Abstract

While it is important to have an estimate for the cost of services by any provider, whether public or a private entity, governments engaged in the business of providing public services rarely undertake detailed costing exercises and opportunity costs of available government land or infrastructure is often ignored. Thus the cost of high quality public provisioning is often underestimated. Also, planning for public services in India is often based on homogeneous standards and norms, and does not consider the local context, culture, practices and requirements.

Drawing on an ethnographic study undertaken in the states of Bihar and Tamil Nadu as well as a cost analysis of public and non-public early childhood care and education (ECCE) centres in these states, this report develops a costing framework that can be used by policy makers for planning and provision of public services. While India has one of the largest state based Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programmes in the world, its policy and institutional practices have been largely informed by external norms. The costing patterns remain highly centralised and homogenous despite the size and diversity of contexts and status. There is a growing recognition of the need to ensure that early childhood care and education are responsive to community practices and contexts in which they are situated in. We present a conceptual framework which could guide and facilitate the adoption of responsive practices while planning resource allocations for large scale interventions and present an indicative estimate of the financial resources required for provisioning of high quality ECCE services in India.

Jha, J., Purohit, A., & Pandey, S. (December, 2019). Examining contexts, practices and costs of early childhood care and education in India: report 2. Bengaluru: Centre for Budget and Policy Studies.