NEW DELHI, SEPT 21, 2013: THE Union Cabinet yesterday approved the following proposals of the National Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Policy :

i) to implement and monitor of the Policy through National and State ECCE Councils;

ii) to develop National Early Childhood Care and Education Curriculum Framework and Quality Standards and circulate to the States/Union Territories (UTs) for preparation of Action Plans and implementation by States /UTs; and

iii) to delegate of power to the Ministry of Women and Child Development to make necessary changes

The Policy would help to 158.7 million Indian children under six years of age who need holistic and integrated early childhood care. In particular it would enable preschool education inputs for their optimum development to realize their potential.

The vision of the National ECCE Policy is to promote inclusive, equitable and contextualized opportunities for promoting optimal development and active learning capacity of all children below 6 years of age. The Policy focus is on early preschool learning for every child below six years.

The key areas of this policy are universal access with equity and inclusion, quality in ECCE, strengthening capacity, monitoring and supervision, advocacy, research and review.