AN EVALUATION ON THE ATTITUDE OF CHILD CARE GIVERS TOWARDS CHILD CARE PRACTICES IN NURSERY SCHOOL
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The quality of life for a child and the contributions the child makes to society as an adult can be traced back to the first few years of life. From birth until about five years old, a child undergoes tremendous growth and change. If this period of life includes support for growth in cognition, language, motor skills, adaptive skills and social-emotional functioning, the child is more likely to succeed in school and later contribute to society. A good early childhood care and education provides the intervention programmes that support children’s survival growth, development and learning including health, nutrition and hygiene, and cognitive, social, physical and emotional development from birth to entry into primary school in formal, informal and non-formal settings (UNESCO, 2007).
The early childhood care provides comprehensive, developmentally appropriate, inclusive educational opportunities to the children. According to UNESCO (2000), the past decade has provided more evidence that good quality early childhood care and education, both in families and in more structured programmes have a positive impact on the survival, growth, development and learning potential of children. Such programmes should be comprehensive, focusing on all of the child’s needs and encompassing health, nutrition and hygiene as well as cognitive and psycho-social development.