Early Childhood Care and Education webinar

A webinar on Early Childhood Care and Education was organized by the Ministry of Education under the ShikshakParv initiative to highlight the salient features of the New Education Policy (NEP 2020) today. Ministry of Education organized ShikshakParv from 8th September- 25th September 2020 to felicitate the Teachers and to take New Education Policy 2020 forward.

The session on ECCE was moderated by Dr. RomilaSoni, Associate Professor, NCERT. Dr. VenitaKaul, Ambedkar University, Prof. SunitiSanwal, NCERT and ShriMotilalKoirala, Principal, Govt Sr. Sec School, Kewzing, South district Sikkim eminent speakers.

Prof. Suniti initiated the discussion by explaining the recommendations of the National Education Policy 2020 with regard to ECCE. Continuing the talk, she spoke about the importance of nutrition in the early years of life right from conception till the age of 2 years of the child. She further elaborated on the relationship between nutrition, health, and learning. The rapid development of the child in the early 2 years of life was also explained at length. The speaker further emphasized that research studies show that in a child’s early years of life, nutrition is significantly linked to their health and academic performance in later years. 

Dr. Kaul explained the focal areas for Implementation of NEP and further emphasized that developing socializing skills among children is important in addition to the development of academic skills at early stages.  Advocacy at the community level and the parental role were highly emphasized in delivering quality ECCE. The importance of developmentally appropriate content and pedagogy was highlighted by the speaker through examples of joyful, play-based, and interest-based activities for children.  Dr. Kaul appreciated the NEP 2020 stating that the upward extension of the curriculum would be highly impactful for the smooth transition of children from pre-school to grade 1.

ShriMotilalKoirala, Principal, Govt Sr. Sec School, Kewzing, South district of Sikkim, shared the innovations and activities under ECCE such as child Yoga to keep children active, fit, and ready for learning. Sh. Koirala further informed that the children are provided toys, play equipment, books, and print-rich classrooms in the school so that children indulge in learning activities in a playful manner. He further emphasized that these activities would help in attracting the children to the school thereby increasing the enrolment.

In his concluding remarks, Dr. Senapaty summarised the session’s proceedings and elaborated that the New Education Policy 2020 would help in enriching Indian culture that reflects the values to be inculcated from the stage of ECCE.

News Source: Press Information Bureau

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