Page 16 - EducationWorld June 2020

Education News

this critically important issue.” runs four preschools in
On May 31 following a meeting Bangalore with an ag-
with governor Koshyari after the state gregate enrolment of 200
government extended the lockdown in children.
Maharashtra to June 30, chief minis- Priyanka Thareja
ter Uddhav Thackeray announced a Khurana, centre head
cabinet decision to cancel final year of Indus Early Learning
college and university exams. Degrees Centre (IELC, estb.2011),
will be awarded to 8-10 lakh students ranked Bangalore’s #1
in higher education after evaluating proprietary preschool in
their performance in semester exams the EW India Preschool
and through the academic year. How- Rankings 2019-20,
ever, these students have the option to endorses this viewpoint.
write formal examinations in October- “Children in their early
November. IELC’s Khurana: foundational block years need stimulation
Adding to the confusion regarding and socialisation. Im-
the actual status of final year exams is this perception has changed in recent prisoning them at home and denying
the fact that days after the state’s chief times with a growing number of them professionally delivered ECCE
minister declared exams cancelled, educationists proclaiming its vital is not a good idea. Modern day
universities across the state are still importance, medical practitioners informed opinion is almost unani-
to officially notify students about the advise caution against sending mous that preschool learning is the
cancellation. youngest learners to preschools in a foundational block of all learning,”
The fallout of this huge cohort of hurry in these pandemic times. says Khurana, an alumna of South-
untested students entering the jobs “There are very few reported ern Methodist University, Dallas,
market at a time when the economy is coronavirus positive cases among USA, who has 13 years pre-primary
forecast to contract by 5 percent and youngest children because they’ve teaching experience in the US and
graduate unemployment at 36 percent been secluded at home during the India, and was appointed principal of
is at its highest in three decades, is lockdown. They should be retained at IELC, which has an enrolment of 120
best left to the imagination. home at least for another two-three children, in 2016.
Dipta Joshi (Mumbai) months as they have low immunity. herefore, on May 30, KCPS
It is better that they are not sent to Tsubmitted a memorandum to
KARNATAKA preschool as yet,” says Dr. Gururaj state education minister S. Suresh
Private preschools Biradar, consultant, pediatric and Kumar requesting permission to re-
open preschools at the earliest. Over
neonatology department at Manipal
predicament Hospitals, Bangalore. 500,000 private preschools, angan-
wadis, standalone play and daycare
However, the Bangalore-based
Karnataka Council of Pre-Schools centres in Karnataka including an
lthough the 68 day-national (KCPS, estb.2015), which has a mem- estimated 40,000 in Bangalore,
lockdown prompted by the bership of 2,000 private preschools with an aggregate enrolment of 1.5
ACovid-19 pandemic has hit statewide, differs. “Most private million children have been shut for
the entire education sector hard, it preschools in the state follow safety more than 60 days. These are mainly
has perhaps hit pre-primaries, aka protocols well beyond government small proprietorial schools promoted
preschools, hardest. In Karnataka, prescribed norms. Therefore, parents by women and they are in severe
185 standalone preschools are re- should not hesitate to send young- financial straits with new admis-
portedly up for sale. est children to school after checking sions, summer camps and all other
Pre-primaries have been particu- out their infrastructure and safety activities suspended. Unsurprisingly,
larly impacted by the national lock- protocols. Keeping little children most have stopped paying teachers
down ordered by the Central gov- locked up at home for too long is and other staff salaries.
ernment on March 25, because the not advisable for their psychological Dr. Swati Popat Vats, president
popular perception is that preschools well-being and loss of very important of the Mumbai-based Podar Jumbo
are mere daycare and unstructured professionally administered ECCE Kids chain with 498 preschools pan-
play centres for infants and toddlers (early childhood care and educa- India and founder-president of the
of double income working parents, tion),” says Pruthvi Banwasi, Early Childhood Association of India
and not much is lost if tiny tots don’t secretary of KCPS and promoter of (estb.2011) which has a membership
attend play-learn classes. Although Roots Montessori (estb.2004) which of 3,800 preschools countrywide,

16 EDUCATIONWORLD JUNE 2020