1. Status on ECCE in South Asia Divya Lata At the South Asia ECCE Conference Delhi, India 27-29 August, 2012

2. Information/data Sources ARNEC Country Profiles 2012 (UNESCO – UIS, UNICEF – SOWC) ARNEC Mapping Survey 2012 (in collaboration with CECED) Asia-Pacific End of Decade Notes for EFA, Goal 1 ECCE (2012)

3. Five Key Messages from ARNEC 1.The Early Years: Ensuring a Child’s Right from the Start 2.ECCD Begins at Home: Caring for Children in a Nurturing And Stimulating Environment 3.Quality Early Childhood Matters: Making a Critical Investment for a Country’s Future 4.Inclusive ECCD For All: Valuing And Respecting the Unique Needs of Every Child 5.Integrated ECCD: Working Towards a Seamless Early Childhood System

5. A National Policy and Strategic Plan (ARNEC Mapping Survey, 2012)

6. Emerging ‘Velcros’ Before three ▫Prenatal ▫Birth to three ▪Community based centers ▪ELDS Special Needs Ethnic minorities Time bound commitments Public-private-civil society partnerships DATA ▫birth registration

7. Birth registration and Births with skilled health professionals Birth registration (ARNEC Country Profile, 2012)

9. Do the national parenting programmes address early learning? (ARNEC Mapping Survey, 2012)

10. U5MR and Mother’s Education (AP EDN, 2012)

11. Transition programmes in Early Childhood Transition programmes from a) pre-primary programme to primary school grade 1, b) home to centre based programmes, and/or c) home to primary school grade 1) Emergent Literacy Competency based Connecting home - community based ECD - primary School (ARNEC Mapping Survey, 2012)

13. National Quality Standards & Monitoring Tools (ARNEC Mapping Survey, 2012)

14. Types of Standards (ARNEC Mapping Survey, 2012)

15. Professional Development- Trained teachers in pre-primary education (UIS, 2009)

16. Initial training & continuous regular support for professional development Pre-service - 1 to 3 years or master’s degree (pre-school). Shorter training for community based programmes. In-service – greatly vary by country/types of the EC programmes (5 days ~ 1 year) with refresher training (monthly – Bangladesh) On-site support – Efforts seen to institutionalise the support system. Teacher educator training - Varies from country to country. Regularly on annual basis (Bangladesh) ‘Career Ladder’ Approach (ARNEC Mapping Survey, 2012)

18. Children under Five Suffering from Stunting by Region Source: WHO data cited in UNICEF, 2009

19. GER in pre-primary education, (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2009)

20. Language use in EC programmes The use of language The use of mother tongue is the policy (Nepal). In other countries, mother tongue and/or home language encouraged, promoted, prioritised, implied, and emphasised. Gradual exposures to the national language (Bhutan) Teaching the second language Under discussions, Exposure to English, regional languages and English (India); From age 5 (G1) all are introduced with the national language (Nepal) (ARNEC Mapping Survey, 2012)

22. Ministerial Responsibilities and Coordination (ARNEC Mapping Survey, 2012)

23. Some Issues Local Linkages ▫Provincial Plans ▫Councils ▫‘Model Village’ Ownership and Variability Children’s Trust Fund Database

24. Source: ARNEC Country Profile – GMR 2008 Public educational expenditure in pre-primary as % of total educational expenditure (ARNEC Country profile, 2011)

25. ‘It is a rare public policy initiative that promotes fairness and social justice and at the same time promotes productivity in the economy and in society at large. Investing in disadvantaged young children is such a policy.’ James Heckman, Nobel Prize Winning Economist Working together for Early Childhood! An Investment with High Social and Economic Returns