Page 36 - EducationWorld December 2022

Cover Story

EW INDIA PRESCHOOL

RANKINGS 2022-23

The objective of EWIPR 2022-23 is to enable young parents to
choose suitable pre-primaries for their children, and introduce a
spirit of healthy competition between preschools and stimulate
their managements to improve under all parameters of pre-
primary education excellence

Dilip Thakore & Summiya Yasmeen

S USTAINED NEGLECT OF EARLY between India’s #132 rank on UNDP’s Human Development

and
care
Index 2021, #107 rank on the Global Hunger Index 2022,
childhood
education
over half of class VII children unable to read class III
(ECCE) has been a blind-spot of
post-independence India’s laid-back
textbooks as reported year after year by the ASER surveys of
the Pratham Education Foundation, and sustained neglect
academics and media pundits. With
the benefit of hindsight it’s blindingly
clear that there is a direct cause and
Unlike other media publications which stop at
effect linkage between the neglect of of ECCE.
highlighting official negligence and injustice, in 2010,
education — and ECCE in particular EducationWorld convened the first international ECCE
— and poor productivity of India’s white and blue collar conference in Mumbai at which ECCE experts from around
employees and farm sector workers. the world alerted educationists, parents, educators and
Turn of century research in neurological sciences society about the critical importance of universalising
and cognitive development has clearly established that ECCE. Simultaneously in 2010 we introduced the pioneer
children’s brains are 80 percent developed by the time EducationWorld India Preschool Rankings (EWIPR) in
they attain age eight. This awareness prompted economics which we ranked the Top 10 pre-primaries in India’s larger
Nobel laureate (2000) James J. Heckman to comment that cities where there was greater awareness of the importance
a dollar invested in a child’s professionally administered and value of professionally administered ECCE. Since then,
ECCE is $16 saved in her higher education and career EWIPR has been published every year with the number of
progression because beneficiaries of quality ECCE are able cities covered having risen to 17.
to learn faster and better. Persistent advocacy of ECCE by EducationWorld
Open, uninterrupted and continuous neglect of has — even if belatedly — woken up academia and the
professionally administered ECCE under the Integrated community to the vital importance of universalisation of
Child Development Services (ICDS) programme has cost early childhood education. The National Education Policy
the Indian economy heavily. Although a minority, your (NEP) 2020 presented to the country last July accords
correspondents believe there’s a direct cause-effect linkage high importance to professionally dispensed ECCE and has

36 EDUCATIONWORLD DECEMBER 2022