Srinagar, August 11 (KNS): In a sweeping expansion of early childhood education, Jammu & Kashmir has brought pre-school learning to the doorstep of almost every government school, with 17,746 institutions now hosting either pre-primary sections or co-located anganwadi centres.

The figures, tabled in Parliament on Monday, mark one of the most extensive rollouts of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020’s Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) push in the country.

The data shows 17,609 schools in the UT now run pre-primary classes, while 238 have anganwadi centres on campus. The drive is backed by the Union Government’s Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi (PBPB) programme launched in May 2023 which has already trained 24,931 Anganwadi Workers in J&K through a two-tier model, blending classroom instruction with hands-on modules.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel

Funding support has been steady. Central assistance for the training component alone has touched ?3.84 crore, including ?1.61 crore in 2023–24 and ?2.23 crore in 2024–25, covering honorarium, uniforms, medicine kits, furniture, and teaching materials.

Officials say the push is aimed at closing the learning gap before children enter Class 1, ensuring they arrive with essential cognitive and social skills. “The groundwork being laid today in early education will decide the retention and performance levels in higher grades."(KNS)