“We need technology in every classroom and in every student and teacher’s hand, because it is the pen and paper of our time, and it is the lens through which we experience much of our world.” – David Warlick

As educator and author David Warlick reminds us, technology is permeating every sphere, and it has the potential to revolutionise learning as we know it. Bringing Information and Communication Technologies (or ICT) into the classroom can lead to greater developmental outcomes. Research shows structured exposure to thoughtfully constructed and well informed choices of technology supports young learners in many aspects of learning – language development and development of mathematical thinking. It also provides an opportunity for children with special needs to explore information on their own or with a little support from adults.

What Are The Benefits Of Using Technology In Education?

To keep up with the changing pace of education and to gain 21^st century skills, technology needs to be interwoven into the early curriculum. As children live in a world dominated by technology and digitisation, we need to adapt our teaching styles to how they want to learn. Here are some key advantages to using ICT in education.

• Increased student engagement, as evidenced by research
• Technology can penetrate far-flung geographical regions, increasing access and promoting equitable learning
• Educators and caregivers find it easier to track and monitor children’s performance when they are using technology
• Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning have taken ICT to a new level; adaptive, personalised instruction enhances technology offerings
• Taking certain manual tasks online means teachers spend less time on paperwork
• At its core and used effectively, ICT builds a bridge between students of different learning levels

The History Of ICT In Indian Education

June 1923
India’s first brush with ICT in education came with a radio broadcast by the Radio Club of Mumbai.

The 1930s
The BBC aired educational and cultural programs in India through broadcast radio.

1937
All India Radio broadcasted educational programs for school children.

1961
Educational Television (ETV), a pilot project by UNESCO and the Ford Foundations, was introduced in secondary schools in Delhi.

1984
For the first time in India, computers were used for education, in the Computer Literacy and Studies in School (CLASS) project.

2002
Gyan Vani, an educational radio station for all learners, including adults, came on air.

December 2004
The concept of ICT is introduced in schools.

2010
The Central Government revised this concept to include secondary school students too.

2020
The National Education Policy highlights the need for a dedicated unit to develop digital infrastructure and digital content, and increase India’s ICT-based educational initiatives.

*sources: Agrawal, 2005; Mohanty, 1984; NEP 2020

Leading early childhood experts have been studying the effect of the pandemic and subsequent disruption in learning. According to the UNESCO-UNICEF-World Bank survey on National Education responses to Covid-19 school closures, television-based remote learning policies have the potential to reach the highest proportion of students (62%), which amounts to almost 930 million students worldwide. Stakeholders across the Indian educational ecosystem have been tapping into this opportunity, leveraging technology like TV and radio to reach a larger subset of the student population.

A UNICEF report on India mentions, “School closures have impacted 247 million children enrolled in elementary and secondary education and 28 million children enrolled in pre-schools and Anganwadi centers. This is in addition to the more than 6 million girls and boys who were already out of school before the Covid-19 crisis.” 

Recognising how the school closures could lead to a devastating learning loss, pandemic-driven ICT initiatives took learning from the classroom into homes around India.

ICT-Driven Initiatives Across India

BY GOVERNMENTS

Chhattisgarh: The state’s dense forest cover impedes its ability to digitally connect with all young learners. To overcome this, the state launched multiple initiatives during the lockdown. They started local classes called ‘Padhai Tuhar Para’, during which study material was shared via Bluetooth. They even crowdsourced content from teachers, NGOs, and other content development firms at zero cost.

Kerala: This government launched virtual classes through their educational television channel called Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE), which had launched in 2005. This government had already digitally linked classes – even primary classes – well before the pandemic hit, and transitioning online was relatively seamless.

Maharashtra: The Government of Maharashtra partnered with the Department of School Education and UNICEF (only technical support) to keep learning going. Their program – named The Learning from Home Package – comprises educational content from various technological platforms like TV, radio, and the internet, and is shared daily with parents and children to ensure even the most vulnerable receive educational support. 

Madhya Pradesh: This state envisioned a new learning initiative called DigiLEP, integrating digital learning with classroom teaching in the post-Covid era, using one of the most widely used phone apps – WhatsApp. 

*These initiatives make these states the perfect launching pad for the World Bank’s STARS project, which will provide USD 500 million to the governments of Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Rajasthan, to support and strengthen the quality of school education.

BY ORGANISATIONS, NGOS, & INDIVIDUALS

SmarterED Platform by Lenovo: The technology company partnered with Vidyalaya, a non-profit, to enable volunteer teachers to educate young students from grades 5 to 12.

