Policy Brief on Cost of Universalising ECE in India2022

Recognising the foundational aspects of ECE, the new National Education Policy (NEP 2020)2 has recommended the inclusion of children aged 3-6 years within the structure of the school system and the universalisation of pre-primary education by 2030. [...] What did we do? Five major steps were involved in this study: 5 Calculating the 4 gap in the resource requirement and current Estimating government 3 the cost of allocationuniversalisation of ECE Estimating the 2 cost of ECE service for each of the three Designing three models 1 ideal models for ECE provision by incorporating Identification of the quality quality components components in ECE centr. [...] 8 POLICY BRIEFCOST OF UNIVERSALISING EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION IN INDIA What are the proposed models for provisioning of ECE? The National Education Policy 2020 recommends that “ECCE7 shall be delivered through a significantly expanded and strengthened system of early-childhood education institutions.” Some of the examples of how ECE can be provided, also stated in the NEP 2020, are as follows: (a. [...] POLICY BRIEF 11 COST OF UNIVERSALISING EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION IN INDIA In contrast to our low national share of ECE in the GDP, the OECD countries’ average spending on ECE is about 0.7 per cent, with the Scandinavian countries topping the charts with spending between 1.1-1.6 per cent of the GDP on ECCE. [...] The CSR community must be made aware of the importance of ECE and the need to enhance the quality and coverage of ECE in the country so that more of them support ECE initiatives.