New Delhi, July 11: In an effort to make life less stressful for pre-school children, the Union human resource development ministry is likely to come up with an education policy for this age group shortly.
Currently there is no set education mechanism for children in the age group of four to six in the country and sources said that after the implementation of the Right To Education Act, the HRD ministry is now contemplating to focus on pre-school kids and an internal note has been circulated in the ministry to that effect.
“While the RTE provides for compulsory education for children between the age of 6 and 14 years, the new policy is likely to provide guidelines for Central and state governments, school boards and schools for dealing with children between 4 and 6 years of age,” said a source.
The new policy will be formulated keeping in mind the HRD minister, Mr Kapil Sibal’s diktat of making education less stressful for children. “The attempt will be to shield children from overburden and stress at a pre-school level,” he added.
Ministry sources stated that a pre-school policy has become necessary because currently the sector is unregulated. “There has been exponential growth in the pre-school sector with children as young as two years being sent to school. The government policy will attempt to shield these young minds from undue pressure,” said the source.
A discussion process with the stakeholders is likely to be launched soon and Mr Sibal has apparently asked ministry officials to build a consensus on the issue of making learning a less stressful experience for children.