A Foundation for Life: Vidyananda Early Childhood Care and Education Program

“I enrolled in Vidyananda School when I was 6 years old. Our teachers would use flashcards, flow charts and educational aids to help us understand grammatical concepts and basic math. We also played knowledge quests, where we were given clues leading up to the final answers to recall Gk questions. These engaging techniques stayed with me. Now I am in class 10, and I go back to these techniques and use visual aids to break down complex concepts in science and math for myself. I am also one of the top 3 student performers in my class because these techniques built a strong foundation for learning." says, Aastha, class 10 student of Lotus Petal Senior Secondary School?

When we started the Pratisthan Learning Centre, we were somewhat aware of the challenges that lay ahead. Knowing our children came from fractured learning backgrounds, we committed ourselves to providing them with a holistic education addressing their learning levels and strengthening their foundational literacy skills. We noticed that despite our best efforts and our children’s hard work, they would often struggle with basic reading, writing and computation skills. These recurring challenges led us to introspect that older children can be proficient in foundational skills, if we intervene in their early years, more specifically when they are 3-4 years old. As per UNESCO early childhood is the period of rich and accelerated brain development. Early stimulation has an enduring impact on the social, mental and physical well-being of the child, enabling them to reach their full potential as adults. Our insights, coupled with the need to provide the best quality care and education to our children, resulted in the genesis of the Vidyananda School for young learners.?

Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) is usually defined as a set of child-centric programmes/initiatives which cater to children from their birth to 8 years of age. The objective of these programmes are focused on developing the motor, sensory, cognitive and socio-emotional skills of the child, thereby easing their transition into primary school (from grade 1 onwards). In India, ECCE focuses on ages 0-6, mainly through Anganwadi Centres, providing nutrition, care, and play. Despite their beneficial role, Anganwadi centers often face infrastructural deficits and shortages of skilled caregivers, hindering children's learning. Recognizing ECCE's significance in poverty alleviation, the Government of India recently released the National ECCE curriculum framework. This document emphasizes safety, activity-based learning, creative expression, access to culturally sensitive resources, nutrition, and motor skill development in age-appropriate ways.

While we have been working in the space of early childhood care and education since 2013, through the Vidyananda school. Now we are even more closely aligned with the objectives prescribed in the National ECCE curriculum framework. Our intervention brings together - education, nutrition and preparation to provide a holistic learning experience to our young learners. It caters to children between the ages of 4-8 years olds, and runs classes from KG to class 2. Our ECCE intervention through Vidyananda school, is not just child-focused but is child-centric, and highlights our core value and commitment - “child at the center of everything we do.”?

Our curriculum takes into consideration the disadvantaged backgrounds and the delayed entry of our children into the formal education system. Majority of our young children in the age group of 4-5 years, show cognitive and nutritional deficiencies when they first enroll in Vidyananda school. To ensure that their nutritional needs are met - we prepare special breakfasts for our young learners. This special breakfast is a sweet porridge including - mashed banana, crushed DHA supplements, protein powder, milk and stage 5 cereal served 3 times a week. This dose of tasty nutritious food keeps our children going all day long. To inculcate ownership in young learners our educators and caregivers conduct various activities related : health and hygiene such as - toilet training, how to enter a classroom, how to use a dustbin, teaching them to tie their shoelaces, carrying their plates on their own during breakfast and lunch time among others. Our nutrition-based component and ownership based activities are critical to developing their motor and cognitive skills.

A very integral part of our intervention is our partnership with parents. We believe that for a child to truly thrive, we need their parents to be an equal participant in their educational journey. The admission process to KG is a unique phenomenon at Lotus Petal Foundation, as we counsel the parents of our children on the importance of enrolling their kids in the early childhood education intervention. It is important for the parents to understand that starting early and encouraging continuity in their child’s attendance are vital for the growth and development of their child. We also lay special emphasis on equipping parents to understand that their child’s classroom learning experience will be different from their peers and will incorporate more elements of art, less use of textbooks and components of rest and recovery.?

Did you know that gender discrimination and socialization starts at a very young age? And exposure to negative biases has the potential to become a part of our lifelong vocabulary ?

To assist the parents in unlearning such harmful societal practices, we conduct gender sensitization sessions during the induction program and encourage them to enroll their girl child. Along with this, we organize Parent-teacher meetings on a quarterly basis and routinely educate them on health, hygiene, attendance and nutrition. This is done to strengthen the child’s ecosystem and ensure that they have a conducive environment at school and home for maximum growth and development.?

