Early Childhood Education and Care: Towards growth opportunities

Early childhood education is a broad term used to describe any type of educational program that serves children in their preschool years. Early childhood education may consist of any number of activities and experiences designed to aid in the cognitive and social development of preschoolers before they enter elementary school.

Early childhood education programs may be designed for three-, four-, or five-year olds, and they may be provided in childcare, daycare, nursery school, preschool settings.

One of the first government funded early childhood education initiatives in the U.S. was the Head Start program, which was created in 1965. This federally funded education initiative, which is funded by the Department of Health and Human Services, provides children from low-socioeconomic families or those who qualify under a specific at-risk category with free access to early childhood education programs.

The other government funded program was started in India called as 'Anganwadi'. The word Anganwadi means "courtyard shelter" in Indian languages. They were started by the Indian government in 1975 as part of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) program to combat child hunger and malnutrition. This is a child-care and mother-care centered approach. The program also touches upon basic literacy skills such as reading and writing.

The SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) recognize that early childhood development, care and education can help drive the transformation we hope to achieve over the next 15 years. Young children’s holistic development and enhanced learning and the achievement of the SDGs are highly interlinked because the former has a strong multiplier effect which can transform individuals and societies.

The latest research in neuroscience shows that the care and opportunities for learning during the early years provide the foundation for physical and mental health throughout a person’s life. During the period from conception to 8 years, children’s health, nutrition, learning, and protection needs evolve as children begin to build relationships with others and move from early learning in the home and community to preschool and later to more formal school settings.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are interlinked with these needs across children’s home and community environments. The families, communities, civil society and governments should ensure that all children have equitable access to these services. In addition, ECD, health, education, and social welfare sectors should coordinate policies, partnerships, and services to support seamless transitions across each stage of this age continuum to ensure children’s success in school and in life beyond the early years.

We need strong policy forums to provide a platform for high-level policy makers of the world to share experiences and lessons learnt in developing and implementing ECCE (Early childhood care and education) policies and discuss innovative strategies to improve the equity and quality of ECCE.

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Attachment theory and it's connection with life:

About Attachment Theory. Click below to watch: Source: This video is made by Sprout. We have given the Youtube link in our blog.

REOPENING THE SCHOOL- SOME SUGGESTIONS (Suggestions via- IIEP_UNESCO):

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