Which one of the following is the first State to universalize the pre-primary education formally?

Punjab became the first state in India to formally universalize pre-primary education in government schools. The initiative was launched on November 14, 2017, by the state government, introducing pre-primary classes for children aged 3 to 6 years across all 12,500+ government primary schools. This program was designed to provide a formal learning environment to toddlers, bridging the gap between Anganwadi care (which is often considered non-formal early childhood care) and primary schooling. By integrating nursery and kindergarten classes into the formal school system, Punjab aimed to strengthen foundational literacy and numeracy and increase enrollment in government institutions. While other states like Uttarakhand later became the first to implement the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 at the pre-primary level in 2022, Punjab was the pioneer in achieving statewide formal universalization of pre-primary education years earlier.