“Investing in early childhood education is one of the most cost-efficient and powerful strategies to achieve fair and sustainable development” - Unicef India
While looking to make an impact in India, we came across an article by UNICEF on early childhood education, and the crucial role it plays in the f overall development of children; their future success and in social & economic gains for society.
Here are some facts that we learned :
The early years (0 to 8 years) are the most extraordinary period of growth and development in a child’s lifetime
Over 43 per cent of children under the age of five are at risk of not fulfilling their full developmental potential.
Although the majority of children, slightly over 70 per cent, attend pre-primary education, there are critical gaps in the quality of early childhood education (ECE) programmes.
Nearly 20 million mostly marginalized children are left out of preschool with the worst impact on their survival, growth and development.
Even though we knew that ECD was important, many such facts showed us the extent to which making a change in this domain could transform the wellbeing of millions of children and thereby transform society itself. Hence, we decided to embark on this journey to support ECD in rural India providing world-class early childhood education to children enrolled in rural Anganwadi centres
UNICEF article : https://www.unicef.org/india/what-we-do/ecd
