Reference Text
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Such
findings
raise
the
exciting
potential
of
electronic
and
emerging
media
to
impact
children's
school
readiness.
As
per
the
Census
2011,
there
are
164.48
million
children
in
India
between
0
6
years
of
age.
Recognising
the
need
to
provide
quality
pre
primary
programmes,
a
number
of
constitutional
and
policy
provisions
were
made
by
the
government
such
as
the
86th
Constitutional
Amendment
which
introduced
Article
21A
on
the
Right
to
Free
and
Compulsory
Education
(RTE)
for
6
14
year
old
children,
guaranteeing
children
the
right
to
quality
elementary
education.
The
Ministry
of
Women
and
Child
Development
(MWCD)
is
the
nodal
department
for
ECCE,
responsible
for
the
Integrated
Child
Development
Services
(ICDS)
programme
on
the
ground,
covering
around
38
million
children
through
a
network
of
almost
1.4
million
anganwadi
centres.
However,
the
anganwadi
'workers'
as
they
are
called,
function
under
several
constraints
—
they
are
poorly
paid,
have
extremely
limited
resources
to
run
a
centre
and
are
not
skilled
or
equipped
to
be
preschool
educators.
In
addition,
there
are
still
substantial
numbers
of
children
not
enrolled
in
preschools,
or
those
who
show
poor
learning
skills
in
early
grades.
Unlike
the
K
12
system
covering
the
primary,
secondary
and
senior
school
education,
ECCE
is
not
regulated
or
standardised.
There
is
a
considerable
discrepancy
in
the
way
ECCE
providers
deal
with
admission
criteria,
curricula,
education
quality,
and
teachers'
qualifications.
Learning
abilities
of
young
children
are
assessed
unfairly
and
parents
see
ECCE
more
as
a
ticket
out
of
poverty,
presenting
new
opportunities
they
themselves
could
not
access
during
their
school
years.
An
active
public
private
partnership
must
be
initiated
to
reformulate
policies
for
providing
universal
access
to
high
quality,
educational
content
for
young
learners.
The
power
of
emerging
media
and
advanced
communication
can
be
used
effectively
to
help
children,
especially
those
from
disadvantaged
backgrounds,
reach
their
highest
potential.
Early
childhood
development
is
an
imperative
to
meet
the
Sustainable
Development
Goals
of
eradicating
poverty,
reducing
child
mortality,
and
achieving
universal
primary
education,
combating
diseases.
We
as
a
nation
must
invest
in
improving
the
quality
of
our
children's
early
education,
so
that
kids
can
grow
up
smarter,
stronger
and
kinder.
Such
findings
raise
the
exciting
potential
of
electronic
and
emerging
media
to
impact
children's
school
readiness.
As
per
the
Census
2011,
there
are
164.48
million
children
in
India
between
0
6
years
of
age.
Recognising
the
need
to
provide
quality
pre
primary
programmes,
a
number
of
constitutional
and
policy
provisions
were
made
by
the
government
such
as
the
86th
Constitutional
Amendment
which
introduced
Article
21A
on
the
Right
to
Free
and
Compulsory
Education
(RTE)
for
6
14
year
old
children,
guaranteeing
children
the
right
to
quality
elementary
education.
The
Ministry
of
Women
and
Child
Development
(MWCD)
is