As the National ECCE curriculum framework states that the curriculum for young learners should be more focused on activities and expression, our intervention stays true to it and has formulated an in-house curriculum that supports our children the best. Customized to reflect the association with their homes, all the worksheets and stories such as - Maa ki roti Gol Gol, are prepared by our in-house teachers for our young learners. Recognizing the need for introducing foundational skills in early childhood, we place a strong emphasis on the following aspects:?

1. Recognition : This relates to recall value of a student in terms of their association with alphabets, shapes, colors and numbers?
2. Reading: This relates to the ability of the children to read 2 and 3 letter words so that it becomes a part of their muscle memory
3. Play-Based Activities: To enhance their recall value through activity-based learning and educational aids

Learning is a continuous process for our children. To support our children's learning and socio-emotional needs, we have developed dedicated corners for - reading, resting, creativity and play. Along with this, there is a dedicated playing area for children, where they are encouraged to play, interact and enjoy the space whilst also strengthening their muscles. These spaces give adequate importance to experiential learning and play, so that children can freely indulge in having fun and also hone their curiosity. Even the dining area is a learning space, where children learn how to chew food properly, sit in a formal dining space and eat on a table, wash their hands and sit in silence for meals with their peers.?

Transitioning can be daunting. For our parents and children this change is necessary and inevitable. But do you know what makes the transitioning process in Vidyananda something to look forward to??

• Our teachers?
• Our curriculum,
• And our Emerald Staff members.?

When children transition into the school from their homes, they let go of their parents' hands and enter a new world. Even parents have to wrestle with the thought of an empty nest and letting their children take the first flight. Many of our children speak different languages and dialects at home, and for them to transition into a new language, learning system and culture is difficult. But our teachers see to it that the children seamlessly transition into hindi and English in a phased manner. Activities such as theater, drama, dancing and circle time - focus on creating a safe space for the kids to open up, speak, share, learn and interact with each other. Our teachers and emerald staff have been with us for over 7 years, and their familiar faces support the continuity and care needed for the child to feel comfortable, safe and grow.?

The ECCE intervention at Lotus Petal Foundation is truly one of a kind. All our in house teachers use flash cards, educational aids, flow charts, art and craft kits to encourage creative thinking and expression in the children. It is our responsibility that there is zero stress on their tiny fingers. Even though we teach subjects such as math, English, GK and hindi, they are all taught the fundamentals in the most interactive way possible. For us, building our children’s comprehension, expression and learning through activities rather than filling their notebooks has proven beneficial.?

As we discussed the various aspects of our ECCE intervention through Vidyananda, here are the top 10 highlights making it truly unique:?

• Specialized breakfast: Highly nutritious breakfasts for young minds three times a week?
• Parent partnership : ?Essential for child’s pre-primary to primary journey?
• Special Educators: Trained counselors devise home-grown solutions and closely work with parents and teachers to support children with special needs even before the formal testing is done.
• Teacher Selection: Young learners are very energetic and get easily distracted. So it is of utmost importance that our teachers be attuned to their learning needs and create an atmosphere where they respond to them positively. Hence, all our teachers are selected based on their ability to engage the young minds, apart from other means of selection in terms of culture fitment, understanding of the subject etc.?
• Teacher Training: As we cater to a diverse group of children, we organize regular training sessions for all our teachers focusing on strengthening their capacity in addressing FLN gaps along with classroom and teaching related concepts. These training sessions are aimed at honing the conceptual understanding along with finding contextual and engaging ways to take back to the classrooms.?
• Contextualized Learning Material: Designed by in-house teachers for increased associative learning
• Rest Time: Unique long hours with inbuilt rest time implemented through nap rooms to support parent and children’s needs?
• Dedicated Reading corners: Exclusive age appropriate reading corners in each classroom from KG to class 2. These corners are designated spots inside their respective classrooms and include age-appropriate books based on their grade level.
• Circle Time: Enables children to open up and engage. Includes monthly themes such as - self introduction, shapes, colors, classroom etiquettes, health, national symbols among others? to ensure learning and retention through creative repetition.
• Motor skill development through sustainability: Developing motor skills through the usage of waste materials to carry out activities like: tearing, pasting, drawing.?

As practitioners and professionals working in the Early Childhood Care and Education space, what are some of the challenges you face while working with young children hailing from disadvantaged backgrounds? What are some of the strategies you have adopted to impart ECCE to young learners and have seen results?

References:?

1. https://www.unesco.org/en/early-childhood-education/need-know
2. https://www.right-to-education.org/fr/node/1466
3. https://www.centralsquarefoundation.org/articles/findings-from-csfs-research-on-early-childhood-education-in-india
4. National ECCE Curriculum Framework.
5. https://ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in/hsp10/chapter/ecce-in-india-ecce-ece-ecd/