With a budget of over Nu 700 million, the Ministry of Education and Skills Development (MoESD) plans to establish more Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) centres and renovate existing ones in the 13th plan.

The focus will also be on building infrastructure, play facilities, and procuring learning resources, according to the ministry’s plan.

As per the plan, the ministry will construct over 100 ECCD centres and renovate more than 80 existing facilities to ensure 100 percent reach for children below five years and improve the quality of education from the grassroots level.

The ministry also plans to start home-based schooling in areas with low enrollment, where establishing a formal ECCD centre is challenging.

This intervention aims to ensure that ECCD services reach all children, leaving no child behind in accessing early education opportunities.

The ministry has allocated Nu 460 million for establishing new ECCD centres and equipping them with adequate infrastructure, play facilities, and learning resources.

Nu 330.5 million has been allocated for the professional development of ECCD facilitators and inclusive education teachers.

According to the officials at the Department of School Education (DSE), the home-based ECCD intervention will be established in chiwogs with low enrollment, where children will be provided with play kits and resources under parental guidance.Facilitators from the nearest centres will visit the children monthly.

About 472 chiwogs have ECCD centres, whereas about 567 chiwogs lack such facilities.

Among these centres, the ministry plans to integrate 295 ECCDs with a school up to class three.

Although the ministry initially planned to establish schools with ECCD facilities in 207 chiwogs, it was found that not all chiwogs need such facilities, as some sparsely populated chiwogs share a school.

To ensure the quality of facilitators, the ministry proposes reducing the teacher-student ratio from 1:15 to 1:8 under the national teacher service programme.

A Postgraduate Diploma programme in ECCD will be introduced at Paro College of Education to improve facilitators’ qualifications.

Currently, the ECCD facilitators are typically Class 12 graduates with only two weeks of training, deemed inadequate for acquiring necessary skills and enhancing professional service.

There are 561 ECCD centres in the country, including 475 government-owned, 62 privately owned, 20 workplace-based, and four operated by non-governmental organisations.