Dr Sonawat, national award-winning educator and director of Early Childhood Education, Ampersand said, "90% of a child’s brain is developed in the first six years," and with the state-of-the-art lesson plans, tech-enabled classrooms and curated syllabus, our "Anganwadi students are being prepared for first grade before they enter mainstream school."
Speaking at the event organised on completion of the reformed early education model’s pilot at 25 Anganwadis in Nashik, Dr Sonawat also said that their Model or Adarsh Anganwadis are expanding people’s limited view of Anganwadis as free khichdi and babysitting service to legitimate education centres.
Ampersand, a private firm was allotted 25 Anganwadis in Nashik under the PPP (Public-Private Partnership) model to improve the teacher-quality and to strengthen basic concepts for children at an early age. The teachers of 25 Anganwadis spent 175 hours being training in understanding child psychology, the way a child’s brain and body develops, building empathy for children and using digital equipment to be used in classrooms.
Sangita Nikam, the model Anganwadi’s teacher, said that the training has helped her to understand kids’ needs and accordingly deliver knowledge in a way they enjoy and remember. She said, “The training has increased my confidence as a teacher. I can now operate a laptop and other technology used in classrooms. I believe I am positively impacting the upcoming generation.” Nikam also said that with the e-learning system, kids' interest has spiked up, they are also able to understand various math, language and science concepts with ease.
The model Anganwadi programme is educating teachers on how to educate children most effectively at an early age. The event also had parents smiling ear to ear watching their kids performing a poem for the guests.
“My daughter knows everything, she can count till 10 and recite several poems. She loves it here, she happily eats here while at home, I have to run behind her,” said Rohini Patil, mother of a 3-year-old girl who loves to get her pictures clicked.
The Anganwadi we were at was one of the two model Anganwadis. While usually Anganwadis are run in homes of people in every area, Ampersand wanted to introduce a more established structure and decided to have a physical place students can come to every day. The Anganwadi is a well-lit decent sized room with a washroom and open area outside, the space has been provided by the police department.
Dr Sonawat informed s that the activities are designed to improve the muscle growth of children which in turn helps them have a better grip while writing. The teachers are also trained to recognize children who might need extra care and attention. The parents of such students are asked to have them diagnosed properly by medical professionals for learning difficulty and attention deficit problems. The class activities are also then twisted accordingly cater to the needs of such students.
After a year and a half of running the Model Anganwadis, Ampersand is now hoping to extend the programme to all of Nashik and other cities with a little more help from the government.
