Chandigarh, January 20: Punjab Social Security, Women and Child Development Minister Mrs. Aruna Chaudhary today announced that the Punjab State Early Childhood Care and Education Policy to ensure the holistic and integrated development of children up to 6 years of age will be formulated soon.
Cabinet Minister seeks suggestions and recommendations from the members of the State ECCE Council up till February 1
To achieve this target, the cabinet minister sought suggestions and recommendations of the members of State Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Council up till February 1. She also announced that the social security department would endeavor to implement the policy in the state this year after approval of the cabinet.
Presiding over the State Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Council’s maiden meeting here at Punjab Bhawan, the Cabinet Minister said that all government and non-government playway schools of the state will be regulated to ensure safety and inclusive development of the children under the new policy.
“The syllabus of play schools and Anganwaris would be set in such a manner as to ensure consistent development of the child”, she said, adding that besides imparting training to the children on communication skills, the emphasis will be laid on teaching English apart from the mother tongue Punjabi.
The policy will set minimum educational qualification of professional teachers for play-way schools. Criteria and standards of play materials for children, places in schools, furniture, learning materials, literature, buildings and facilities in the premises and training for teachers will be laid down.
Social Security Minister asserts that after Cabinet approval, the policy will be implemented within this year
Mrs. Chaudhary said that the purpose of this policy is to bring all the government and non-government play way schools under the dedicated Act. Looking forward for suggestions and recommendations from the concerned departments, she added that people of the state would also be asked for suggestions on the department’s website www.sswcd.punjab.gov.in for framing the policy keeping in view the Punjab perspective. She categorically said that policy would be disabled friendly. There will also be focus on ensuring nutritious food for the intellectual and physical development of the children.
Minister said the policy would focus on key areas such as access with equity and inclusion in programs and interventions across service providers, improving quality, strengthening capacity, monitoring and supervision, research and documentation, advocacy and awareness generation, convergence and coordination between policies and programs, institutional and implementation arrangements, Partnerships and periodic review.
Mrs. Chaudhary asked the education department officials to play an active role as education department is already dealing with the policies related to the children. She asked the official of the Punjab Agricultural University to submit their study on Anganwaris to the Social Security Department so that it could also be taken into consideration.
