Issues of Inequality in Early Childhood

Issues of inequality in
early childhood

Early childhood is the most important phase of development in a person's life which
affect their educational achievement, health and social-well being. The children need to be given
equal opportunities so that they can utilize their capabilities to the fullest which can help in
expanding their horizon of success so that they can grow and develop both personally and
professionally. Development of children is important for a country as they shape the future of
country by utilizing their potential which helps in the growth and prosperity of the country.
However, in many communities children face the problem of gender inequality which leads to
the poor development of women of the society as they are denied access to equal nutrition,
education and health related benefits. These factors create an impact on their mental and physical
health making their decision-making power poor and affecting their overall growth. The issues of
inequality faced in the early childhood thus needs to be tackled by providing all the children with
equal education, health benefits and access to other facilities which encourage their overall
development. An early childhood setting needs to be implemented at schools so that their
education process can be enhanced and they can become good learners which will help in
fulfilling their social, mental, physical and cognitive needs and ensure their well-being (Wade
and Zaringhalam, 2019).
It is important to gather knowledge regarding the legislations and official guidance so
that equality among children can be promoted and education in their early childhood years can
be given by following ethical practices. This will help in shaping the future of the country as
economical growth of the country can be brought if the children are mentally stable, socially fit
and physically sound and active. The inequality can be dealt within an efficient manner by
implementing equality transformative early childhood programming so that gender
discrimination can be reduced, equal rights can be promoted which will help in giving equal
opportunities to all the children which will help them in achieving their desired goals and aims in
life. This will also help in uplifting the standards of the family both economically and
educationally. It is thus important to give equal platforms to all the children irrespective to their
sex, religion, culture, colour, disability etc. so that they can survive in the environment with
dignity and can progress in their lives efficiently (Thomas, 2019). This also leads to the growth
of the economy of the country as new ventures can be opened, crimes can be reduced due to
increasing unemployment, innovation can be promoted etc.

There exists a wide scope by which legislation and official guidance can help in dealing
with inequality and promoting diversity so that the development of young children can be
enhanced which will contribute towards their well being and development. These legislations
when applied in schools can help in promotion of equal treatment of young students and will
protect their rights so that they can be given equal educational opportunities. Some of the
important legislations are discussed as follows:
Disability Act, 2005 : This act came into effect in the year 1995 and has been amended a
lot many times so that the inclusion of various aspects related to disability can be included which
will help in the growth and development of children. This act ensures that everyone in the
society are given equal opportunities and rights to use the public services and other facilities
which will help in promotion of equality among all. This act include disabilities related to
physical and mental impairment of children so that they are not discriminated based on these
factors. Also as this legislation is applicable on schools it help in providing equal access to
education to all the children and prevents them to be bullied and harassed within the school
premises. It also makes all the discriminatory activities illegal hence preventing the children
from being a prey to the injustice that could have been done due to their disability. This helps in
boosting their confidence and also contributes towards their survival along with getting equal
growth opportunities which help them live with dignity and pride in the society (Syed and
Ozbilgin, 2019).
Children Act, 2004 : This act was introduced in the year 1989 and was amended in 2004
after the inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie. This act reinforces that people and
organisations that work with children must be completely responsible towards safeguarding
children and promoting their welfare which help in their overall development. According to this
act all the educational or non-educational institutions dealing with children needs to take care
about their safety and security so that they can remain healthy and can grow in a setting where
equal platforms are provided to children. This help the children to lead their lives in a disciplined
manner along with their respect and care towards the society. Equal education given to the
children can help in building harmony and an inclusive growth of all the youth of the society
which plays an important role in the development of country making it competitive in the global
context. Thus equality and diversity in the classroom help in educating different types of students
belonging to different families, backgrounds and experiences which also help in developing new