Many young children lost out on education during the pandemic, as everything moved online, including classes. But, early childhood care and development (ECCD) is extremely important for young children. How does one tackle this problem?
__
Pushplata Kunkal, an 8-year-old from the West Singhbhum district in Jharkhand, was an active, curious and cheerful girl, but her behaviour changed drastically during the second wave of Covid-19 last year.
She became aggressive, short tempered and showed a complete lack of interest in anything. The reason behind this drastic change was her inability to pursue studies during this period.
She started feeling left out as she saw her friends and peers carry on with their daily lessons. Her father, Arjun Singh Kunkal, worked as a labourer, and her mother, Drupati Kunkal, is an ASHA (accredited social health activist) worker.
Despite both her parents working, their income was not enough to make ends meet. Pushplata’s grandmother was also forced to take up labour work. Since her parents were illiterate, they were unable to support Pushplata’s studies and make her do her daily lessons.
What About Those Who Can’t Attend Online Classes?
Moreover, they couldn’t afford a smartphone and so, she couldn’t join online classes. Gradually, Pushplata’s interest in studies declined, which had an impact on her behaviour.
She started withdrawing from all activities that earlier excited her. This change left her parents deeply worried.
During the pandemic last year, when schools and Anganwadi centres were closed, parents and children participated in Save the Children’s program on early literacy and Maths (ELM), under “back to basics” project.
In the absence of access to quality, early childhood development opportunities at home, and systemic support from Anganwadi centres, toddlers failed to attain relevant learning milestones as they graduated into the primary education system.
Teaching Early Literacy And Mathematic Skills
During this critical period, early childhood care and development (ECCD) at home, emerged as one of the best response strategies to answer the developmental needs of young children, who were unable to attend classes at school.
The “back to basics” project specifically aims at improving access to quality early and foundational learning, for children in the age group of three to eight years.
During this time, our academic support fellows (ASFs)—who engage with the community on a regular basis and provide onsite support to Anganwadi workers and primary school teachers—started visiting the homes of children enrolled in Anganwadis and schools to conduct ELM sessions.
When ASF Onami Kumari Gope would do these activities with some children, Pushplata would stand and watch. One day, Onami called her and asked her for her name and other details.
Children Miss Out When They Can’t Go To School
The ASF found out that though she was a student of class two, the child couldn’t identify a single alphabet. Her poor performance even shocked her mother Drupati. She understood what her child lost out on by not having access to regular classes.
Drupati then requested the ASF to help her with her studies. Since Pushpalata’s parents were illiterate, they could not participate in her education. They pinned all their hopes on Onami, who explained the concepts of ELM to them, through Gulmohar.
Gulmohar is a collection of short, informative and easy-to-use videos at home. These videos are sent to parents’ groups and was also shared with Drupati.
“Despite being illiterate, Drupati took a keen interest in Pushplata’s studies. She took personal care to teach her daughter and develop her learning skills,” said Onami.
Drupati did not have a smartphone, but tried to do the activities with her child as directed in the videos. Later, she saved enough money to buy a smartphone and joined the parents’ group.
Role Of Parents In Their Children’s Education
After following the activities in the videos, her daughter Pushpalata learnt alphabet recognition, numbers and counting. Pushpalata’s interest in studies was also gradually restored.
“Now, my child is enjoying reading and is trying to teach other children along with her,” said Pushplata’s mother, who keenly attends village level parents’ meetings.
Acknowledging the fact that parents’ support can help young children cope with stress, Save the Children has developed the Gulmohar learning module.
This module has a package of activities, modelled for use by parents or caregivers at home, for experiential skill development among children i.e., learning by doing.
How Much Do We Spend On Education?
Through this intervention, critical challenges around educational gap during an emergency were addressed. The share of child education went down from 2.18% in 2020-’21, to 1.74 % in the union budget of 2021-’22.
This was alarming in the context of the National Education Policy (NEP, 2020), that recommends a total expenditure of 6% of the GDP (gross domestic product).
I welcome the new Education Policy of the Modi government. I had a discussion with the MoHD earlier which I had tweeted. My suggestion was the Education must get 6% of GDP not the present 1.7%. This has been accepted in the new Policy. My congrats.
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) July 29, 2020
As finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman gets ready to present the union budget this year on February 1, 2022, Save the Children recommends increasing the public funding on education to 6% of the GDP, as mandated by the NEP 2020.
Within that, allocate between 1.5% to 2.2% of the GDP, to provide universal, quality, early childhood education services to all children in the age group of three to six years.
This article was originally published here.