Early Childhood Care and Education for Children in the Age Group 3 to 6 Years

The Context

Despite the critical importance of ECCE, UNESCO data reveals that 1 out of 4 children aged 5 have never had any form of pre-primary education. This represents 35 million children worldwide who miss out on this foundational stage. Fragmented policies and insufficient funding contribute to disparities in access to quality ECCE.

The period from birth to 8 years old is crucial for brain development. Quality ECCE during this time sets the foundation for lifelong learning, health, and social-emotional well-being. ECCE reduces the gap between socially advantaged and disadvantaged children, promoting equity and social justice.

In the human rights perspective, expanding quality early learning is essential for realizing the right to education within a lifelong learning perspective. Unfortunately, only 22% of United Nations Member States have made pre-primary education compulsory, and just 45% provide at least one year of free pre-primary education. FLF strongly believes that ensuring equitable access to high-quality ECCE is not only a matter of education but also a fundamental human right. 

What FLF Offers

FLF offers comprehensive support to ECE programmes as follows:

• Ongoing professional development of teacher trainers, integrating child development principles and early learning theory with ECE practice; supporting all levels of a cascade model of training to reach large numbers of anganwadi workers and pre-primary teachers
• Provide hands-on coaching on different aspects of Early Childhood Education
• Focus on building ECCE knowledge and skills and strengthen the skills in monitoring children’s developmental indicators
• Focus on the Social-emotional well-being of self and working on activities with children in AWCs
• Provide technical support and infrastructure support to create Samruddh Anganwadi centres