India needs an action plan to create a stimulating environment for children aged 0-3 years: VK Paul

Speaking at the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) seminar organised by Rocket Learning, Dr Paul said, “With 85% of brain development achieved before the age of six, ensuring adequate stimulation in the early years is critical to develop IQ and physical abilities.

Dr. V. K. Paul, NITI Aayog said, “We need to come together to create a stimulating environment for a child’s first 1000 days. A child is born loaded with information and millions of neuronal connections. If one is not stimulated intellectually, those neuronal connections start to fade. There is a need for us to mainstream the potential of the 0-3 age group and make advancements in conceptualisation of approaches that are more contextual and localized. And it’s pivotal that both parents share equal responsibility in engaging, interacting and teaching foundational skills to their youngest children.”

He further noted, “For a 1 year old child, the food required is as much as half of what adults consume. There is a need to bring systematic education for parents and it is not only the duty of the mother to look after the child, father, grandparents and we need to enable the family to do that because these are formative years. On an average, 25 miliion children are born in India every year. If these children lack 3 intelligence quotients, it will lead to 75 million IQ points deficiency. We cannot allow this to happen when compared to children in China.”

Earlier during the day, women and child development secretary Indevar Pandey reiterated the government’s commitment to ensure high-quality education access for the 3 crore children, enrolled in the Anganwadi system, in the age group of 3-6. “One of my highest priorities is to ensure the Anganwadi system becomes and is known as a high-quality learning system, and each center a high-quality pre-school, through the “Poshan bhi, Padhai bhi initiatives. We are also encouraging states to increase capacity building further through hybrid digital and in-person modes over the entire year to ensure Shiksha becomes a hallmark of the Anganwadi system.”

He further added, “Jan Bhagidari will be critical in ensuring equal foundation early for all” and encouraged parents, caregivers and Anganwadi sewikas to ensure India’s youngest are able to achieve their potential.” As a major partner to the government in strengthening ECCE state capacities, Rocket Learning has been empowering low income parents, Anganwadi workers and primary teachers to intellectually stimulate their youngest in their foundational years of 3 – 8 years.