Abstract
India has always strived to educate a universal person who understands peace, beauty, tradition, prosperity, and perfection. Ancient Indian treatises reflect the exploratory learning process, where teachers and students work together to seek the truth by reasoning and asking questions. At the same time, for the inhabitants of this state, the period of childhood is unique and essential. Therefore there is a need for children’s education to be of high quality and comfortable. At present, a problematic and contradictory situation has occurred in the education system of India. The state is engaged in the eradication of the caste distribution system and the fight against illiteracy. However, the economic instability in the country negatively affects the growth in the number of uneducated people. A considerable percentage of the population in India lives below the poverty line and cannot afford expensive training. It is required, guided by the accumulated experience, to systematize the process of mastering primary children’s education and hire expert teachers who can teach children all the necessary skills for normal socialization.
Introduction
Preschool public education is the first stage in people’s life at which training is carried out with them. A person’s personality is formed precisely in the first years of his life, and therefore their importance should not be underestimated (Chandra et al., 2017). Preschool age is a sensitive period characterized by rapid changes in the child’s cognitive abilities, physical, social and moral, intellectual, and communicative development. In India, youth is a stage of a person’s life, which should be comfortable and protected from adverse environmental factors. The positive experience laid down in early childhood creates a solid foundation for future growth by changes in the personality of a preschooler. It is essential to ensure control over the acquisition of the necessary knowledge by students and prevent a drop in literacy levels or a lack of comfortable conditions for classes.
Difficulties of Educational System in India
India’s education system consists of a small elite segment that creates high-quality human capital and inadequate and low-quality mass education, which annually brings poorly trained graduates to the labor market. As a result, the Indian economy consists of small islands of prosperity in Mumbai and Bangalore and states of poverty like Uttar Pradesh. In India, it is tough to get a good education. Many people live very poorly and cannot afford the additional costs. The mentality of the inhabitants and the difficult economic situation in the country have their influence. A relatively recent educational reform has improved the chances of getting an education (Chandra et al., 2017), but more than half of the children still lack the necessary funds after leaving school. Now it is unrealistic to get quality knowledge in free state educational institutions. That is why as soon as parents have money to pay for private institutions, they immediately send their children for a chance to get out of poverty and get a decent job. Public education should provide for the needs of both students, children, and adolescents. Therefore, it is necessary to overcome the existing economic and, as a consequence, educational inequality among the population.
Most people believe that India is currently among the developing countries, which means that not enough attention is paid to education. In fact, this statement is fundamentally wrong; India has already got out of that unpleasant economic situation, and now the country’s educational institutions provide the highest level of education (Chandra, 2016). Many people know that this country has a rich historical heritage. Previously, India occupied a leading position in the educational services market. Then the country experienced a difficult period that ended several decades ago. Since a lot of attention is paid to education in India, the state needs highly qualified specialists more than ever.
Early Childhood Education System in India
Traditionally in India, young children have always been under the supervision of relatives. Therefore, the kindergarten system in this country never existed. The need of creating such institutions had become acute in recent decades when both parents often started working in the family. Thus, educational groups have been formed, operating as kindergarten classes. As a rule, preschool education begins at the age of three, learning happens in a playful way. It is noteworthy that already at this age, children begin to master the English language. The preparation process for school lasts one to two years.
Today’s preschool education system in India is designed so that parents can rest assured of their children who have been trained in such groups. Children automatically become first graders when they reach a certain age. Preschool education in India is represented only by these groups, which are not attended by all children. However, sometimes parents are still worried about where to send a preschool child for further education. For some children, before being transferred to the school, a severe test awaits. Kids need to confirm their knowledge of the alphabet, the ability to write letters and simple words, count up to 100, et cetera. In most cases, if a child is in one of these groups, he goes to the school at which it was created. Then parents do not need to waste their time choosing an educational institution. However, a problem arises when parents want to provide better school conditions for their children – where education is better, it is not free (not public) (Ghosh & Dey, 2020). Private educational institutions provide improved conditions compared to state ones.
Problems of Early Childhood Education
There are many problems in the preschool education system, including insufficient funding, obsolete equipment, lack of systematization of the very process of mastering the preschool program. Much more severe involvement of the state in the learning process is required than is happening at the present stage of the reform of the education system (Ghosh, 2019). It is impossible not to highlight the significance of the following problem: there are few good teachers in younger groups. If the value of purposeful sensory perception of what is happening is underestimated, then children’s ideas about the subject are distorted; they become blurry, situational. The success of mental perception largely depends on how visual, auditory, and tactile perception is formed. If the teaching is done well, then children can interact with various objects and tools efficiently, and their connection with the word is established.
What is an Expert Teacher?
