Heavy academics in kindergarten (3 to 6 years) who to blame schools or parents?

The Early Childhood Association with Podar Institute of Education conducted this much-needed survey to find out whether the burden of heavy academics that is put on our young children (age 2 to 6 years) is due to schools or parents. The survey was conducted over a period of months beginning from June 2016. We interviewed 1920 school heads and principals from Mumbai (320), Delhi (320), Pune (320) and Bangalore (320) and Ahemdabad (320) and Chennai (320) and 1921 (average 320 parents in each city)  parents from the same cities.

We feel that this is what politicians, parents, schools and policy makers should be debating and deliberating on- how to improve the nurturing that we give our youngest citizens and how to keep them away from this toxic stress called syllabus and testing in kindergartens.

Early Childhood Association strongly advocates for stress free kindergarten years which is also mentioned in the Early Childhood Policy of the Women and Child Development Ministry, we are not in favour of stopping children from going to preschools because research has proven that play based environments help young children develop better social and emotional skills. We are not in favour of some state governments banning children below the age of 3 from going to crèche and playschools. It is a completely misunderstood directive, what is required is to remove heavy academics and ensure that young children get play based environments to grow. Also attached is the ECCE policy of the government of India which also states the same and gives clear indication on what kids should be doing at what age, it does not say ban preschools.

What has gone wrong with preschools in our country when we have a well drafted Early Childhood Policy and Curriculum by the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development? Our problem is that one ministry at the state level does not handle education. Early childhood care is handled by WCD but early childhood education is looked into by…well no one at the state level! This leaves no choice but for preschools to make their own curriculum or become ‘preparatory centers’ for standard one. State governments are now starting to ‘regulate’ preschools but without having a policy on quality or curriculum how can the state regulate, you regulate something that is defined and set, when nothing is defined or set then what are you regulating? And why is each state redefining the early childhood policy and curriculum? Children between the ages of birth to 6 years go through the same stages of development in every part of the country so then why the need to reinvent the wheel and waste precious public money when there is a great policy and curriculum drafted by the central Ministry? The solution to this can come only if Early Childhood Care and Education is not a concurrent subject at the state level. Then we will have a common standard of care and education across the length and breath of our country and our children, our future will get the care and nurturing they deserve.

At the recently held Seventieth Session of the United Nations General Assembly, a new set of global development goals were set that will establish the Development Agenda for United Nations Members States through 2030. To achieve the goals, access to quality early childhood development is recognized as essential for not just human development, but also sustainable development. 

“What we are learning about all the elements that affect a child’s brain – whether her body is well nourished, whether her mind is stimulated, whether she is protected from violence — must change the way we think about early childhood development … and how we act,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. “To give every child a fair chance in life, we need to invest early, invest equitably, and invest smartly – not only in education, but in health, in nutrition, and in protection.”

And that is what we believe we need to give all children in our country, in the first 6 years of life- health, nutrition, protection, and education.

The results of this survey were an eye opener as the results clearly showed that not only are parents unaware of what should be taught to children and when but sadly even the principals and heads of schools who are the experts trusted by the parents and trained in education (they do have educational degrees) were clueless about laws, policy and curriculum defined in ECE by the government. They are still shackled by age-old redundant practices and unwilling to change.

Toddlers as young as two years are made to hold pencils and go over dotted lines in worksheets. Three year olds are made to recite rhymes in front of a class and then graded and marked on their ‘performance’. Children are taught number 1 and then number 7, skipping the rest in between because standing line numbers should be taught together! Completely overlooking the fact that letters need not be taught in the A to Z format but numbers need to be taught in the order of counting or else children will not have a foundational base of what number comes before, after etc. This is the confused state of preschool curriculum.

So why is the above ‘cancer of education’ an integral part of our preschools? If you ask the preschools they blame it on parents, it’s the parents that want their child to read and write at an early age. To what gain? What do we achieve when we push children towards this senseless method of ‘education’ when they should be learning with play? Are we scoring on the PISA results? Not at all. Finland that has no formal learning for children up to the age of 7 is scoring better than all countries. So we have school heads flocking to visit schools in Helsinki, but is there any change in the way we teach our preschoolers? Absolutely not, it is the heads of schools that feel that preschoolers should be given more reading and writing!

