ECCE Act: Maharashtra drafts new law to control fee, admission of private preschools, nurseries, kindergartens

The Maharashtra government is looking to control the fees, admission process, teaching standards and other aspects of private playgroups, nurseries and kindergartens.

In a bid to formally recognise and regulate pre-primary education in the state, the government has prepared the first draft of a new law to govern private pre-schools. The proposed Maharashtra Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Act is intended to fulfill the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020’s mandate of ensuring holistic development of children under six years of age.

The draft law, which the government has shared with the education officials for their feedback, requires all existing pre-primary education schools to register with the government within six months of the enactment of the law, while those seeking to be established after the law comes into force will need prior permission and registration. However, the Balwadis and Anganwadis owned or controlled by the government bodies, as well as the centres established under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme have been excluded from this requirement.

ECCE Act: Preschool, kindergarten regulation

The proposed legislation defines the pre-primary schools as those imparting education in any medium up to the pre-primary level for children below six, irrespective of whether they are attached to a primary school or not. Nurseries, playgroups, ECCE centres and senior and junior kindergartens (KG) have all been listed among the entities covered by the law, while creches have been kept outside its purview.

Registered trusts, societies, cooperative firms, registered partnership firms and registered individuals will be eligible to apply for registration of a pre-primary school.

Maharashtra has tried, with limited success, to bring private pre-schools within the regulatory framework for the past several years. While the state had a law in place since 1996 – the Maharashtra Preschool Centres (Regulation of Admission) Act – requiring registration and regularisation of all ECCE centres, it was repealed in 2000.

In 2012, a 21-member study group led by Fauzia Khan, the then minister of state for school education, had submitted a draft policy to bring pre-primary schools under the ambit of the school education department. Among other measures, the committee had proposed a regulated fee structure, based on the facilities provided by the schools, as well as uniform rules and curriculum. However, the recommendations remained on paper.

In 2019, the state released an ECCE policy, which also provided for the registration of private pre-school education centres. Even this policy never came to fruition.

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Post-NEP, in 2023, it again formed a study group to look into various aspects of providing pre-school education to children in line with the national policy. Besides recognising the various pre-primary education centres, the government also wanted to link Anganawadis with the school system and provide a standard curriculum for foundational years.

Last year, the government prepared a curriculum for the foundational years, covering three years of pre-schooling as well as the first and second grades. Earlier this year, it launched a unified online portal for pre-primary centres to register. However, in the absence of a law, the registration remains voluntary.

Maharashtra ECCE draft: Fee control, penalty

The current ECCE draft provides for penalising the pre-schools running without registration with a fine of up to Rs 50,000, which can be increased to Rs 5,000 for each day it continues without a valid certificate. It also seeks to empower the state to cancel the registration of these centres, if they fail to comply with the norms prescribed in the act and the subsequent rules.

The document also stipulates that the pre-primary schools cannot charge a fee higher than the one prescribed by the government or "otherwise except as provided on that behalf". It also prohibits them from collecting any capitation (additional) fees.

The institutes are proposed to follow the admission criteria and formula spelled out in the rules, which would follow the act. They will also be barred from denying admission on the grounds of caste, creed, religion, sex, disability and region, or subjecting children and their parents to any screening process.

Beyond NCTE: Preschool teachers’ qualification

Among other requirements, the draft suggests that the teachers appointed at pre-schools should at least possess a graduate degree, in addition to the qualification prescribed by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) or by the state government. It also recommends a preference for recruiting those with specialised education, such as Nursery Teacher's Training (NTT) or ECCE diploma. The existing teachers will have to acquire the necessary qualification within five years of the commencement of the act, or they may lose their jobs, says the draft.

These rules, however, won't apply to the Anganwadi workers, as the document says that the government will prescribe the minimum educational qualification for them, as well as the period to acquire it.

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NCERT, SCERT curriculum

If the proposed law is passed in its current form, the pre-schools will be required to follow the curriculum and pedagogical guidelines provided by the State Council for Education Research and Training (SCERT), the National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) and the National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD).

They will also be required to meet certain infrastructure norms, including indoor and outdoor spaces, child-friendly toilets, safe buildings with easy access, immediate health services and toys and learning materials.

It also seeks the formation of Parents Teachers Associations (PTA), comprising 25% teachers and 75% parents – half of whom would be women. A six-member committee appointed by the PTA is prescribed to have the right to inspect the pre-school premises and records, following which it can recommend the continuation or cancellation of the institution's recognition.

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A representative of the local government body has been tasked to carry out an annual inspection of the centre. The government is required to maintain the records of the pre-primary schools and an online information system for the children enrolled in them.

Maharashtra preschools: Anganwadis, NEP

While the new law would enable the inclusion of private pre-primary education centres into the formal schooling system, the state is struggling with expanding and strengthening its pre-schools – a key component of NEP's objective of universalising early years education.

The government plans to link around 1.1 lakh Anganwadis across rural Maharashtra to the state-supported schools and train their workers in the new curriculum, but it's constrained by the fact that only around 43,000 of these centres are located within the school premises. The officials are yet to devise a plan to connect the rest with the schooling system.

The state also has no plan yet to recruit additional teachers for pre-primary classes. Last year, the then education minister Deepak Kesarkar had suggested roping in unemployed teaching aspirants to teach pre-schoolers, in exchange for a small honourarium.