Centre launches national curriculum for early childhood care and education

New Delhi [India], March 11 : The Ministry of Women and Child Development has launched 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.
As 85 per cent 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, the ministry said on Monday.
At present, the Ministry 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, the ministry said on Monday.
"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 centers around the country, catering to more than 8 crore children under the age of six," it added.
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, socio-emotional, cultural/aesthetic, as well as positive habits, as per the ministry.
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.," the ministry said.
According to the ministry, for children from birth to three years old, 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," it added.
The framework is designed to provide the anganwadi workers 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," it added.