School-to-Home by Square Panda India: Square Panda’s ‘School-to-Home’ program recognises the importance of keeping the learning going and is extending education beyond school boundaries. Using blended learning and AI based technology, our system allows children to learn and improve their literacy skills even when they are physically distant from schools. Additionally, teachers can stay connected to students’ learning and build a partnership with parents too.

Individual Efforts By Educators And Anganwadi Workers: Adding to the national, international, and local efforts are the bravehearts fighting to deliver learning – our educators and Anganwadi workers. Meet some inspiring folks innovating during the learning crisis, here.

Challenges To Integrating ICT In Education

• Usage of technology is subject to its availability. This digital availability is intermittent at best across multiple regions in India, although measures have been taken to shore up these access gaps.
• Integrating technology into preschool and early education requires the presence of skilled educators and facilitators who can deal with issues as they crop up. Training teachers in ever-evolving technologies, regularly upgrading their skills, and keeping them informed of the latest developments and best practices is a Herculean task.
• Learning centres need the latest hardware and software for effective integration of digital technology. Setting up such facilities needs large investments on the part of the educational institutions and governments.
• Without guidance and effective integration, ICT has the potential to turn active engagement into passive use, affecting children’s cognitive, social, and emotional development.

3 Strategies To Incorporate ICT In Early Education

1. Continuous Training & Assistance For Educators: The involvement of educators and caregivers is critical to the success of technology integration in early learning centres.  Teachers need skilling in ICT to understand how technology can be used as a lesson delivery platform to present information to children. Additionally, regular training can overcome the initial resistance to technology in the classroom, and constant support serves to give educators more confidence as they use technology to drive learning outcomes.
2. Public-Private Partnerships (PPP): Leveraging private organisation funds and technology in public schools can solve accessibility issues and raise infrastructure support across grassroots. The public sector will also benefit from the constant innovation and security protocols that are in place in such private entities.
3. Create Blended Or Hybrid Learning Centres: This model combines new-age technology with traditional methods of learning to get best results out of both. For example, traditionally, a teacher would use flashcards, story books, and puppets to tell a story. New dimensions can be added using a digital drawing board, or even by an app that makes sounds to enhance storytelling time.
   *Read our expert suggestions on how to set up blended classrooms easily.

Square Panda India & ICT

At Square Panda, we recognise the importance of equipping educators with technological know-how. Our educator empowerment programs include basic training about ICT, where we include topics about cyber safety and age-appropriate digital tools too. Our aim is to empower educators and help them use various tools and platforms effectively for teaching and learning, which in turn improves their professional development. Our programs are built to shape the future of our nation by transforming the way educators teach.

Square Panda India MD, Ashish Jhalani, remarks that “Many young children are first time technology users. Even before the pandemic increased edutech usage in schools, we saw how digital literacy improved over just a short time with our program. Children went from having no exposure to digital tools to being able to use tablets and mobile apps with ease. All this apart from the foundational literacy skills these children picked up.”

How do you use technology for teaching and learning in early childhood education? Comment below.

Children’s futures are shaped by those who teach them. In many homes across India — where parents often lack access to appropriate educational resources — caregivers and educators are the primary source of learning for young children. For a chance at a better future, however, we believe the responsibility towards learning should not rest solely on these educators and caregivers, but must also lie with the children themselves. Our efforts should concentrate on making children more independent while learning. 

Why Focus On Creating Independent Learners?

Research driven by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) shows independent learning has immense benefits to children, and is a high-impact, low-cost way to improve learning outcomes.

The advantages of inculcating independent study skills are far-reaching. A report named ‘What is Independent Learning and What are the Benefits for Students? (2008)’, stated the following benefits of independent learning for children:

– Develop more self-confidence
– They feel in control
– Creativity increases
– Increased social inclusion
– Ability to complete varied tasks set by teachers and caregivers

Encouraging such independent learning can happen from a very young age, but educators and caregivers need to understand how much guided intervention is needed, and when children are expected to be self-reliant. Here are five simple strategies to help turn young children into independent learners.

1.  Partner with parents

“In a 24-hour day, eight hours are the school’s time, eight hours are the child’s own time of sleep, and eight hours are the home time. Any learning that is happening in early childhood education, 1/3 rd of it is happening at home,” says Dr. Jawahar Surisetti (Advisor to Government, TED Speaker, Smart City Consultant, Start-Up Mentor, Psychologist, Bestselling Author, Speaking Tree Columnist).