Early Childhood Association recommends that education of schools heads and parents is a must both by the ministry of women and child development and by association like ours, we will be sharing this study with all our members and appealing to them to make the kindergarten years based on play based learning as given in our policy and to do away with senseless toxic academic stress being put on the children. The Early Childhood Association is also planning to have a one day Consultative Forum with Heads of schools and preschool brands to decide a common curriculum that should be followed by member schools.

This survey brought to light the following anomalies and ‘cancer’ in our preschool system-

1.     There is not much of a difference seen in the replies given by school heads and parents. This brings to fore the question that what is the use of a degree in education if it does not prepare and educate one on the right way to teach. 

2.     Both parents and school heads are not questioning the relevance of traditional practices for new age learners. So while many school heads are thinking about and embracing changes in primary and secondary education methods they are not open to changes in preprimary education.

3.     In both the minds of school heads and parents preschool education remains tied to performance. (55% parents and 52% school heads connect preprimary to preparing kids to learn for standard one, 78% school heads and 80% parents believe in testing preprimary children, 60% school heads and 54% parents are not in favor or removing heavy academics from preschool and replacing it with play)

4.     Reliefs like no homework, tests etc. given to primary children but none to preprimary.

5.     Neither the school heads nor parents are aware about the government’s ECCE policy and curriculum. (Only 21% school heads and 2% parents are aware about the policy)

6.     Both school heads and parents want preschools to focus only on preparing children for standard one- like a preparatory stage not a stage focused on brain development or nurturing developmental skills. (55% parents and 52% school heads)

7.     Decisions by both groups regarding preschool education and curriculum are based not on policy or research but on blind age old practices.

8.     Some school heads were aware that the kindergarten curriculum being followed by them was not in sync with either the ECE curriculum of the Ministry or in sync with the standard one syllabus outlined by NCERT but were still following the same, not ready to bring in changes. (77% are aware)

9.     Women and child development ministry is aggressively looking into malnutrition, health and safety of women and children, we strongly feel the study suggests that there should either be a separate department in the ministry to look after Early Childhood Education every state to have a common policy and curriculum for preschools, it should not be a concurrent subject.

10.  The Women and Child Development ministry should define a curriculum/syllabus for preschools and this should be implemented across all preschools in India and not left to schools to choose their own ‘toxic curriculum/syllabus’. (Check out point 20 of the survey)

Why heavy academics are being pushed down to kindergartens in India?- survey results-

1.     According to you at what age can children hold a pencil to write?

Ans- developmentally a child can pick up a pencil and hold even by age 2 but to make the child hold for writing should not be before age 4, our ECE policy also states the same.

According to you at what age can children hold a pencil to write?
	Principals and heads of preprimary	Parents
Age 2	65%	68%
Age 3	35%	32%
Age 4	None	None
Any age	None	None

2.     According to you which grip is required for children to hold a pencil correctly?

Ans- the three fingers required for holding a pencil in correct manner is called the tripod grip. When children do not use the tripod grip then writing style, speed and clarity suffers.

According to you which grip is required for children to hold a pencil correctly?
	Principals and heads of preprimary	Parents
Pincer grip	24%	22%
Palmer grip	7%	9%
Tripod grip	4%	3%
Holding grip	65%	72%

3.     According to you at what age should children are able to write letters and numbers?

Ans- not before the age of 5, ECCE policy also states the same.

According to you at what age should children be able to write letters and numbers?
	Principals and heads of preprimary	Parents
Age 2	0%	0%
Age 3	85%	88%
Age 4	15%	12%
Any age	0%	0%

4.     According to you at what age should children be able to copy from the blackboard and write in their books?

Ans- not before the age of 7. And why is this still required? When in every sphere we are moving away from stagnant practices then why not in education? Where is this skill going to help them in future?

According to you at what age should children be able to copy from the blackboard and write in their books?
	Principals and heads of preprimary	Parents
Age 2	0%	0%
Age 3	12%	10%
Age 4	56%	62%
Age 5	32%	28%

5.     According to you at what age should children be introduced to addition?

Ans- addition is a complex mathematical application and can be taught only after children know basic concepts like number value, number counting etc. which is developmentally in place only by age 6 onwards.

