National Early Childhood Care and Education Council
The National Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Council will be the apex body with appropriate professional expertise, autonomy and funded by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, to guide and oversee the implementation of the National ECCE Policy. It would contribute to strengthen the foundation of ECCE programmes in India by establishing a comprehensive ECCE system and developing an integrated framework facilitating and supporting multimodal and multicomponent interventions such as modalities of training, developing curriculum framework, setting quality standards and related activities; promoting action research among others. The Council will have representatives from all related Departments/Ministries, State Departments/ UT Administrations, Academic Resource Institutions, NGOs, civil society organisations, professionals and experts, practitioners, academicians, etc. The National ECCE Council is to be headed by the Minister/Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Women and Child Development.
As per National ECCE Policy, various elements like Regulatory Framework for ECCE to ensure basic quality inputs and outcomes, across all service providers undertaking such services or part thereof, have timelines as well as States/UTs will be responsible for rolling out of State/UT ECCE Policies and Action plans. Such Regulatory Framework shall be implemented by states, with appropriate customisation. The implementation may be in a phased manner moving progressively from registration to accreditation and ultimately to regulation of all ECCE service provisions.
This was stated by Smt. Krishna Tirath, Minister for Women and Child Development, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha today.
****
MV