THE IMPORTANCE OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Pedagogical structure for school education based on principles of brain development and learning has been developed based on a 5 + 3 + 3 + 4 design.

It is very important to nurture the BACHPAN and to motivate the early learners to come to school; it is essential to give them a happy place and a congenial environment.

As per the guidelines of NEP, special emphasis has been given to Early Childhood Care & Education (ECCE) programme with learning modules in mother tongue, story narrations and happy classrooms. It includes:

1. Equal emphasis on all subjects – science, social sciences, art, languages, sports, mathematics – with integration of vocational and academic streams in school.

2. The Policy has several concerted initiatives to ensure that no child loses any opportunity to learn and excel because of the circumstances of birth or background.

3. Creative digital lesson plans have been devised to disseminate knowledge to the students and to keep them attracted to the videos made by teachers.

4. Power point presentations and interesting quizzes have been conducted by the teachers, using various audio visual applications to enable the students enjoy and learn their subjects .

Early childhood

Hands-on experiential learning approach accelerates learning, improves retention because it amalgamates all domains of learning – cognitive, psychomotor and affective in the learning process.

5. Story narrations, word clouds, puzzles, crosswords,One word answers, buzz, Debates, Declamations, JAM sessions, HAM Sessions, Group Discussions, project work have been added in the online classroom sessions to assist the learning process of the students.

6. Online MCQ tests , subjective assessment,content interviews,one word answers have been very carefully designed by the teachers to assess and identify the learning gaps of the students.

7 . Extra classes, doubt clarification sessions have been scheduled on a regular basis with a motto to help and guide the students.

8. Regular content based offline modules have been uploaded with numericals and the capsule questions for the revision of the topics covered to be done by the students on their classboard so that they can be checked by the teachers and the guidance can be given for better presentation of the answers.

9. Project activities and group activities have been conducted to promote team spirit and group learning .

10. The portfolios and the practical files have been maintained in a sequential order as and how the practicals are conducted in the classes using – Olabs.

11. Co- curricular activities like yoga, dance, drama, art, painting, music, etc have been scheduled carefully to de-stress the students from academic burden.

12. Morning assemblies,meditation and yoga sessions have been inculcated in the regular time table.

13. Community services like – Mask making,food packets distribution,Covid awareness compaigns etc.have been conducted with large scale massive participations.

14. Sustainable development goals have been infused in the students for a better tomorrow by the means of PROJECT PAANI,PROJECT ITIHAAS,E-waste management, Rainwater harvesting, Save Resources etc.

In my opinion,to imbibe these changes in the educational system,we as school heads and educationists have to plan and execute certain amendments in our approach.

Plan of action

1. Hands-on experiential learning approach for conceptual understanding. This process involves guided practice, reflection, observation and evaluation. It accelerates learning, improves retention because it amalgamates all domains of learning – cognitive, psychomotor and affective in the learning process.

2. Encouraging learners to explore topics across disciplines for holistic understanding (inter-disciplinary approach)- ensure more meaningful, holistic and cohesive learning experience for the students.

3. Developing 4Cs -Critical thinking, Communication, Collaboration and Creativity.

4. To prepare the students think and adopt an eco-friendly lifestyle since the primary level of education.

5. “Knowledge of India”- To include knowledge from ancient India and its contributions to modern India and its successes and challenges, and a clear sense of India’s future aspirations with regard to education, health, environment, etc.These elements will be incorporated.

6. Holistic learning with Indian values so that there is no culture drain for our generation next.

Nisha Aneja is Senior School Incharge at GD Goenka Public School, Rohini, Delhi