According to you at what age should children be introduced to addition?
	Principals and heads of preprimary	Parents
Age 2	0%	0%
Age 3	9%	7%
Age 4	76%	70%
Age 5	15%	23%
Any other age	0%	0%

6.     According to you at what age should children be introduced to subtraction?

Ans- if addition is at age 6 onwards then subtraction age 7 onwards

According to you at what age should children be introduced to subtraction?
	Principals and heads of preprimary	Parents
Age 2	0%	0%
Age 3	0%	0%
Age 4	34%	43%
Age 5	66%	57%
Any other age	0%	0%

7.     Should children be given tests in the kindergarten years? (3 to 6 years)

Ans- absolutely against early childhood parameters of research and development. Even our RTE act has banned the same.

Should children be given tests in the kindergarten years? (3 to 6 years)
	Principals and heads of preprimary	Parents
Yes	78%	80%
No	32%	20%

8.     If yes which of these tests would you think are suitable –

If yes which of these tests would you think are suitable
	Principals and heads of preprimary	Parents
Only Oral	12%	23%
Written	12%	10%
Both	76%	67%

9.     If no, why not.

If no, why not.
	Principals and heads of preprimary	Parents
Because it is not age appropriate and can cause stress	12%	13%
Because it is not necessary	2%	22%
Because I don’t think it is right, but I don’t know reason	86%	65%

10.  Why do you think it is important for children to read and write during the kindergarten years?

Why do you think it is important for children to read and write during the kindergarten years?
	Principals and heads of preprimary	Parents
Because it will help them get admission in a good primary school	12%	67%
Because it will help them cope better with studies in later school years	60%	13%
Because we were taught like that and we are fine.	28%	20%

11.  Would you agree if your child’s school/ government, if they  remove all reading writing and number workbooks and instead replaces it with play and project based curriculum?

Would you agree If your child’s school/ if the government removes all reading writing and number work books and instead replaces it with play and project based curriculum?
	Principals and heads of preprimary	Parents
Yes	12%	22%
No	60%	54%
Maybe	28%	24%

12.  If yes, please select your reason.

If yes, select your reason
	Principals and heads of preprimary	Parents
Times have changed so why not the curriculum	23%	19%
Because other countries like Finland and Belgium have done it then why cant we	34%	15%
Because I don’t think young kids should be stressed	43%	66%

13.  If no please state your reason.

If yes, select your reason
	Principals and heads of preprimary	Parents
Because If there is no academics then why am I sending my child to kindergarten?/why would parents send children to kindergarten	45%	48%
Because I want my child to be ready for standard one/because they have to be ready for standard one	55%	52%

14.  The replies that you gave for the above questions were based on your knowledge gained from which of the following

The replies that you gave for the above questions were based on you knowledge gained from which of the following
	Principals and heads of preprimary	Parents
My childhood experience	5%	8%
Research that I have read	12%	8%
I referred to national ECE curriculum	2%	0%
My years of experience as a head/parent	81%	84%

15.  Do you think early writing, reading and number work can cause stress in children?

Do you think early writing, reading and number work can cause stress in children?
	Principals and heads of preprimary	Parents
Yes	20%	23%
No	32%	38%
Not always	48%	39%

16.  If yes can this stress be harmful?

If yes Can this stress be harmful?
	Principals and heads of preprimary	Parents
Yes	45%	38%
No	32%	34%
I am not sure	23%	28%

17.  Are you aware of the Early Childhood Curriculum guidelines defined by the Women and child development ministry?

Are you aware of the Early Childhood Curriculum guidelines defined by the Women and child development ministry?
	Principals and heads of preprimary	Parents
Yes	21%	2%
No	76%	34%
Never heard of it	3%	64%

18.  Are you aware of the syllabus for standard one defined by NCERT?

Are you aware about the syllabus for standard one defined by NCERT?
	Principals and heads of preprimary	Parents
Yes	65%	20%
No	35%	80%

19.  Do you think according to you the present kindergarten curriculum in most schools is in sync with the standard one syllabus defined by NCERT?

Do you think according to you the present kindergarten curriculum in most schools is in sync with the standard one syllabus defined by NCERT?
	Principals and heads of preprimary	Parents
Yes	23%	0% (not aware)
No	77%	0% (not aware)

20.  How is your school’s kindergarten curriculum/syllabus defined?

How is your school’s kindergarten curriculum/syllabus defined?
	Principals and heads of preprimary	Parents
By a curriculum team of teachers	38%	Don’t know have never asked
Based on standard one curriculum, working backwards	42%	Don’t know have never asked
Based on workbooks from publishers	39%	Don’t know have never asked
Based on ECCE curriculum govt of India	19%	Don’t know have never asked