With 85% of brain development achieved before the age of six, ensuring adequate stimulation in the early years is critical to developing IQ and physical abilities. To take this message forward, a first-of-its-kind conference on Early Childhood Care & Education (ECCE) was organized in the national capital on Thursday, wherein eminent members of NITI Aayog, Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD), among others took part.
The conference, organised by India’s leading edtech non-profit Rocket Learning, called for an emphasis on equal quality education access to India’s youngest children (upto 8 year olds).
Indevar Pandey, Secretary, WCD, Amneet Kumar, Commissioner and Secretary, WCD, Haryana, Dr. V.K. Paul from NITI Aayog, and Karthik Muralidharan from University of California, were among guests at the event.
“We need to come together to create a stimulating environment for a child’s first 1000 days. A child is born loaded with information and millions of neuronal connections. If one is not stimulated intellectually, those neuronal connections start to fade. There is a need for us to mainstream the potential of the 0-3 age group and make advancements in conceptualisation of approaches that are more contextual and localized. And it’s pivotal that both parents share equal responsibility in engaging, interacting and teaching foundational skills to their youngest children,” said Dr. V. K. Paul.
WCD’s Indevar Pandey also addressed the conference during which he laid focus on the Indian government’s commitment to ensure high-quality education access for the 3 crore children, enrolled in the Anganwadi system, in the age group of 3 – 6. “Under the guidance of PM Modi and Union Minister Smriti Irani, one of my highest priorities is to ensure that the Anganwadi system becomes and is known as a high-quality learning system, through the “Poshan bhi, Padhai bhi” Initiatives,” he said.
Vishal Sunil, Co-Founder and CTO, of Rocket Learning spoke on the government’s recognition of play-based learning as an effective tool for ensuring early childhood development and its subsequent impact on the demographic dividend.
He said, “Our mission has been simple – Ensuring quality education accessible to all by meeting India’s youngest children where they are and through easily adaptable tech solutions like Whatsapp communities. With Udaan 2023, we strengthen our commitment to mobilizing an ecosystem-wide movement, leveraging a systems approach, to alleviate learning poverty during our lifetime.”
Rocket Learning is a major partner to the government in strengthening ECCE, and has been empowering low-income parents, Anganwadi workers and primary teachers to intellectually stimulate their youngest in their foundational years of 3 – 8 years. Impacting 1 Mn+ child, through 7 states and 70,000+ digital communities, Rocket Learning is on a mission to reach 5 Mn children by 2025.
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