Children’s Rights and Early-Years Provision in India

Abstract

Over the last two or three decades, early-years provision in India has gained widespread recognition among the public for two main reasons (Sultana, 2009; Viruru, 2001a). First, because middle-class aspirations per- ceive its benefits and, second, and in contrast, because the children’s rights movement has promoted early-years provision as a political act to attain young children’s rights and well-being (Pattnaik, 1996; Sharma, Sen & Gulati, 2008). Early-years providers have begun to treat children as active human beings. However, with a few exceptions (see e.g. Viruru, 2001a, 2001b), children’s everyday practices are undertheorised in India. This chapter therefore focuses on children’s everyday rights in early-years provi- sion, critically examining what children’s everyday experiences mean for our concepts of children’s rights and well-being. The chapter presents data from ethnographic fieldwork conducted with young children (aged five years), and it offers critical insights into and a series of reflections on the pedagogi- cal processes that enable/disable participation in everyday settings. The idea of power vis-à-vis pedagogy is discussed, suggesting that participation is an ongoing negotiated process, and that children’s right to participate in early- years provision depends on the position in which they are situated. The analysis demonstrates the active agency of young children and encourages the reader to recognise young children’s ability to contribute to everyday pedagogy and practice.