The National Education Policy 2020 marked a turning point in India’s commitment to shaping a bright future for all children. As 85% of brain development occurs before the age of six years, the Ministry recognizes the pivotal role of early years in development and seeks to strengthen India's Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) landscape. In this endeavour, the Ministry of Women and Child Development is launching a National Curriculum for Early Childhood Care and Education for Children from Three to Six Years and a National Framework for Early Childhood Stimulation for Children from Birth to Three Years.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development empowers and supports mothers and their children under six years through Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, together with the Palna and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) Schemes under Mission Shakti. It aims to ensure comprehensive childcare support throughout the day in a secure environment, with trained staff, educational resources, nutritional support, and activities for holistic child development. The Ministry runs 13.9 lakh Anganwadi Centres around the country, catering to more than 8 crore children under the age of six years.

For children from age three to six, the National Curriculum for ECCE 2024 covers all domains of development as per the National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage 2022 (NCF-FS), including physical/motor, cognitive, language and literacy, socioemotional, cultural/aesthetic as well as positive habits. It aims to improve the quality of ECCE transacted at the Anganwadi Centre by prioritizing competency-based lesson plans and activities, presented in a simple and user-friendly manner. It addresses how children learn in the early years, with a focus on playful joy-based learning, in preparation for primary school. The Curriculum is structured to provide a weekly calendar comprising 36 weeks of active learning, 8 weeks of reinforcement and 4 weeks of initiation, together with 5+1 days of play-based learning in one week, and three blocks of activities in one day. It provides for a combination of activities, including in-centre and at-home, indoor and outdoor, child-led and educator-led etc. Robust assessment tools are provided for tracking  progress, tailoring learning, and celebrating each child's unique journey. Special focus has been given for the screening, inclusion and referrals of Divyang children in every activity. Community engagement has been facilitated through monthly ECCE days and a continuum of home learning activities for each week.

For children from birth to three years, the National Framework for Early Childhood Stimulation 2024 aims to empower caregivers and Anganwadi Workers for holistic early stimulation, through responsive caregiving and opportunities for early learning, for optimal development of children, both body and brain. It fills conceptual and practical gaps in the understanding of care and stimulation, based on the Nurturing Care Framework. The framework is designed to provide the Anganwadi Worker with a basic understanding of how children grow and develop, the importance of brain development and the need for nurturing care. It focuses on the principles of serve and return, caregiver’s three acts: love, talk, play, and positive guidance. 36 month-wise age-based activities are provided that can be conducted both within the household as well as at the Anganwadi Centre or Creche, through all the contact points including home visits, monthly meetings, community-based events etc. Screening, inclusion and referrals for Divyang children are also provided special focus.

The documents have been prepared by the National Institute for Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD), with the support of an Internal Committee and development partners. Feedback from Anganwadi Workers has been incorporated to make the curriculum more flexible, activity-based, using more illustrations and less text. NIPCCD will lead the training of Anganwadi functionaries on the new Curriculum and Framework. Provisions from both the Curriculum and the Framework, including weekly activity schedules, home visit guidance, assessment tools for tracking child development etc. will also be included on the Poshan Tracker. We aim to strengthen and support Anganwadi Workers for the delivery of high-quality ECCE for all children, to ensure that every Anganwadi Centre becomes a vibrant learning centre in the community.

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SS/AKS