In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), three-quarters of three- or four-year-olds (about 182 million children) lack access to adequate care, thus putting healthy development at risk, according to a new series of articles published in the journal ‘The Lancet’.

Children’s development is also affected by air pollution, climate change and exposure to chemicals, which have emerged as environmental risk factors, said an international team, including researchers from the Chronic Disease Control Center (CCDC) in New Delhi.

The series builds on the foundations of the first 1,000 days of life (referring to the period from the beginning of pregnancy to the age of two) and underlines what an important window of opportunity the ‘next 1,000 days’ (between the ages of 2-5) are. Researchers say it’s to provide nurturing care for children.

During this phase, called the “next 1,000 days”, children generally do not have direct regular contact with health or education services, with less than one in three three- or four-year-old children in low- and middle-income countries participating in early childhood care and education programmes, the researchers said.

The authors called for greater investment in this stage of child development, particularly focusing on improving access to high-quality childhood care and education programmes; These programs need to include adequately paid and trained teachers and reasonable teacher-student ratios.

These programs should also include child-centered play, evidence-based curriculum, and warm, stimulating, and responsive classroom interactions, they said.

Author Aditi Roy, senior research scientist, CCDC, said: “India’s main concern is to ensure equitable access to quality ECCE. There is a need for a holistic approach with activity-based curriculum, instead of traditional academic-focused rote learning, which is against the National Education Policy recommendations.”

He also said that data on children participating in ECCE programs in India is incomplete and there are no reliable estimates of the current reality.

A 2022 report prepared by a government task force on ECCE said that 285.82 lakh children aged 3-6 years were covered under early childhood education under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) in 2022, with almost equal numbers of boys and girls.

The 2018 Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) survey found that more than 70 percent of 3-year-olds, 85 percent of 4-year-olds, 92 percent of 5-year-olds and 96 percent of 6-year-olds were educated. Year-old children were attending kindergarten or school. The survey, facilitated by non-profit ‘Pratham’, was conducted in nearly 600 rural districts.

“However, since there is no data on private institutions, it is difficult to make an estimate. But clearly, there is a steady increase in the number of private nurseries in India, also called ‘affordable primary schools’, which are of questionable quality and lack any regulation,” Roy cautioned.

Although the National Household Survey-5 in recent years has collected data for five-year-old children attending pre-primary education in the 2019-20 academic year, Roy said the data may not reflect the current reality as this is a Covid year. .

“The ongoing NFHS 6 study will (likely) give us more up-to-date data in the coming months,” he said.