Educational Quest: An Int. J. of Education and Applied Social Sciences: Vol. 15, No. 01, pp. 09-14, April 2024 DOI: 10.30954/2230-7311.1.2024.2 Peer Reviewed Journal How to cite this article: Malik, I.S. and Hasan, M. (2024). Exploring Early Childhood Care and Education in the Context of India’s National Education Policy-2020. Educational Quest: An Int. J. Edu. Appl. Soc. Sci., 15(01): 09-14. Source of Support: None; Conflict of Interest: None Exploring Early Childhood Care and Education in the Context of India’s National Education Policy-2020 Iram Sleem Malik* and Mohammad Hasan MANUU-College of Teacher Education, Bhopal, India *Corresponding author: iramm8842@gmail.com Received: 16-12-2023 Revised: 24-03-2024 Accepted: 02-04-2024 ABSTRACT The entire education system has evolved and transformed to meet societal demands. Transitions across the educational system are essential and natural because development is always accompanied by a willingness to adapt. The paper highlights the emerging paerns required to revamp the educational system and cope with contemporary issues. Children can acquire an assortment of abilities and aributes through education. As Krishnamurti so eloquently stated, Education never ends with the reading of a book, clearing an exam, and then calling it quits. Instead, learning is a lifelong endeavor beginning from birth and continuing till death. The most significant educational policy of the twenty-first century is the National Education Policy 2020. Its main objective is to nurture individuals with strong ethical principles, as well as rational thinking and behavior, determination, resilience, empathy, compassion, and intellectual curiosity. The NEP’s determination to promote Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), which gradually gained recognition in national policy discussions, is remarkable. The recognition emphasizes how crucial it is to guarantee a successful education and achievement, which starts from the initial years of a child’s schooling. The objectives of the present article are to examine Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) and its alignment with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 framework, address the challenges involved in implementing ECCE under NEP 2020, and provide suggestions for increasing the standard of ECCE within the NEP 2020 framework. The analysis of secondary data from reputable sources is the study’s source of support. Keywords: ECCE, NEP 2020, India, Challenges, Suggestions An individual’s first 6 years of existence constitute the foundation for their growth and development because they go by swiftly compared to other stages in their lives. Global brain research findings emphasize the critical role of the early years in determining how one’s brain develops. A child’s overall development and educational path are greatly strengthened by Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), which is indispensable in fostering a nurturing and stimulating environment over these formative stages of continuous learning. It might not be desirable for children to receive education in a formal educational seing within the first two and a half to three years; rather, parents’ responsibilities as carers are crucial in creating a stimulating educational seing for their kids (Early Childhood Care and Education (ECC(E) - UNESCO Digital Library, n.d.). The current National Education Policy of India was unveiled by the Ministry of Education in July 2020, commencing formal education with the adoption of ECCE at age 3. The new education policy highlights the importance of guaranteeing universal accessibility to top-notch early childhood growth, assistance, and education, having an aim of achieving this objective