Public vs Private Early Care and Education in India: A Case for National Standards

• In Event: Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Topic - Education, Schooling

Abstract

According to the Indian Census 2011, there are 164.48 million children between 0-6 years of age. The Constitution of India resolves to provide quality education to all its 77 thousand diverse societies and cultures. Recognizing the need for quality pre-primary programs, the 86th Constitutional Amendment urges states to provide early care and education (ECCE) for all children who are under age 6. Despite the recognition of importance of ECCE by the Government of India, challenges in its implementation still remain. Every year public and private preschools are growing exponentially in number. India lacks stringent national child care quality standards and hence, there is wide variation in the quality of early education and caregiving across preschools.
Government-run Anganwadi Centres and privately managed preschools are the two major models of early childhood education available in India. Anganwadi Centres operate primarily as nutrition/day care centres and are usually poorly equipped and staffed. Research by Sharma (2004) reported that government- and NGO-run preschools in Hisar City, Haryana were mostly run in dilapidated premises, lacked play space and facilities for indoor space. The teachers were untrained or inappropriately trained for their jobs and received meagre salaries. Private preschools exist mainly in cities and towns, and function largely as a downward extension of primary schools. Because there are no national standards, these private centres are not regulated, nor do they have to provide age appropriate care or instruction. Additionally, these facilities are expensive and cost prohibitive for many families. Research by Rao and Sharma (2002) and NCERT (2006) found that these private enterprises function mainly as profit-making commercial bodies.
In an attempt to inform public policy surrounding early care and education in India, this study assessed a sample of both public and private childcare facilities exclusively from 3 tehsils namely Rudrapur, Gadarpur and Kiccha of Distt. Udham Singh Nagar of Uttarakhand State. A total of 18 public and 10 private centers were observed. The measures used included the Early Childhood Education Quality Assessment Scale (CECED, 2011), an observational rating scale used to assess early care and education programs; the Child Caregiver Interaction Scale (Carl, 2010), a observational tool that assesses quality of caregiver interaction; and Ages and Stages Questionnaire (Squires and Bricker, 2009) which assesses child development. Additionally, a cross cultural study was completed to assess the quality of caregiving by child caregivers in India and the United States, using the CCIS (Carl, 2010). This sample included 65 both public and private childcare centers.
Results on all the measures revealed that private schools in India have statistically significant difference when compared to those of public schools. When comparing the ECEQAS,CCIS and ASQ, a statistically significant relationship existed on all the three scales. High quality caregiving was related to children’s performance in private schools, and the overall climate of the schools was at a much higher level in those high performing schools. Future study and implications for public policy are discussed.

Authors

• Himani Nautiyal
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ritu Singh, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology
  Presenting Author

• Barbara Ellen Carl, Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg
  Non-Presenting Author

• Richard Fiene, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Non-Presenting Author