About Us

Our Journey

While working in the space of education for almost 20 years we worked with children from different contexts and backgrounds. We observed that most of the children during the early years enjoy similar kinds of games, their eagerness to learn new things is similar, they enjoy songs and stories but when they reach to Grade 4 and 5, we see a visible difference in the way children connect with the curricular activities in the school.

Why does this happen?

Different research studies clearly mention that early childhood experiences play a significant role in the way children develop cognitively, emotionally and socially. We also observed through our work that the children who received rich learning experiences during pre-school continued to meaningfully engage in the process of learning during primary grades. We realised that the lack of exposure to quality ECCE was one significant reason because of which children did not fulfill the curricular expectations during primary grades. The other reasons of disengagement from the process of learning included:
a) irrelevant curricular material (language, content)
b) educators’ inability to introduce curricular content in a meaningful context
c) teaching for testing
Children engage with the process of learning when they learn with meaning and relevance.



We also felt that for any kind of systemic transformation, we need to weave a strong relationship between all the stakeholders and the educational components such as curriculum, shared vision and a holistic time table. Teachers are the entry point of any educational change.

We began our journey of transformation by organising a series of online conversations ‘Shikshan-Shilp’ to listen to the voices of educators from various parts of India. It was very well received and we managed to connect with around 500 educators. Later we trained 1000+ ECCE teachers through online training by collaborating with various organisations.

A Major Leap

Our second major step was conducting a month-long series of online story-telling sessions ‘Gutargoon’ – FLy with the magic of stories! In collaboration with the Directorate of School Education, Jammu for the young children between the age of 5-8 years. The aim was to develop children’s interest in stories and provide them a happy space for learning and expressing themselves. Children enjoyed the stories and enthusiastically participated in all the activities. ‘Gutargoon’ was followed by another series of storytelling sessions ‘Katha-Shilp’ with the State Council of Educational Training and Research (SCERT), Jammu and Miranda House College, Delhi University. Our young storytellers have now taken over these sessions, they read and narrate stories to their friends every week.

We collaborated with the Jammu Kashmir Association of Social Workers (JKASW) on a UNICEF supported systemic change project and got a variety of opportunities to enhance the quality of ECCE for the young children of Jammu and Kashmir. A major breakthrough was home based learning modules for parents ‘Anganshala’ that provides developmentally appropriate suggestive activities for the children of 3-6 years of age to support holistic development. It reached out to 11000 children in J & K. We are in the process of digitalizing ‘Anganshala’ to reach out to more children who do not have access to school.

Since ‘Anganshala’ was well received by the parents and children. We created yearlong theme-based activity books for 3-4, 4-5 and 5–6-year-old children. Experts from SCERT reviewed those books and they are under print now. They will be distributed to 74000+ children across the UT of Jammu and Kashmir. When the COVID restrictions were lifted, we trained 150 master trainers for ECCE from the Department of School Education, Jammu and Kashmir. They have trained 5000+ teachers by now. We also created the teacher training modules for Vidya Pravesh which is to be used to train 87000+ teachers across J & K.

We got an opportunity to work with the ICDS Department. We reviewed the ICDS curriculum ‘Nanhe Kadam’ and created supportive activity books based on the guidelines of NIPUN Bharat Mission. We also trained 68 ECCE Master Trainers. The curriculum has been launched by the Directorate of ICDS, Jammu and Kashmir on 1st April 2022. The curriculum will benefit around 30000 Anganwadi Workers and 4 lakhs children between the age of 3-6 years in the region.

We look at strengthening and deepening our work in the space of ECCE by creating need-based and evidence-based content for children, teachers and parents, implementing it on the ground level and evaluating the already existing programmes.

Vision

To provide equitable quality education to children during foundational years.

Mission

We work towards enhancing the quality of ECCE by creating and implementing organized foundational years programmes for various stakeholders.

Providing equitable quality education to children during foundational years

Promoting and implementing developmentally appropriate practices for the holistic development of children.

Enhancing literacy and numeracy skills during foundational years.

Creating conducive learning environment for young children.

Empowering teachers to create and implement developmentally appropriate curriculum.

Involving parents in children’s learning.

Core beliefs

  • Childhood is a unique phase of life.
  • All domains of development (physical, emotional, social and cognitive) are equally important.
  • All children have capability to learn.
  • Each child is a valued member of learning community.
  • Play is an essential part of children’s learning
  • Children learn the best when they learn with meaning and relevance.
  • Relationship between teacher and learner plays a significant role in learning.
  • The bond between child and family is precious.

Connect

Compassion

Inclusiveness

Integrity

What We Do

Our Team

Amita Kaushik

Shilpa Thakral

Anandi Tokas

Anshita Mishra

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