You might not remember everything in detail about your childhood, but there are high chances that your earliest experience somewhere or the other has added to shape what you are today. It could be the lullabies, the bedtime stories, maybe the toys you played with or people you interacted with. There have been small things that laid the groundwork of the way you think, see, understand, and live.
That is what ECCE is all about.
It is the Early Childhood Care and Education who looks after the quality of care, learning, and support every child receives in their early years. It includes the just born infants and goes up to kids living their seventh or eighth year. Though beyond this age also children need attention but ECCE is completely focused on giving the young kids a happy, safe, and playful start to life.
And that beginning is more important than we might realize.
ECCE brings everything that a child needs to develop during the formative years together, physically, emotionally, socially, and mentally. It's not learning ABCs or digits. It's care, love, health, learning through play, and developing basic life skills.
It can be accomplished at home, playschools, anganwadis, or school. Whether a parent is reading a nursery rhyme, a teacher is reading a book, or a child is playing with blocks, it's somewhere ECCE blending their resources in the best possible way.
The truth is, early childhood counts. A baby's brain grows more rapidly than ever in their lifetime. More than 85% of brain development happens before age 6! So what children learn in the early years sets the stage for everything else. Let's examine why ECCE counts so much:
Between birth and 6 years old, children soak up everything around them, words, sounds, feelings, even body language. ECCE provides children with the type of experience they need at this age to allow their brain to make good connections.
Most parents think that studies is crucial and play can wait. But what they do not understand is play is not just enjoyment or fun, it is an educational activity as kids interpret the world through it.
ECCE helps kids learn to recognize their feelings, to tell others, to make friends, and to handle enormous feelings. It's where they start learning patience, kindness, and to tell someone, "I need help."
Kids who've had a good ECCE program transition a lot more easily once they begin formal schooling. They're already accustomed to being around other children, listening to routines, and acquiring new information.
Research indicates that children who are exposed to ECCE fare better in school, have better health, and even earn higher incomes as adults. It's one of the safest bets we can place on a child's future.
India's government rolled out the New Education Policy (NEP) last year. And among the greatest changes? It finally recognized the benefits of ECCE.
The NEP introduced a new school structure: 5+3+3+4. The Foundational Stage for the first five years includes three years of pre-school (ages 3–6) and Classes 1 and 2.
The focus during this stage is as follows:
Learning through activities and play
Developing curiosity and love for learning
Building firm foundations in thinking and language
Steering clear of pressure or rote learning
The word got through strongly: Early childhood is not preparation for school. It is school.
Not all early learning centers or preschools practice genuine ECCE values. So what can you expect?
Children should be singing, dancing, talking, exploring, not sitting quietly copying off the board. Play is how children learn thinking skills, creativity, and language.
An ECCE quality teacher is not merely a person who teaches numbers and letters. They know how children think and feel. They lead gently, inquire, and provide children with the sense of safety.
Well-lit classrooms, picture books, jigsaw puzzles, pretend play settings, and free play spaces, all provide smiling faces to children and stimulate their curiosity.
ECCE isn't all about what the child can learn. It's also about feeding the child well, good hygiene habits, and emotional care. A hungry or frightened child won't learn very well.
The good news: you don't need to create a fancy home setup for ECCE at home. You do need time, love, and a bit of imagination.
Here are some simple things parents can do:
Talk and listen: Let your child talk. Talk about your day and what they did.
Read together: 10 minutes a day of storybook can work magic.
Play games: Simple activities indoors like sorting, stacking, or roleplay help develop key skills.
Praise questions: Be patient when they ask "why" 100 times a day. That is how they learn.
Hug and compliment: Emotional security gives children the confidence to try things out.
Remember, you're the teacher to your child. And those tiny everyday moments? More than you know.
So now we know that ECCE is mighty. But how will schools be able to use it in actual classrooms?
That is where Mittsure comes into play.
Mittsure is assisting schools in making the ECCE vision of the NEP a reality with LumaLearn. LumaLearn is an end-to-end early learning solution that is tailored to the Foundational Stage. It integrates play-based learning, interactive lessons, stories, rhymes, and life skills, expertly programmed to augment a child's natural growth.
For schools looking to escape rote memorization, LumaLearn provides the curriculum and confidence to build joyful classrooms.
A child's childhood is wet clay, impressionable, pliable, and full of potential. What we mold in that clay now makes it what it will be later.
ECCE is not a "something extra." It is the most critical learning period. When we make children feel loved, cared for, playful, and purposeful early in life, we give them an edge in all things in life.
