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Universal early childhood education (ECE) in India is a relatively recent phenomenon which started during the 1990s (Pattnaik 1996). In the past, children were mostly being cared for within the extended family, not only by parents but also by other members of the family. With industrialization, urbanization and drastic changes within the family structure, the demand for preschools and child care centres are growing rapidly. Nowadays, preschool in India would mainly refer to two components: (i) early education and school readiness, and (ii) child care. Therefore, the choice of types of preschool depends on what parents are looking for and what is available. There is a strong sense among parents that preschool education can help children to overcome initial difficulties they face in coping with formal learning environments during the early school years (Rana et al. 2008; Pattnaik 1996). As found out by Rana et al. (2008), many parents believe that the preschool activities, singing, dancing, recognizing colours, etc., would help their children following the lessons to be given in the primary schools in the imminent future. Alternatively, parents may also send their children to preschool for logistic reasons such as free meals and other benefits, as well as considering it as a child care centre that enabling

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Early childhood development is considered a crucial component for sustainable development, and parents’ roles in this regard is unambiguously acknowledged. However, the evidence is sparsely available from developing countries like India on how parents can influence access to the early childhood development program. This study, based on an empirical footing, investigates whether parental attitude may lead to unequal opportunities in children’s access to preschools in India. The study portrays that the negative or indifferent attitude of parents predicts significantly lower access to preschools. Also, parents’ education can be held responsible for the variation in parents’ attitudes toward early education and care. A two-prong policy measure is thus suggested by educating parents on one hand and involving them in the implementation process of childhood development programs on the other.

This study examines variation in parents’ child-rearing behavior based on their socioeconomic status (SES) in the context of a developing country. The impact of different aspects of SES on the probability of practicing several child-rearing behaviors was examined individually based on a data of 1373 households in West Bengal, India. The study found that components of SES explain great shares of the variance in parents’ child-rearing behaviors and the variation was bi-dimensional. There was variation between parental practices due to a change in SES, and also each practice was affected differently for each component of SES. Mother’s level of education was found to play a consistent and most significant role in improving parent-child regular interaction.