भारत के बच्चों में निवेश का आर्थिक मामला

भारत के बच्चों में निवेश का आर्थिक मामला

There needs to be increased investment in early childhood care and education

क्यों जरूरी ?

It might seem self-evident that India’s children deserve economic investment, seeing the country’s focus on demographic dividend, education and jobs.

But, early childhood education 

1 has remained both under-invested and under-explored over decades.

2  It is often trivialised महत्वहीन समझना , as child’s play, or limited to the household domain, perhaps because it has traditionally been women’s work.

3  With the increasing focus by the government on women-led development,

 including a new survey by the Ministries of Women and Child Development and Labour (announced on January 30) on working women, 

care work and early childhood are finally being seen as part of the critical work of running a country.

Focus earlier in the life cycle

 investment in early childhood care and education (ECCE) is a basic one — 

1 human resources are the bedrock of a nation, and early childhood is the bedrock of a human being.

2 targeting first access, we crossing 100% gross enrolment ratio at the primary level, and now quality, with an increased focus on measuring learning outcomes.

 India’s young learners are struggling: 

1 a large number of Standard three learners are unable to read Standard two text or do basic subtraction.

2 हमने क्या किया 

This has prompted a shift to focus even earlier in the life cycle, i.e., children under six,

 leading to initiatives such as the Ministry of Education’s National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN) Bharat for foundational literacy and numeracy, 

and the Ministry of Women and Child Development’s (MWCD) Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi to improve ECCE quality through the Anganwadi system.

3 स्वास्थ्य को लेकर 

The interim Budget 2024’s promise of expediting the upgradation of Saksham Anganwadis and providing Ayushman Bharat services for Anganwadi workers, Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA), and helpers is encouraging.

In 2023, the outlay for teaching-learning materials

1 It is tripled, increasing from approximately ₹140 crore to ₹420 crore per annum, assuming 14 lakh Anganwadi centres, catering to India’s poorest eight crore children under six. 

2  2024-25 budgeted expenditure on centrally sponsored schemes, which form a substantial part of Centre-State fiscal transfers, is ₹5.01 lakh crore.

3  Of this, the Anganwadi system is allocated about ₹21,200 crore, 

🍁which is more than rural roads (₹12,000 crore) 

🍁and irrigation (₹11,391 crore), 

🍁but less than the National Education Mission (₹37,500 crore)

 🌳and the National Health Mission (₹38,183 crore). 

4 The Department of Higher Education receives around ₹47,619 crore, 

The Anganwadi system

1  survey data have proven cognitive and motor skills improvement in Anganwadi-attending children over others, particularly reducing gender and income-related gaps.

2  According to a study in 2020, 

children exposed to the Anganwadi system from ages zero to three go on to complete 0.1-0.3 more grades of school. 

.

To determine what to spend on — 

infrastructure, capacity building, materials, and staffing — it is necessary to match the micro to the macro, the amounts in paise to the amounts in lakh and crore.

  individual benefits of strong ECCE: 

improving women’s physical and mental health, lifespan, public health expenditure, children’s educational attainment, their physical and mental health, and even social unrest.

Nobel Laureate Heckman’s Perry Preschool study found that children who received high quality ECCE grew into less violent adults — 

🍁stronger socio-emotional skills

🍁prevent later student suicides.

Need for research in India

 In order to formulate evidence-based policy, it is critical to understand the opportunity cost of inadequate allocation of material resources, money, and high-quality talent to the early childhood sector.

 International researchers, including at the University of Chicago and Yale University, have suggested a 13% annual return on investment for every dollar invested in early childhood, but that is in the American context.

 India needs similar longitudinal studies exploring the impact of early childhood care, including the Anganwadi system, which remains the world’s largest public provisioning system for ECCE.

. The path from developing to developed countries, like the Asian Tigers, is paved with human development investment, and the earlier it is the better. 

If we want India’s women to work and India’s children to thrive, investing in ECCE is the way forward. It is child’s play.

. एशियन टाइगर्स जैसे विकासशील से विकसित देशों तक का मार्ग मानव विकास निवेश से प्रशस्त होता है, और यह जितनी जल्दी हो उतना बेहतर है।

 अगर हम चाहते हैं कि भारत की महिलाएं काम करें और भारत के बच्चे आगे बढ़ें, तो ईसीसीई में निवेश करना ही आगे बढ़ने का रास्ता है। यह बच्चों का खेल है

Source the hindu