Working With the Children

Widely defined as the period from birth to age six (and often extended until eight to account for the transition into primary school), early childhood serves as the foundation for a lifetime of growth and development.

We strongly believe that early childhood educational interventions have a strong remarkable impact on early learners. Using the 11 step methodology, we ensure that children coming to the government anganwadi centres in our intervention areas are taught in a language they understand, using resources and materials from their immediate surroundings and culture and are eventually made primary school ready.

The 11 step methodology –
This methodology consists of 11 learning circles: 1) Open Circle, 2) Show & Tell, 3) Planning time, 4) Working Time, 5) Story Time, 6)Cleaning Time, 7) Recall, 8) Snack time, 9) Outdoor and Indoor games, 10) Small groups and 11) Closing time.

Through introducing concepts of inclusion and caste-sensitive classrooms we aim to reduce inequalities and discrimination that children from marginalized communities (especially the Musahar community) suffer in schools. We aim at fostering a school culture of respect and belonging which provides children the opportunities to learn about and accept individual differences, lessening the impact of harassment and bullying.

This also helps the children in developing friendships with a wide variety of other children, each with their own individual needs and abilities.

Bal Sansad is a group of 12 children (including a President, Vice President and ministers for different categories such as Education, Protection, Environment etc.) who come together once a month to discuss prevalent issues in and outside schools related to education, child protection, etc. and find solutions for the same. The Balsansad plays an essential role in ensuring that all child-related issues are brought forward and resolved and that the children find ways to increase retention in schools by encouraging other children around them.

The Sansad also boosts confidence among the children and helps in developing leadership skills. The Sansad works at 3 levels – the group of children come together in the first round along with an Edu-volunteer (to oversee the smooth functioning of the parliament), for the second level the Edu-volunteer meets with the teacher and discusses the issues brought up by the children regarding the school or the teachers and work towards resolving the same, for the third level the community related issues are brought in and discussed with the School Management Committee, along with the teacher and the Edu-volunteer

The introduction of Arts and Aesthetics in schools, especially in conflict and crisis areas, is an initiative towards increasing the interest of the children in coming to school and ultimately to act as a psychosocial support mechanism to help the children in coping with their emotions.

The arts and aesthetics also provides a way for these children to express their thoughts and feelings and to connect their art, culture and formal school atmosphere with each other.

Camps (summer camps, sports camps etc.) are a simple way to keep children interested in coming to schools and be involved in other extra-curricular activities such as skits, dance, singing, drawing, sports etc. Attending these camps helps the children come closer to each other since sometimes they have to work in teams, invokes feelings of togetherness, sharing and acceptance while also promoting creativity and leadership skills.