Early Childhood Care and education (ECCE) Centre/ Pre Primary Education Centres

Main idea of the project is to lay strong foundation of young girls age between 3-5years for higher education by imparting early childhood education through innovative ways in curriculum content, methodology and conducive classroom environment.

Pre primary education lays the foundation for the overall growth and development of the child. It has been proved many times in various researches that students who join primary school after completing pre-primary education perform better and learn faster than the students who come directly without attending any pre-primary education. It is well known that pre primary education is necessary building block to a child’s transition to primary school. It is well established that a child that does not undergo a programme of early childhood learning has difficulty in learning at the primary level and ends up being either a slow learner through out her/his life or even dropping out of the system early on.

Pre primary education is needed because

• It would incline children towards school
• It would generate interest towards education in young children
• It would improve the performance and learning skills of children
• It would reduce the dropout rate especially among girl children
• It would lay the foundation for further education
• It would bring cooperation among children
• It would bring positive and innovative development of children’s brain
• It would help improving female literacy rate in the state
• It would reduce gender gap in education system
• It would help achieving millennium development goal
• It has also been proved in researches that if minority children are given such friendly-equitable environment in the beginning years of life they have more chances to join the mainstream

Curriculum

Curriculum which is chosen by children is pertaining to their lives and surroundings. They play with plants and learn and understand various parts of such plants and teacher facilitate such activities and inform them various benefits of such plants. Similarly they understand the concepts of family, animals, food and other concepts related to their environment by telling about their family members, food they eat at home and animals they have observed in their home and nearby. Children learn basic concepts of mathematics by using local material available in the environment. They bring three sticks from the field and start playing with them at the ground while lying these sticks on the ground teacher assist them and inform them about the position of these lines. If the stick is perpendicular, teacher tell students that it standing line, if the stick is lying horizontally then they are told that it is called sleeping line, if stick is lying at 120 degree it is called slanting line. Similarly they understand the concepts of shapes by available local material like Chapati, bangle, coin, slat, copy, blackboard etc. they are also provided various types of shapes made of eva rubber (non toxic) sheets. They learn numbers and number operations by using dice, marbles, sticks, number cards, mathematical strings, number charts, number mosaics etc. They learn language while playing with mosaic which contains 26 alphabets of English, 52 alphabets of Hindi, poem, stories, workbooks, alphabet charts, alphabet cards etc. Teachers assist and facilitate children in using such education material and provide positive reinforcement as and when required

Salient Features of ECCE

• Education centres for marginalized girls only.
• Open for all religion, cast and creed.
• Child friendly, cultural and community friendly classroom.
• Imparting pre-primary education through innovative, entertaining and interesting methods through ECCE Centers.
• Maximum utilization of local material along with commercial education material.
• Syllabus is divided into themes and are taught with the help of plans.
• Completion of pre-primary education within two years.
• ECCE Centers exclusively for girl children.
• Locating ECCE centre in the center of village with the support of the community.
• Only female teachers provide education. This provision is made keeping in mind the cultural aspect of the community.
• The enrollment age of students in ECCE Centers is 3-5 year.
• Timing of the classes is scheduled as per the convenience of the students.
• Duration of classes is 4 hours a day and 24 hours a week.
• Free teaching learning material for students and centers.
• Formative evaluation and constant monitoring of the progress of every student.
• Participatory and Communicative methods of teaching are employed.
• Part of curriculum: songs, stories, poems, games, puppets, puzzles, cards, drawing, craft, origami, clay modeling, field visit, children also plant their own flower and vegetable beds and take part in campaigns clean village paths and water sources – Environmental Education
• Development of curriculum and training modules
• Regular meetings with the education volunteers, parents and community members
Community participation through local Committees and Gram Panchayats is ensured.
• Awareness programme on the importance of pre primary education, girls education and RTE Act 2009.
eneral awareness, heath awareness and nutritional food programmes for children and women are important components of the Project.

AGS is running ECCE/ Pre Primary education centres in various villages of Mewat district in the state of Haryana and slums of Delhi to impart pre-primary education to girls age between 3-5 years and it is considered as school readiness programme for children entering primary school.

