This volume makes a comprehensive assessment of the status and quality of early educational experiences at preschool and early primary grades in India. It raises a serious concern that despite high enrolment in preschools, children’s school readiness levels remain low at ages five and six, and raises a vital question---are Indian children getting a sound foundation for school and for later life? It addresses three important issues from the Indian perspective: children's school readiness at age five; families' readiness for school; and, most importantly, the readiness of schools for children. India is one of many countries across the global South facing an early learning crisis. High quality early childhood education may be key to improving these outcomes for children, yet little is known about early childhood education programs in India and their impact on children’s school readiness. This volume is based on a longitudinal, mixed methods research study which is perhaps the first of its kind in India. The study covers public provisions along with steadily expanding private pre-schools and schools in rural India and provides interesting narratives and insights into the multiple pathways children are adopting in these critical early years, particularly in the context of the expanding role of the private sector. Written in a lucid and narrative style, this volume is of interest to a diverse readership of researchers, educationists and early childhood education policy makers and practitioners in terms of both its design and findings.

Early childhood education the world over is heavily influenced by Western discourses which emphasize play-based, child centered education. Dr Viruru offers an alternative understanding of preschool education from the postcolonial perspective which does not aim at discovering universal laws that will be valid regardless of contexts. She emphasizes the need for meaningful and respectful interactions with children as complete human beings and stresses that early childhood education should be constructed on the basis of the lived experiences of individual children rather than on collective anonymity. Perhaps the first full-length study to explore current issues in early childhood education through the lens of postcolonial theory, this book will be of considerable value to those involved in education, child development, developmental psychology, social anthropology and sociology.

Shades of Globalization casts an ethnographic eye on the interplay between local and global influences on the organization and activities within three early childhood settings, each of which is located in a context of rapid social change. Stemming from a four-year study of early childhood thought and practice, each of the eight chapters touches on a different aspect of the three case study preschools, one each in India, South Africa, and an aboriginal community in Canada.

La Banque mondiale a rédigé ce guide du développement de la petite enfance (DPE) pour répondre à la demande croissante de conseil et d’appui des responsables de programmes en matière de dialogue politique sur le thème du DPE, et pour aider les clients à prendre et à mettre en oeuvre des décisions pertinentes sur la meilleure manière d’investir dans le DPE dans le cadre de leur économie et de leurs priorités nationales. Ce guide comble un manque dans la littérature actuelle sur le sujet (1) en distillant l’information existante sous la forme de notes concises et faciles à utiliser ;(2) en fournissant une information pratique sur les dernières questions pertinentes relatives au DPE, telles que la mesure des résultats du développement des enfants grâce à l’identification et l’adaptation d’instruments efficaces, aux transferts monétaires conditionnels destinés aux familles de jeunes enfants, et autres ; et (3) en évaluant la qualité des derniers faits rapportés pour chaque sujet et en identifiant les lacunes en matière de connaissances pour lesquelles des expérimentations et évaluations complémentaires sont nécessaires.