Page 27 - EducationWorld December 2022

under the Central government’s In- better prepared for primary educa- ing system. “Optimal development
tegrated Child Development Services tion,” she says. of children necessitates youngest
(ICDS) programme — with govern- However, early childhood educa- children learning joyfully at their
ment and matriculation schools. This tors warn that the big danger of own pace. One of the reasons for
means that professionally adminis- merging anganwadis with govern- children’s poor learning outcomes
tered ECCE could begin much earlier ment schools is that youngest chil- in primary education is overburden-
than three years as recommended by dren can be prematurely pushed into ing of infants. For a child’s cogni-
NEP 2020. formal reading, writing and numer- tive development, play and learning
D. Girija Devi, principal of acy. “If anganwadis are merged with through exploration and discovery is
Anna Gem Science Park Matricula- government schools, they could lose important. Therefore, the commit-
tion Higher Secondary School, Chen- their ECCE personalities and prema- tee is likely to stress that youngest
nai, which has 1,400 students and 70 ture teaching of the 3R’s (reading, children should not be pressured into
teachers on its muster rolls, wel- writing and ’rithmetic) could inflict formal, especially rote learning,” says
comes the proposal to merge under- stress and make youngest children Aruna Rathnam, a former educa-
managed and under-resourced an- learning averse as they grow older. tion and child protection specialist
ganwadis with government schools Therefore, great care should be with Unicef, Chennai and member of
because of the increase in nuclear taken that anganwadis — and private the Murugesan Committee.
families with both parents working. preschools — shouldn’t transform With the first SEP draft of the
“Enrolling youngest children into into formal schools,” advises Prince committee scheduled to be pre-
formal schools is preferable to leav- Gajendra Babu, general secretary sented shortly for public scrutiny
ing them in unlicensed day care cen- of the State Platform for Common and debate, educators in the state are
tres run by amateur housewives. If School System, Tamil Nadu. keeping their fingers crossed that the
youngest children are inducted early Fortunately, members of the committee will give precedence to
into the formal education system Murugesan Committee are aware child-centric education rather than
where they receive professional care of the dangers of merging pre- politics.
and informal education, they will be primaries with the formal school- Shivani Chaturvedi (Chennai)

EW SPOTLIGHT FEATURE
Happy Minds International

T he Day Care Centres and Preschools Are Operating In of activities to keep every child

engaged.
Full Swing Post Pandemic!
The other strong points to
COVID is settling with time and so is life returning
to normalcy. Certain sectors were badly affected during the notice at HMI include
pandemic; education was one of these. The pandemic taught ▪ Live CCTV access in every
each of us a lesson; to be prepared for the worst! Preschools class for parents.
and daycares like Happy Minds International (HMI) survived ▪ Strong and prompt actions on
due to a strong back-up plan, digital excellency, and outstanding parents’ feedback
training for its staff. The centre trained its teachers and staff to be ▪ Hygiene and clean premise
patient and flexible in any given situation. Perhaps, this attitude ▪ In-house kitchen with trained maids and helpers
worked in their favour. ▪ Practical learning followed by field trips and workshops
Several other schools and preschool centres switched to involving parents and siblings
online training modules too but were unable to overcome the HMI centres are focused on children’s social and emotional
pandemic challenges due to infrastructure issues and lack development. Therefore, HMI children are well-behaved
of professional attitude. As a result, children lost interest in regardless of the situation. Its noteworthy that HMI’s inquiry-
socializing, education, and other physical activities. For Happy based learning method enabled children to make connections
Minds International, surviving the pandemic was like a piece about learning, built their curiosity, and gained a deeper
of cake given their over decade long experience in preschool understanding of topics. Needless to say their online classes
education. Even their online training module included live functioned smoothly with every child’s doubt and fear being
interactive sessions with two-way communication and a plethora addressed during the pandemic.

DECEMBER 2022 EDUCATIONWORLD 27