From Mothers to Markets: Childcare is Everyone’s Business

This article was co-written with Akkriti Bhatt, Sr. Manager, Meraki Foundation

Over the last two decades, three economies - India (2020), South Africa (2011) and Colombia (2008) have changed education policy to focus on early childhood. Yet, these economies spend below the ~2% GDP needed to deliver high-quality early childhood care and learning to all children. The private sector needs to step in with capital and innovation to support institutions. We illustrate our argument with India as an example.

In an underinvested childcare ecosystem - mothers, future adults and the economy - all pay the cost.

The economy has always demanded more than just technical knowledge. It requires people who are creative, collaborative and resilient. In face of AI and intense climate change that need has grown more apparent.

While we look for these skills in adults, the foundation for creativity, collaboration & resilience is set in early childhood. Before the age of eight, children develop "executive functions"—the mental skills that allow them to manage emotion, refine thinking and direct action. These three executive functions: inhibitory control; staying focused on a task or resisting distractions; cognitive flexibility: switching between ideas or tasks with ease; and working memory: retaining information while processing thought at the same time are built through high-quality adult and child interactions.

At a high-quality pre-school children learn through play; sharing toys, building with blocks, indulging in fantasy play along with their peers and learning to regulate their joy, anger and sadness alongside adults guiding them. Yet, like the rest of the world, these high-quality affordable pre-schools are hard to find. Mothers like me, who know this science are challenged to find solutions that work.

Alongside the early years of motherhood, where profound emotional and psychological change dominate, what institutions can mothers rely on for care for our children? Can we have tools to connect with preschool teachers to ensure our children have a seamless preschool and home environment? India, as the World Bank & Economist say, needs women to go back into the workforce. Do we have the early childhood infrastructure beyond family structures to do so?

Policy Change is Clear, Investment needs to follow

The Indian government’s policy commitment to quality Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) is clear. The 2020 National Education Policy was revised from 2013 to bring ECCE into focus. The 2017 Maternity Benefit Act from 1986 was amended to ensure mothers have more time with their children by doubling maternity leave from 12 to 26 weeks and mandating on-site daycare facilities for employers with more than 50 staff.

These policy changes alone are not enough to support 164.5 (NIPCCD, 2018) million children below the age of six and their primary caregivers in India.

• Investment: Scandinavia, Chile and other nations show that 1.6 to 2.5% of GDP needs to be spent on ECCE to achieve high-quality universal care. Currently, India invests 0.1% of the GDP (National Consultation, November 2024). In 2023, only 12% of the public money allocated for building childcare centres (creches) by the government was utilized (CBGA, 2023).
• Institutions: The National Institute for Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPPCD) and the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) provide frameworks and curriculum. Yet, they miss focus on developing the workforce. At last count India had 2.4 million women in just the government run program who can walk this path from care to nurturing children with play.
• Innovation: This government program, the Integrated Child Development Scheme, is one of the world’s largest childcare programs which covers nutrition, immunization, pre-school education and pre and post-natal health. The next step, a focus on Early Childhood learning i.e. regional data on the development of children, measurement tools to track ECD investment, and innovative teacher training/upskilling at scale are needed (National Consultation, November 2024).

This situation can change with strategic private investment.

The Private Sector is a Catalyst

Private capital can invest commercial and philanthropic capital to help build institutions or support innovation to provide India with world class early childhood infrastructure.

• Investment: Commercial capital can invest in day care facilities. This creates a mode for families who can afford it. It allows entities to operate at scale while the government invests capital for more vulnerable citizens. Apps for teachers & parents, technology tools for day care centres such as managing expenses, attendance and tracking learning is another area with potential for scale in and outside India. At this stage, AI solutions for teachers or adults are speculative but can provide high returns.
• Institutions: India needs a number of great early childhood educators to transform this sector. Colombia, a country with just 60 million people, has more than five universities offering four-year undergraduate, graduate and flexible learning in early childhood. Private universities, Centres of Excellence and training institutions will provide skilled workers to a sector where operators are starved of talent. This is an avenue for philanthropic and commercial capital.
• Innovation: Philanthropy can convene commercial investors, researchers and startups to focus on data on children’s development, tools for training based on research. By sponsoring world class research, the decade old corporate social responsibility regulation has a chance to create momentum in an area where the workforce, especially women will appreciate a push!

World class child infrastructure is a need across nations. India’s private sector, the potential office of the world, has the chance to make investments for its own long term good. It should take it!

Further Reading

Investments in the Care Economy: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20430795.2022.2030662#d1e551

The IFC on employer backed childcare including Mindtree in India: https://www.ifc.org/content/dam/ifc/doc/mgrt/201911-a-guide-for-employer-supported-childcare.pdf

India’s Anganwadi workers across states deserve better: https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=2003433#:~:text=There%20were%2013%2C48%2C135%20Anganwadi,is%20placed%20at%20Annexure%2DI