Regulate pre-schools: Think tank to Maneka Gandhi

MUMBAI: A common curriculum across all preschools in the country and no homework or school bags for children up to five years of age — these were among the ten-point

MUMBAI: A common curriculum across all preschools in the country and no homework or school bags for children up to five years of age — these were among the ten-point recommendations put forth by a Mumbai-based think-tank to Maneka Gandhi, Union minister for women and child development.

HT Image

Gandhi had asked the Early Childhood Association (ECA) for their deliberations on improving the unregulated preschools sector.

The association is a pan-India body, which consists of 2,900 pre-schools, 35 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and 45 corporate groups.

One of their major suggestions was to come up with a framework to curb the unrestrained mushrooming of pre-schools and day-care centres.

“In the absence of rules, pre-schools are not answerable to anyone. Many of them do not even have their own premises, while a few are running from basements and garages of homes,” said Reeta Sonawat, executive director, ECA, and professor and head of the department of human resource development, SNDT Women’s University, Juhu.

Regulations can be in the form of mandating certification from the government before setting up preschools, they said. This can be done by an independent body appointed by government, which will assess schools on their infrastructure, faculty and teaching, the group recommends.

“This will ensure that there is uniformity across preschools and that they are all run according to accepted standards,” said Swati Popat Vats, president, ECA and Podar Education Network.

Another significant recommendation is to lighten the load that preschools inadvertently put on tiny-tots.

“Since there is no regulation or common curriculum, all preschools are following their own approach to education and teaching methods, some of which might be harmful to the children,” said Vats.

She added, “For instance, schools encourage students to start writing, give homework assignments to three and four-year-old children. This can hamper their development.”

According to a preschool syllabus prepared by the Maharashtra State Council for Educational Research and Training (MSCERT) in 2014, children between three and five years must not be burdened with traditional and academic achievements such as reading, writing and maths. But the curriculum is yet to be implemented.

“Even the CBSE board has recently banned homework and school bags for children in Class 1. The government needs to extend this to children below five years as well,” states the recommendations forwarded by the panel.

The suggestions have been sent to the minister recently.