (1994) that both boys and girls can learn that they can be
scientists, nurses and teachers. The curriculum can offer a variety of opportunity to children
to explore the roles of fathers and other males and expand their notions of what men can do.
The most direct way for children to see that men can be teachers is for them to have male
teachers. More men will want to teach young children when they see that more men are
teaching young children. Efforts should be made to recruit men into the profession of ECE.

This is an important endeavor for our inclusive profession and for the betterment of our
children.
Commercialization of the education
Urbanization and industrialization has not even left the educational sector untouched. One
can witness this boom with mushrooming of child related centers in every nook and corner
of the country. Big brands and companies have now entered the market with the motive of
making profits. These companies through their marketing strategies provoke people to take
up these ventures but at times these people are not themselves well equipped/ qualified.
The once known as temples of education are now transformed in to a five star hotels. The
intention is to impress the high flying parents who have the money to afford big fees but
have no time for their children. The attractive flashy brochures with quotes by the famous
educationists are enough for such parents to get convinced about the kind of education
school is showing to impart to their children. This has encouraged some of the schools to go
few steps further and they have hired the brand managers to market their schools. It is
interesting to notice that every coming up five start school claims that its aim is to develop
inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who will help to create a better and more
peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. There is a boom of the air
conditioned business houses calling themselves schools with funky names in every nook and
corner. All of them talk about the provision of five star facilities. They are spending lavishly
on advertising about the facilities and the beautifully architected buildings of brick and
mortar. The commercial agents of the education are hardly ever bothered about the effective
teaching of values and creating a real good school. They have a clear goal of making money.
No one is talking about the life of a school. A good school does not emerge like a pre-packed
frozen dinner stuck for few seconds in a microwave. A good school develops from the slow
simmering of carefully blended ingredients. One consistent ingredient is the philosophy and
culture within the school environment. The environment should be effective enough to
formulate the norms, beliefs and values in to modes, standards and rules of operation.

Hence, Commercialization is becoming a major concern which if not handled properly could
lead to serious consequences. The professionals should be responsible while planning and
developing for young childrens education programmes. They should be responsive towards
childs diverse needs since it is not possible to develop a quality program without
understanding the basic needs of a child.

Conclusion:
The present paper shows that education in the second half of the twentieth century has been
characterized by increases in the provision of educational programs for early childhood
education. The largest wave of preschool education activity has been the centrally funded
ICDS program, established in the 1975 to help children overcome the cognitive, social,
emotional and physical deficits that frequently accompany growing up in economically
deprived homes. By providing an array of educational and social services to children and
their families, ICDS programs are designed to foster general well-being and enhance school
readiness, so that these children might gain the full benefits of their school experiences and
be more successful in life generally. ICDS as a program is very good on paper but still the
fruits have not reaped as was expected. Despite the objectives stated in the ICDS, many
children are still mal nourished and school drop out rates are also increasing, the reason can
be large population which acts as a barrier for effective implementation of this program.
Researches indicate the first six years to be the critical years for the development in view of
the rapid pace of development characteristic of this stage. Recent neurological research on
the brains development has further endorsed the significance of appropriately timed
intervention for maximum impact, identifying the early years as a key stage for intervention.
Interventions introduced subsequent to the early childhood stage are therefore not likely to
reap expected benefits if the early childhood stage is left unattended.
No area in education has grown like preschool in recent decades. Where earlier no
documentation of the work done on early childhood education was made, people today are
writing books and articles for the world to know more about this area. So many

achievements have been made, parents have realized the importance of sending their
children to preschool and new curriculum for children develops almost daily. The world of
ECE is changing for good but still its waiting to become the best!!!
Reference:
Banks, J. (1997) Teaching Strategies for Ethnic Studies, Boston:
Allyn and Bacon.
Cunningham, B., (1994) Portraying Fathers and Other men in the
Curriculum, Journal of Young Children, vol: 49(6), pp. 4-13
Cunningham, B., (1998) Recruiting male volunteers to build staff
diversity, Child Care Information Exchange, vol: 32, pp. 20-22
Cunningham, B., (1999) Thring and Retaining Male Staff, Child
Care Information Exchange, vol: 32, pp. 11-15
Heller, C. (1994) Fathers, Children and Books: Selecting Pictures
Books that portray nurturing fathers, Texas Child Care Quarterly,
pp.14-18
Layzer, J. and A. Collins (2000) National Study of Child Care for
Low Income Families: State and Community Subsidy, Interim
report, executive summary, Cambridge.

 Mitchell, A., L. Stoney and H. Ditcher (2001) Financing Child

Care in the United States: An expanded catalog of current
strategies, Ewing Marron Kauffman Foundation, Kanhas City.
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and Education, Deep and Deep publications, p. 230
Pellino, K., (2006) The effects of Poverty on Teaching and
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the lines of men elementary school teachers, Mens Studies Press.
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