In the early years, MAYA observed that a large number of older children were forced to stay at home to look after their younger siblings or in some cases, younger children accompanied their parents and older siblings to work, rather than going to school. Further analysis also revealed the direct impact of early childhood care and education on the schooling opportunities of children, especially from socially disadvantaged communities.

Tending to children and supporting their understanding and learning at an early age has always been a process, native to all communities. It is common to find local-specific practices that address stimulation, interaction, learning and nurturing for children. Given this, it is ironic that Early childhood care and education (ECCE) is today seen as a service that needs to be delivered to communities. Treating it in this manner has led to a system where the process and content of learning is centralised and therefore often culturally alien to the local community. The alienation of communities from their innate capacity for quality childcare, is further aggravated by the fact that communities in low-income areas are not organised towards demanding for change, it is but natural for the present situation where neither the Govt nor the communities own responsibility for ensuring quality ECCE. The result - a scheme with large resource investments but limited reach and impact.

This dialogue starts through informal discussions with locally existing community groups (women's self help groups, youth groups, school committees, etc) and parents to identify the need for a preschool facility in the area. MAYA facilitates a local community institution (comprising parents, teachers and other interested community members) to build their capacities to manage and ensure monitoring of the quality of the pre-schools in their area.

It is the community members who identify the need for a preschool in a given area, find the space, appoint a teacher, assume responsibility for ongoing communication with parents and support the overall supervision of the preschool. Each preschool has a monthly fee of Rs 20-30/-, based on the decision taken by the parents; this forms the teacher's monthly honorarium. Parents and teachers are supported to create learning aids through locally available materials. Other community groups also raises certain additional resources by approaching the local elected representatives, and other individuals in their locality.

MAYA's present approach to ECCE, visible in the over 180 preschools in and around Bangalore, has evolved as a result of its experiences of working with communities, its organisational set-up, the skills of its team-members, and its focus on empowerment of communities. Based on this experience, MAYA envisages the development of such preschool facilities in different areas with the support of local self governing bodies and local corporate houses.

MAYA perceives the challenge of organisations (like itself) in being able to facilitate communities to balance local needs within the context of larger societal realities.

Publication :

Early childhood care and education - a community owned agenda