Early Childhood Education to the children age between 3-5 years is very important for the holistic child development. Until the Eighty-sixth Constitutional Amendment Act, 2001, was passed Article 45 (Directive Principles of State Policy) of the Indian Constitution directed the state to provide free and compulsory education to all children up to the age of fourteen. The earlier inclusion of 0-6 years-old children within this constitutional directive implied the intent to provide conditions for holistic child development with pre-school education as an important component. Articulating the intent to specifically cater to the needs of the 0-6 years-old children, the Eighty-sixth constitutional Amendment Act has substituted Article 45 (Directive Principles of State Policy) to read “The state shall endeavour to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of six years”. The National Policy on Education (NPE) adopted in 1986 views early childhood education (ECE) as a crucial input in the strategy of human resource development, as a feeder and support programme for primary education.

Primary Education

AGS started imparting primary education to out of school and drop out girls through non formal education centers in the year 2001 in Mewat region in the state of Haryana under its national programme “Shiska Muhim” movement for education. AGS has run more than 100 such education centres for underprivileged girls in the state of Haryana in various blocks of Mewat district- Nuh. Nagina, Punhana, Hathin (now Hathin is merged with Palwal district). This programme is running in collaboration with state government and other agencies. Out of these 100 centres, 50 centres also had provision of providing vocational training (tailoring).

Main thrust of this project is on imparting free quality primary education to out of school girls age between 6-14 years because AGS believes that while high quality basic education is important for everyone, supporting girls’ education is a single-highest-yielding investment for a country like ours can make. Studies show that girls who are educated marry later, have fewer and healthier children and are better able to care for their families. Advocacy for Right to Education and health awareness programme for the students are important components of this project.

High rate of female illiteracy, high rate of drop-outs especially girls and large number of out of school girls, ill-health, low status of girls/women and poverty on one side and change in the attitude of people especially women towards girls education and their eagerness to send their girls to education centres, though at their conditions, on the other hand, have motivated AGS to open more centres in this region. AGS efforts and results in this region since 2000, community support through its participation and girls’ determination to learn, earn and have better health have also enhanced level of motivation of AGS staff to work in this region.

Before starting its journey towards its goal, AGS conducted a need assessment survey in the Meo community of Haryana. AGS familiarity with the region and its rapport with the people (which was gradually established) helped AGS to convince people about the usefulness of girl’s education. AGS are continuing its efforts of making people aware with the help of teachers, coordinators and village level education committees. It was observed that earlier people especially women were giving more importance to skill development and least interested in education but after AGS intervention the attitude of women has changed towards girl education.

AGS have also observed that during the harvesting seasons especially in the months of January-February and April-May the attendance of older girls in schools falls drastically as the children have to work in the fields to earn money. These girls also have to look after younger siblings and other household chores and this contributes to falling attendance. Girls also visit Mosque every day in the morning and evening to get religious education. In its regular meetings with parents of these children, AGS is successful at great extent to convince the former to send their children to schools regularly. In circumstances like these AGS centers prove to be very helpful as the timings of these centers are flexible suiting the convenience of the girls. AGS also appoint female teachers in its centers to establish a comfort level between parents, teachers and students.

Salient Features of Primary Education

• Imparting free quality primary education through Education centers
• Completion of primary education within three years
• Education centers exclusively for illiterates and drop out girls
• Keeping in mind the cultural constraint of the region only female teachers provide education
• The enrollment age of students in education centers is 6-14 years
• Timing of the classes is scheduled as per the convenience of the students
• Location of the education centre is provided by the community
• Culture, gender and community sensitive education centres
• Duration of classes is four hours a day and 24 hours a week
• Participatory and Communicative methods of teaching are employed
• Community participation through Village Level Education Committee (VLEC) and Gram Panchayat skill development and enhancement of income generation and economic independence are necessary supportive activities

Education for Adult Women/Girls

ADI GRAM SAMITI is running education centres to impart literacy and primary education to those girls/women who are above 15 years and less than 35 years. Main purpose of this adult education programme is to educate those girls/women who could not study in the school due to several reasons and now cannot study in the formal school. Salient Features of Education for adult Women/Girls

• Imparting literacy and primary education through education centers
• Completion of primary education within two years
• Financial literacy is an essential part
• Education centers exclusively for illiterates and drop out girls/women
• Keeping in mind the cultural constraint of the region only female teachers provide education
• The enrollment age of students in education centers is 15-35 years
• Timing of the classes is scheduled as per the convenience of the students
• Duration of classes is four hours a day and 24 hours a week
• Participatory and Communicative methods of teaching are employed
• Community participation through Village Level Education Committee (VLEC) and Gram Panchayat
• Skill development and enhancement of income generation and economic independence are necessary supportive activities