Section 3December 05, 2000, Sec./Art. 3

Objectives. - The objectives of the National ECCD System are:

(a) To achieve improved infant and child survival rates by ensuring that adequates health and nutrition programs are accessible to young children and their mothers from the pre-natal period throughout the early childhood years;

(b) To enhance the physical, social, emotional, cognitive, psychological, spiritual and language development of young children;

(c) To enhance the role of parents and other caregivers as the primary caregivers and educators of their children from birth onwards;

(d) To facilitate a smooth transition from care and education provided at home to community or school-based setting and to primary school;

(e) To enhance the capabilities of service providers and their supervisors to comply with quality standards for various ECCD programs;

(f) To enhance and sustain the efforts of communities to promote ECCD programs and ensure that special support is provided for poor and disadvantaged communities;

(g) To ensure that young children are adequately prepared for the formal learning system and that both public and private schools are responsive to the developmental needs of these children;

(h) To establish an efficient system for early identification, prevention, referral and intervention for developmental disorders and disabilities in early childhood; and

(i) To improve the quality standards of public and private ECCD programs through, but not limited to, a registration and credential system for ECCD service providers.