The Aga Khan Schools in India

The curriculum is designed to strengthen school readiness and ensure high-quality early learning experiences, marking a significant step forward in advancing education for young children across Gujarat. It will be implemented across all 53,029 Integrated Child Development Services Anganwadi Centres in the state beginning in June 2026, which serves children from six months to six years of age. 

The curriculum was developed by the State Early Childhood Development core group, which was established to design its framework and accompanying learning resources. AKES, India is an active member of this core group, contributing to both the conceptualisation and development of the curriculum. Its role in this initiative has also been recognised publicly, with a local newspaper acknowledging the organisation as one of the key contributors to the development process. 

The scale of the curriculum’s implementation underscores the significance of this milestone. In 2022–2023 alone, 3,294,000 children were enrolled in Anganwadi Centres across Gujarat. Additionally, between 2015–2016 and 2022–2023, an average of 4,034,000 children benefited annually from the Integrated Child Development Services programme. The programme is also supported by 49,884 Anganwadi workers and 46,167 Anganwadi helpers across the state, who will also benefit from the new curriculum. Given this reach, the rollout of the new curriculum is expected to significantly strengthen early childhood education and school preparedness across Gujarat.   

AKES, India has also worked with the Government of Gujarat on other similar initiatives. For example, as a member of the ECD core group of the Gujarat State Council for Education and Research Training, it reviewed and contextualised the State Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage. This led to the development of an age-appropriate curriculum, content, activity bank and child observation tools for 3 to 6-year-olds. 

The approval of the Aadharshila curriculum represents an important milestone in Gujarat’s collaborative efforts to enhance foundational learning at scale. AKES, India is proud to have contributed its expertise to this state-led initiative, reinforcing its continued commitment to improving access to quality early childhood education.