PANEL DISCUSSION

Government should not regulate private preschools

With several state governments enacting registration and operational regulations for private preschools, the first panel discussion of the EW ECE Global Conference 2016 featuring Swati Popat Vats (SPV), founder-president of the Early Childhood Association of India; Jaya Sastri (JS), founder-director of SEED group of preschools, Chennai; Dr. Padmini, trustee of the Child Rights Trust, Bangalore; and Kavita Anand (KA), founder-director of Adhyayan Quality Education Services Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai and chaired by Dilip Thakore (DT), editor, EducationWorld, deliberated the subject ‘Government should not regulate private preschools’.

DT: For over six decades since independence, private preschools have been outside the purview of government control. But recently several state governments have proposed to regulate them. For instance, in Tamil Nadu the state government has promulgated a code of regulations for private preschools while in Delhi the AAP government has imposed tuition fee ceilings and other regulations. This despite the fact that the record of government regulation of primary-secondary education has been disastrous. Corrupt education inspectors have failed to raise standards, and routinely turn a blind eye to all types of violations. In particular, government schools which should be regulated by government are in a shambles. In higher education, none of our universities, which are government regulated, are ranked in the Top 200 World University Rankings league tables. Against this backdrop, should the heavy hand of government be imposed on the country’s flourishing private preschools or should they self-regulate?

SPV: For all these years, early childhood education was relegated to the back burner. Now suddenly the government wants to regulate it. I am curious about this sudden change of heart and suspect that it’s been discovered as a revenue source. The world is not changed by intention, it’s changed by example. So what example has the government set with the administration of 1.6 million government anganwadis run under the ICDS programme? All governments worldwide which have prescribed regulations for private ECCE centres, have first set an example with their own government-run preschools. Moreover these countries don’t regulate, they set guidelines and non-negotiables in ECCE, followed with a transparent process of supervision and licensing.

On the other hand, government regulation of private preschools in Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Karnataka, begins with levying registration fees. This is followed with regulation of tuition fees chargeable. Moreover, state governments are framing control and command regulations while completely ignoring the Central government’s National ECCE Policy of 2013 which has set ten non-negotiable quality benchmarks for ECCE in India.

DT: Jaya, what is the situation in Tamil Nadu?

JS: It’s a bit different. Private preschool managements were invited by the government to give their suggestions for framing regulations, and tuition fees are not controlled. I believe some type of government regulation in ECCE is necessary to enforce quality standards. For the past few years under the ECA (Early Childhood Association) banner, we have unsuccessfully attempted to get preschools in the state to adhere to ECA prescribed standards. But ECA had only five members in the state when the government announced its regulations. Fear of closure due to non-compliance has woken up everyone. The 0-5 age group is critical to the development of children and we cannot take risks. Therefore, government regulation is necessary to penalise or shut down preschools non-compliant with minimum standards and norms. Central and/or state governments should set certain non-negotiables in ECCE which the ECA or a network of early childhood associations can ensure are implemented across the country.

Padmini: I am also in favour of government regulation with some caveats, because a large number of ECCE centres in the country are damaging children. It’s better not to send children to completely unregulated and sub-standard preschools. Today anybody can start a preschool, even in the backyard of a house. The National ECCE Policy 2013 has proposed the establishment of national and state ECCE councils comprising members of academia, government representatives and other experts. These national/state councils should prescribe non-negotiable standards and regulate preschool education. I agree that state regulation of primary-secondary education has failed. But with the establishment of state ECCE councils, there’s an opportunity for all stakeholders in ECCE to ensure provision of not only high-quality early years education, but also health, nutrition and care to all of India’s children in the 0-5 age group.

KA: Self-regulation by the ECA is not an option because private preschools in India have failed to collaborate with each other. And non-engagement with government is creating an enemy of government. The government’s role is to balance the interests of all stakeholders in ECCE. So if the private sector and civil society engage constructively with government and become involved with policy formulation, we can ensure acceptable ECCE standards for all children. The unfortunate reality is that malpractices in ECCE are way more than good practice.

DT: Malpractice is also rampant in the government-run anganwadis which are being starved of funds. In the Union Budget 2015-16, the Central government slashed the outlay of the ICDS programme by almost half.

Padmini: Financial provision is not all that matters. For example, the NGO Mobile Crèches, which doesn’t use much money, is doing a great job of delivering ECCE to poor children. Admittedly, there’s much that’s wrong with the ICDS programme but private preschools are not necessarily better than anganwadis.

KA: I agree with Padmini. We are able to talk about the poor condition of anganwadis because data is available. But no such data is available on the quality of private preschools in the country. Moreover, ECA cannot write national policy and decide what’s good for the entire country. Its role is to help frame government policy.

SPV: I am not against government regulation. But the government needs to first clean its own house and demonstrate capability before regulating private ECCE centres. Central and state governments need to understand that regulation is not about imposing tuition fee ceilings, it’s about developing curriculum, teacher training, and ensuring minimal learning outcomes in ECCE.

JS: Unfortunately even though the National ECCE policy draft has set excellent guidelines, the majority of private preschool managements are ignoring them. The predominant intent of pre-primary education providers is how to evade compliance. Private providers of ECCE need to become actively involved not only in government policy formulation, but also with policy implementation to upgrade standards in ECCE.

SPV: The problem is that we have numerous early childhood associations but all of them are working in silos. My request to this audience comprising the country’s best early childhood educators is, let’s cooperate and unite. Government will listen to us only when we speak in one voice.