Studies indicate children’s learning outcomes improve when they have the right guidance and instructional support even outside the classroom. Build a looped early learning ecosystem by increasing parental involvement in their child’s learning. Higher parental engagement supports learning even outside school hours and increases the likelihood of children wanting to learn without guided instruction.

For example, Square Panda India’s learning program for children has an in-built adaptive engine that reads individual children’s digital activity and provides real-time data to adults (parents, teachers, district administrators), whether the child is at home or is in school.

2.  Build special learning spaces

A key step to inculcating self-learning habits is designating a special space to learn. Set aside one corner of the classroom/home as a ‘learning corner’ filled with fun learning props. Partnering with parents comes in handy here; recruit them, or better yet, ask your students to help in creating their own learning spaces. Some examples of such spaces include:

• Reading Corner: To turn your pre-readers into independent readers, you will need to give them easy access to books, both physical and digital. Hang a basket or set a colourful bucket within easy reach of your kids, and fill it with books of all kinds. This gives them an opportunity to read a book of their choosing.
• Creative Corner: Fill this space with child-friendly creative tools like paint, crayons, art paper, magazine cutouts, colour pencils, and more. Let children doodle, finger paint, and express their ideas in any way they choose.
• Free-play Area: Grab different toys and trinkets you think your little learners would play with, and let them enjoy this space.

3.  Offer children a choice

Choices reflect preferences and interests. Children that are given a choice are encouraged to take a bigger role in their own learning. Asking them to make a choice on something simple (which colour do you want to use) or more complex (what items do you want to add in this learning corner) empowers children and gives them control over varied aspects of their learning.

4.  Assign groups

Children should be able to identify the people around them as potential resources to solve problems. Build teams and groups of children for projects and play-time as well. Letting them learn from their peers can benefit their independent learning as well. Working with others not only develops their social emotional skills, but also helps them solve problems on their own to get answers rather than rely on the teacher/educator.

5.  Identify and understand problem areas

Diverse classrooms with diverse learners mean educators and caregivers are faced with a diverse set of problems. Not every learner adapts to free expression quite the same way. In fact, multiple research studies into independent learning models prove some children do struggle with aspects of self-learning. Our task is identifying what these stumbling blocks are, and working with our early learning partners to solve these problems.

Some children could be more introverted than others and avoid speaking up, allowing others to take the lead. Caregivers need to monitor and address such issues, taking care to let everyone take a turn equally, in a safe, non-judgemental space.

Square Panda India’s Foundational Program Encourages Independent Learning

To show the efficacy of our foundational literacy program, we conducted projects across the states of Chattisgarh, Maharashtra, and Pune, with children aged 2-10. A comparison of results pre and post implementation showed us:

– Children across all three states could independently use words we taught in brand-new sentences.
– Children explored concepts and skills independently without guided instruction, at schools and at home.
– They learnt to use digital devices without guidance.
– The utility of Square Panda as an exploratory platform for independent learning.
– The high level of effectiveness teachers can achieve with it if used as a method of instruction.

Learn more about Square Panda India and our NEP 2020-aligned teaching-learning programs at ecce.squarepanda.in

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With what do you equate early childhood education? 

Most people would likely relate this term with academics. While the primary focus of ECCE has always been academics, this is but one component that makes up the whole. Research tells us that social and emotional development is as deeply woven into the fabric of early education as academics. For example, a 2015 study by Jones, Greenberg, & Crowley linked higher social emotional skills in kindergarten with important outcomes like education, career, and social success by the age of 25.

Comprehensive programs that enhance foundational learning and include a component of socio-emotional skill development are perfectly geared towards delivering the best results for young learners.

Defining Social And Emotional Development

A child is considered to be developing socially and emotionally when they start to understand who they are, what they are feeling, and how to interact with others. They are able to:

• Forge and sustain positive relationships
• Experience, manage, and express emotions
• Explore and engage with those in their environment

Technology And Social Emotional Skills

While there is research about the usage of technology while developing socio-emotional skills, this does not take into account the scope of edutech as we know it today. Companies that provide digital learning tools for their young learners are more concerned with holistically empowering their audience. Their research takes into account each developmental domain and is increasingly focused on providing the best overall foundation for learning, with a special curriculum for developing social emotional skills.

