Using a variety of materials to promote learning

Our baseline studies showed that Yadgir had the highest number of children who do not have access to pre-school education. We developed the programme to improve child-care practices and the quality of early year education in Anganwadis across Yadgir.

The pre-school education programme is a combination of our train-the-trainer model alongside improving materials and classrooms for the young ones. Classrooms are improved in terms of organization, availability and variety of teaching and learning materials, thus helping trainers and workers to conduct creative activities in the Anganwadi centres.

As part of the Anganwadi worker training, several topics are covered such as the importance of a developing brain, the needs and considerations to be followed while teaching and the practical methods to encourage children to follow hygiene. Onsite mentoring is continuously provided by programme coordinators to Anganwadi workers to help them collate and create activity-based teaching from locally available materials.

Regular home visits take place to impart the necessity of early childhood development and address irregular attendance, illness, hygiene, social adjustment and any other issues. Regular mothers’ meetings are also organized at Anganwadi centres to emphasize the importance of pre-school education.

There has been considerable improvement in pre-school activity-based learning and in school-readiness of children entering primary school.

The five-year plan of the ECD intervention has been developed with the Department of Women & Child Welfare for collaboration and support.