Abstract

CBPS in collaboration with Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSS) undertook a study, titled ‘Centering children in the development debate in India: Public action for early start, fair start, and fitting start’, to understand children’s development in relation to their social of development. The study, funded by the Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR), and conducted across two states – Karnataka and West Bengal, examined how institutions of early childcare, parental choices and the social economic background of the child play a major role and shape the overall development of the child.

This report presents the findings from the Karnataka component of the study. The report is organised in the following manner: section 2 describes the socio-economic profile of Karnataka, and lays the background and context for the research findings that follow. Section 3 presents the methodology; sections 4 and 5 present an analysis of the data on socio-economic profiles, classrooms, teachers and school readiness gathered from anganwadis and private schools respectively. Section 6 discusses the status of ECCE in Karnataka, drawing from the analysis of anganwadis and private schools undertaken in the previous chapters, and section 7 presents the conclusion and some recommendations stemming from the study, for the way forward.

Maithreyi, R., Mitro, M., Prabha, K., Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, & Azim Premji University. (2020). Centering children in the development debate in India: public action for early start, fair start, and fitting start.