In India, for the longest time, the state you were born in dictated where you got a start in life. From state to state, toddlers had a completely different chance at receiving a pre-school education, changing their chances at education, health and earning. The latest National Family Health Survey-6 data show that the divide is narrowing, and anganwadis may be the reason why.
Overall, pre-school attendance of children aged 2-4 rose from 40.1% in NFHS-5 (2019-21) to 47% in NFHS-6 (2023-24). While the overall 7 percentage point increase is in itself remarkable, what is even more heartening is that the gains are being driven from the bottom. The states that were among the lowest performers in NFHS-5 have made the most progress in NFHS-6. For instance, Uttar Pradesh doubled its attendance, from 15.1% to 30.4%. Jharkhand jumped from 24.9% to 46.4%. Chhattisgarh went from 32.9% to 52.9%, and Haryana from 30.5% to 48.7%.
This suggests that the supply of preschool classrooms and teachers may be less of an issue, as increasing attendance appears to have been a low-hanging fruit for these states. NFHS-6, as a household survey, asked 6.8 lakh families (the demand side) whether they are sending their children to preschool. This covers the whole mosaic of early learning providers (the supply side) identified under the National Education Policy 2020, including anganwadi centres (AWCs), public preschools like balvatikas, and private preschools.
Around 13.9 lakh AWCs cater to 7.7 crore children between birth and 6 years – approximately 1.3 crore per birth cohort, or 3.9 crore aged 2 to 4. Though official guidelines recommend that only children above the age of 3 should attend AWCs, field experience and informal surveys suggest that 2-year-olds often tag along with their older siblings or neighbours. The ministry of health and family welfare’s population projections suggest that there are just above 5.5 crore children in the country between 2 and 4 years, which means 71% (3.9/5.5 cr) of these are registered in the AWCs. Even assuming a 40% drop-off between registration and attendance, a staggering 90% (2.34/2.59 cr) of 2-4 year olds attending preschools might actually be at AWCs. This may be clarified once the detailed NFHS-6 estimates on anganwadi utilisation are released. Triangulated with ASER 2024 data showing 66.3% of 3-4-year-olds in AWCs, it is abundantly clear that anganwadis are the single largest segment of the public provisioning net for early learning.
{{/usCountry}}Around 13.9 lakh AWCs cater to 7.7 crore children between birth and 6 years – approximately 1.3 crore per birth cohort, or 3.9 crore aged 2 to 4. Though official guidelines recommend that only children above the age of 3 should attend AWCs, field experience and informal surveys suggest that 2-year-olds often tag along with their older siblings or neighbours. The ministry of health and family welfare’s population projections suggest that there are just above 5.5 crore children in the country between 2 and 4 years, which means 71% (3.9/5.5 cr) of these are registered in the AWCs. Even assuming a 40% drop-off between registration and attendance, a staggering 90% (2.34/2.59 cr) of 2-4 year olds attending preschools might actually be at AWCs. This may be clarified once the detailed NFHS-6 estimates on anganwadi utilisation are released. Triangulated with ASER 2024 data showing 66.3% of 3-4-year-olds in AWCs, it is abundantly clear that anganwadis are the single largest segment of the public provisioning net for early learning.
{{/usCountry}}Acknowledging this, strengthening early childhood care and education has increasingly been a priority at the ministry of women and child development since NFHS 5 (2019-2020), through initiatives like Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi, Aadharshila and Navchetana. All 13.5 lakh anganwadi workers are receiving daily digital coaching about classroom learning activities through videos based on structured and scientific pedagogy on the Poshan Tracker app. 11 lakh anganwadi workers and nearly 40,000 supervisory functionaries have been trained to build and deliver kindergarten-style playschool environments in their local languages. More than 22 lakh children have been given graduation certificates called Vidyarambh, to give parents a chance to celebrate their child’s learning at the AWC, and mark the transition into primary school. It appears this focus may be bearing fruit, encouraging more parents to send their children to the centres.
Returning to state-wise estimates, we notice that a few of the strongest states, like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Maharashtra, actually showed a decrease in preschool attendance by 2.6 to 6.6 percentage points. Together with outliers in both direction and magnitude, like A&N Islands and Sikkim, these require further investigation. But we can clearly see that the floor is coming up faster than the ceiling is coming down. This could mean that India’s pre-school system is not just becoming bigger – it’s also becoming more equal.
Language, reasoning and disposition towards learning are among the capabilities that are formed before the age of 5 – the same ones that compound through every later stage of life. Seen that way, it’s not just a win for early learning but also the beginning of nurturing a more capable and more equal generation. After all, attendance is only the starting point; what happens once a child is inside, what they actually learn, is what keeps them coming back.
The question we’re left with now is – if the laggard states are now leading the improvement, how do we keep that momentum going while ensuring that the strong performers maintain their success?
Increasing investments and quality at anganwadi centres is the easiest, fastest and cheapest lever to address both demand and supply sides at once. For the states at the bottom, getting children through the door (in tech parlance: User onboarding) has proven to be an achievable win. For the states at the top, the small dips are a reminder that attendance, once won, is not held forever – user retention matters. For both, the next step is improving quality through investments in tracking developmental outcomes, human resources, teaching-learning material, and infrastructure, so that gains in attendance translate into real learning. Families vote with their feet, so affordability should not be the only draw. High quality of public services is what parents need to keep choosing caring, loving, joyful and educational Anganwadi Centres over other alternatives. A stronger, better-resourced anganwadi ecosystem builds the base for India’s human development.
Today’s two-year-olds will be 23 in 2047, so if we want our youth to be well-rounded, productive citizens in a Viksit Bharat, we must keep the momentum going.
(The views expressed are personal)
This article is authored by Sanjana Manaktala, National Initiatives and Policy Lead, Jitender Pandey and Nitant Pandya, associates, National Initiatives and Policy, Rocket Learning.