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Competition Triggers Stress, Unrealistic Expectations

By Prachi Desai

However, the task of getting admission into a new school for primary education is a gruelling one and very difficult. The competition among schools and limited seats makes the admissions process extremely stressful for the parents who have high expectations from their children.

The competition among schools and limited seats makes the admissions process extremely
stressful for the parents who have high expectations from their children
Pre-primary schools were originally meant for holistic development of children by involving and engaging them in creative works, art and craft, dance and music and sporting activities. Any kind of learning was done through interesting activities involving toys, stories, role play, rhymes, group activities, etc. Lately, formal education has been introduced in pre-schools where teachers, often untrained, ‘teach’ the basics of formal education to young children. Their lack of training means children who need special attention or care are devoid of the same and lag.

There are private and public pre-primary schools in India. The former are mainly attended by children belonging to higher socio-economic groups while the latter belong to lower income groups. Education is a fundamental right but education of children below six years i.e. before primary school is not.

Consequentially, pre-primary education is largely unregulated and suffers with several crippling issues – absence of registration mechanism of pre-schools, unregulated fee structure, lack of trained and certified teachers, poor quality of education, dearth of safety, absence of standardised curriculum and, concurrently,lack accountability by law.

The policy framework for pre-primary schools in India is not a concrete one. The National Policy on Education 1986 had placed immense importance on pre-school education but it is not fully managed by the central or state educational departments. The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) is responsible for elementary education but the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) looks at pre-primary education. A WCD report titled ‘National Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Curriculum Framework’ states:

‘The programme at the early childhood stage helps to ensure opportunities for holistic learning and growth. The ECCE programme needs to be determined by children’s developmental and contextual needs, providing for more need based inputs and an enabling environment. Given this need for an individualised approach, it was believed that a common‘curriculum’ would not be appropriate for all’.

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