Children in poorer families, continue to grow without baby welfare, often significantly restricting their emotional potential. In absence of any caregiver, their safety is also compromised
One of the planks on which Zohran Mamdani fought and won the mayoral elections in New York was to guarantee State sponsored childcare for all children of the city. That was a bold promise in a nation that is suspicious of State spending on welfare, and more so in the times of Donald Trump and the new and even wild direction of the far-Right in America. Mamdani’s convincing victory indicates that it is possible to change the agenda and capture the imagination of the electorate, even an American electorate, with bold ideas that work for all and promote holistic development.
The immediate question in the context of India is how and why an agenda of grassroots development focused on children can become the hot topic of discussion and rank high on the political agendas of various parties, given that India has a huge challenge in terms of a supportive environment for the health and well-being of children.
Children everywhere need a safe, supportive and nurturing environment. The modern world and its economy have constrained the ability of families to take care of the children, across the socio-economic strata. Smaller family sizes, need for both parents to work outside home, long work hours, need for people to migrate out for work; have all contributed to the reduced ability of families to take care of their young ones.
However, whereas the richer families can afford private childcare – at home or in institutions – children in poorer families, continue to grow without childcare, often significantly restricting their growth, development, and emotional potential. Often, in the absence of any caregiver, their safety and health are also compromised.
In many parts of rural India, drawing from our experience in rural Rajasthan where we work, men migrate to cities for labour-employment while women and children are often left behind. Women work to collect firewood, fetch water, work in farms and take care of the elderly, often leaving no time to take care of themselves or their children. Young children are often left to fend for themselves or cared for by an elder sibling, who is often a young child. While grandparents are entrusted to take care of the children sometimes, in most case they are incapable because of their own physical conditions. It does lead to situations where children fall in wells, are trampled over by animals, or simply remain alone and under-stimulated.
In a number of hamlets, where we run day-care centres, we find that most children placed in such centres tend to grow well, and often do much better at schools, compared to those who are left to fend for themselves. Their mothers also report that they feel much less worried about their children’s well-being when they go for chores and importantly, also find some time to rest themselves.
Similarly, in urban Ahmedabad, many migrant families work at construction sites, with children often left to wander around, putting them at a high risk of injury, neglect and undernutrition. Day-care centres at these sites, managed by NGOs and employers provide safety, education and nutrition to children of these families.
Childcare in these situations is not a right, is offered in limited situations and operates without State support. There is a need to expand the model to more areas and states, given the huge benefits that accrue from minimal investments and given that early years are foundational for the development of children and critically shapes lifelong outcomes. Many studies support this. A systemic review of studies on centre-based childcare for children aged 0-3 years in low-and-middle income countries is associated with positive outcomes in children’s growth, nutrition, and development metrics, according to a report in the Journal of Global Health. A Lancet review of 2011 highlights that centre-based early learning programmes improve children’s cognitive development, school readiness and supports stronger academic performance as they grow.
These gains tend to be more profound for children from marginalised backgrounds. Global evidence shows that building cognitive functioning and socio-emotional skills early on translates into better education, employment, and earnings (in adulthood), breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty. A landmark study from Jamaica demonstrated this – children who received nutrition and early stimulation support earned 25 per cent more income 20 years later as compared to those who did not.
Further, there is compelling evidence to show how childcare availability could play a key role in enabling more mothers to work, even in low-and- medium income countries. As more mothers join the workforce, overall employment rates increase. Research by Economist Impact’s the Childcare Dividend Initiative estimates that through a multiplier effect, access to childcare services could add up to 1 per cent to national GDP each year.
There are significant costs associated with fewer mothers being in the workforce, especially in lower and middle-income countries. These costs are both personal and financial for women. It not only slows career growth and reduces earnings, but also chips away at their independence and agency. With lower maternal labour force participation rates, household incomes are negatively impacted, leading to lower economic growth at the national level. The Economist report also shows how costly inadequate childcare can be: in Nigeria where nearly one in five people is below school age and most young children are cared for at home, women’s limited ability to work led to income losses estimated at 1.09 per cent of the country’s GDP in 2022.
Economic benefits also arise because of the jobs created in the childcare industry. Investing in childcare offers a clear pathway to unlock short and long-term economic gains, while enabling women and children to realise their full potential. If every young child in the pre-primary age group had access to childcare, millions of mothers could enter paid work between 2023 and 2030.
State-sponsored day-care centres, such as those envisaged under the Palana scheme of the Integrated Child Development Scheme has huge potential, but currently suffers from being unambitious in scale and constrained by low budgetary
allocations.
The Billion Press
(Dr Pavitra Mohan is a co-founder of Basic Healthcare Services, a Rajasthan-based non-profit that runs primary healthcare centres; Ashmita Gulechha is research and policy executive at the organisation.)
