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Education Reports EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Examining Contexts, Practices and Costs of Early Childhood Care and Education in India: Report 1

17 Dec 2019


Author: Ketaki Prabha, R Maithreyi, Pallawi Sinha, Arun Viknesh, Arathi Sriprakash

Funding Partner: British Academy (BA)

Abstract

This report details findings from an ethnographic study of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) in two states – Bihar and Tamil Nadu. Focusing on the relationship between families and ECCE institutions, the study set out to examine how institutionalised forms of ECCE provision could be responsive to local political economies and social contexts of early childhood. The study involved six months of ethnographic research in a rural block within each state – Korha in Bihar and Gudalur in Tamil Nadu – focusing particularly on the experiences of marginalised Dalit and Adivasi communities and the practices within state and non-state ECCE institutions.

The report focuses on the social relations and norms that governed everyday life in the field sites, which were central to understanding communities’ participation and negotiations of ECCE provisions. The two sites of the study had distinct political economies and social contexts – demonstrating the need for nuanced understanding of the take-up and effects of ECCE. Discussions in this report examine both the narrow conceptualisation of state targets for children’s development contrasted with communities’ own broader conceptions of development, along with how the marketisation of ECCE pressurises marginalised families in particular to adopt ECCE provisions that are in contrast with their own ideas of children’s development. It further examines how ECCE provisions by the state and the market effects opportunities and outcomes for marginalised communities, thus further exacerbating social inequalities. The report also offers an in depth analysis of the curricula in the various state and non-state ECCE provisions available within these local contexts. The study also involved a costings-analysis, building on the ethnographic findings presented here, which is published in a separate report.

Prabha, K., Maithreyi, R., Sinha, P., Viknesh, A., & Sriprakash, A. (December, 2019). Examining contexts, practices and costs of early childhood care and education in India: report 1. Bengaluru: Centre for Budget and Policy Studies.

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