Each child’s success depends on the schooling methodology, teacher, and the format of the lessons themselves. For preschoolers, learning in a play format is best when children are involved in the classroom and learn with interest. There are many specific details to keep in mind when working with young kids. Therefore, it is imperative that the training of education experts be started, with the state playing the main role in this process. A child will never be interested in a subject if there is a conservative teacher in front of him, who limits himself only to the boring presentation of the material in the classroom and does not consider it necessary to adapt to the passage of time and the interests of children. A professional teacher is not afraid of difficulties and knows how to lead every kid to a successful result.
Possible Ways to Improve Early Childhood Education
The system of preschool education is characterized by dynamism and adaptation to the constantly changing conditions of the world. However, children in this type of institution must be provided with a variety of activities. Educational programs should be tailored to suit children’s needs. Moreover, it is essential to note that teachers’ creative training effectively determines the quality of teaching children in preschool educational institutions. The needs of the individual and the demands of society are guidelines for the creation and implementation of such programs.
A kindergarten is a space in which a child has the opportunity to socialize surrounded by peers. There, children can play, communicate, and their first conflicts take place there. In kindergarten, the child learns that there is a difference between him and others; he begins to realize that there are both adequate situations of reaction to this or that influence and inadequate ones, for which punishment may follow. In such educational institutions, children are deprived of their inherent egocentrism at an early age and become more kind to people around them. A child-centered teaching method should be adhered to; accordingly, this assumes that the educator is responsive to the child’s needs and does everything possible to satisfy them (Adaikalam et al., 2018). This method was implemented in Finland, a country with one of the highest rates of education quality around the world.
Another principle, the observance of which must be guaranteed, is the doctrine of the accessibility of educational institutions. The term accessibility is considered both from the point of view of the location of educational institutions and in terms of providing high-quality knowledge to a wide range of people. The territorial availability of preschool education should be taken into account by local authorities, authorized by law to organize publicly available free preschool education. Thus, the state is faced with creating a network of preschool education institutions, and the sooner this happens, the better.
What Skills do Children Gain during Early Education?
Mastering the native language and developing speech are among the most significant acquisitions in preschool childhood. They are considered in modern preschool education as a common basis for the upbringing and education of children. The development of speech is closely connected with consciousness, knowledge of the surrounding world, and the person’s growth. Understanding mother tongue helps to master overall knowledge, studying all academic disciplines in school and further education. From one and a half years of kids’ life, speech is the primary means for their communication with the world around them, affecting all aspects of the personality, and most importantly, their emotional and intellectual spheres.
The first friendships in life are usually struck in kindergartens or groups, where the child can be left for several hours to be walked with and looked after. For a two-year-old, the most important way to relate to other children is through play. Toddlers learn to play and be friends at the same time by watching and imitating each other. At three or four years of age, empathy allows a child to put himself in the shoes of another. When the “other” is sad or crying, the baby can show that he sympathizes with and pities him; sometimes, he can feel guilty for what he has done. The ability to build friendships before the age of three is manifested in children who have already established friendly relations with adults, primarily with their parents. Normal self-esteem and family relationships provide the child with confidence that he will make first friends and socialize well even before entering kindergarten.
The attention of many psychologists from different countries is riveted to the difficulties of children’s education. This is not accidental because moral and emotional development occurs most intensively in the first years of a child’s life. A child’s future largely depends on the conditions in which his childhood proceeds (Kaul et al., 2017). For learners, the school and preschool organizations should become a second home where they feel as comfortable as possible. In such spaces, nothing should interfere with the formation of the most influential children’s skills and their speedy socialization.
Conclusion
Today India is going through a period of educational transformation. During this time, the state seeks to improve the level of teaching at all its levels. There is a shortage of highly qualified employees who can effectively develop the abilities of children. A more attentive attitude to the problem of ensuring an adequate level of education for kids should become the central task of the state bodies hired in this area. Parents should do their best to ensure that their children have access to the educational institutions that best meet their children’s needs.
References
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Chandra, R. (2016). India! On the way to global movement on quality early childhood care and education. Integrated Journal of Social Sciences, 3(1), 13-18.
Chandra, R., Renu, G., & Adarsh, S. (2017). Quality early childhood care and education in India: Initiatives, practice, challenges and enablers. Asia-Pacific Journal of Research in Early Childhood Education, 11(1), 41-67. Web.
Ghosh, S. (2019). Inequalities in demand and access to early childhood education in India. International Journal of Early Childhood, 51(2), 145-161. Web.
Ghosh, S., & Dey, S. (2020). Public or private? Determinants of parents’ preschool choice in India. International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy, 14(3), 1-16. Web.
Kaul, V., Bhattacharjea, S., Chaudhary, A. B., Ramanujan, P., Banerji, M., & Nanda, M. (2017). The India early childhood education impact study. UNICEF. Web.