Early Childhood Care and Education: A Systematic Literature Review in Indian Context

Abstract

Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) is often regarded as A key element of universal education. This study delves into the landscape of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) in India through a systematic review of literature. After extensive attempts, several nations throughout the world are making strides toward securing ECCE. Despite this, the majority of them were unable to reach or compromise on this aim owing to insufficient resources, bad planning, and weak strategies for implementation, particularly in a large and populated nation such as India. The development of quality standards and curriculum frameworks, plans, acts, constitutional amendments, schemes, and flagship programmes like, District Primary Education Programme (DPEP), Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan are just a few of the initiatives the Indian government has launched to improve quality. It has resulted in both anticipated and unexpected concerns and obstacles due to India's compromise on the non- negotiable ECCE quality requirements. Consequently, the government's objective of guaranteeing quality in ECCE was not fully achieved. However, recent research indicates significant advancements in quality improvements. Of course, there are unsatisfactory results in certain areas and components, but there has also been progress in other areas, suggesting that maintaining quality is a realistic objective. This research aims to present an overview of the Government of India's operations, assess the situation on the ground, pinpoint the primary hurdles to ECCE quality development and offer workable solutions to overcome those hurdles.