When children work together on computers or other types of technology, they learn to negotiate and take turns. Conflicts may arise while working together, and young children will need to solve problems. Technology is very prevalent in young children’s lives. Some advocates state that, since this is true, children should begin using technology at an early age, when they are motivated and fearless to learn.
(McCarrick & Xiaoming, 2007)

Supporting Social And Emotional Development In Early Learning Centres

A 2014 UNICEF Study put enrollment in preschools at around 70%. Of these, about 36 million children (3 to 6 years of age) were enrolled in Anganwadis (Ministry of Women & Child Development 2015). Anganwadis, part of the ICDS scheme, form only a part of the early learning settings children are exposed to; the rest involve public and private learning centres with enrollment skewing towards private schooling centres. This makes professional caregivers who care for and teach young children the most important partners in supporting their social and emotional development and building their readiness for school.

High-quality education is critical to maintaining positive socio-emotional development. Not only does a quality education promote active learning and engagement in children, it also mitigates the effects of other risk factors and builds resilience in children. This is partly due to the positive relationships young children form with their caregivers in a high-quality learning centre. Read our thoughts on quality in early education. When children perceive at least one supportive adult in their life, they are less likely to experience the effects of an adverse experience, and be more socio-emotionally developed individuals.

Well-trained early care and education professionals are critical to the creation of such quality learning centres, and to supporting the social and emotional development of their charges. Their expertise enables them to weave social and emotional skill-building into daily activities, routines, and even their own behaviour. They know to implement targeted curriculum with games, stories, and activities.

Supporting Social Emotional Learning At A Higher Level

Leaders and policymakers play a higher role in fostering and promoting positive environments across learning centres. These typically involve strategies, policies, or structures related to the teaching-learning climate and support services, like establishing a team to administer structural changes in working environments and developing clear guidelines for adult behaviour in learning centres.

8 Activities To Build Social And Emotional Skills

*note: these suggestions can be repurposed for at-home learning, by parents and other educators.

1. Build A ‘Feeling Box’: Help children put their feelings into words by labelling emotions in this little ‘feeling box’. Make your own feeling box, and model for children how to communicate their emotions to others.
2. Move To Music: Pick easy songs with lyrics and beats that encourage movement, like Square Panda’s letter-dance song. Make the motions with children as the song plays. Point out how good their dancing is getting, and credit their listening skills for it.
3. Play Board Games: Board games (specially those requiring teams) increase emotional intelligence by teaching children to take turns, think ahead, be a good sport about losing, and learn that actions have consequences. Here’s a fun little board game created for your little ones especially by Square Panda India, to get you started. 
4. Make A Share Box: A study from Duke and Penn State followed over 750 people for 20 years and found those who were able to share and help other children in kindergarten were more likely to graduate from high school. Teach children that sharing is caring (and fun); decorate a box and fill it with things children choose to share with their friends/family, like playdough, crayons, music boxes, soft toys, and more.
5. Use Hand Puppets: You can get these online (see the one Ms. Sonia Relia uses during our Square Panda Thursdays sessions), or ask children to make their own, using random picture cutouts glued to a popsicle stick. These help in acting out stories and exhibiting various emotions.
6. Read Stories: Use stories to talk to children about different social situations. Reading and playacting stories aloud (using hand puppets as props) provides a great opportunity to discuss the connection between behaviour and emotions. For example, “The panda is running fast! He seems scared.”
7. Sing Songs: Take children through the gamut of emotions while singing songs like ‘If You’re Happy And You Know It‘, or ‘Looking In The Mirror’. The wordsmith in you can even come up with lyrics to the tune of popular songs, which talk about sharing, being kind, and other social messages.
8. Use Daily Activities To Develop Social Skills: Activities like snack time, digital time, and recess can be used to develop social skills like taking turns, sitting together, and engaging in conversation. This helps children build positive peer relationships and foster healthy social and emotional development early on.

Key Points To Remember While Developing Social Emotional Skills

• Children Learn By Watching: All children automatically mimic the behaviour of those closest to them, which in many cases are adults. Let them see you model appropriate behaviour and exhibit patience, kindness, and helpfulness throughout the day. Explain what is appropriate behaviour and what is not, and make sure you recognise their positive behaviour and praise it.
• Diversity Plays A Major Part: India’s multicultural heritage translates into a diverse classroom full of children with unique sets of experiences, abilities, and learning needs. Such diversity also brings rich cultural and linguistic differences. Being aware of and adapting to each child’s specific needs can be the difference between a socially aware and competent future citizen or one unable to cope in challenging situations. In classrooms, for example, teachers can encourage expression in the language children are comfortable with, and assign ‘helper buddies’ to children who are struggling socially.
• Connecting With Parents Is Important Too: Establishing a link with parents and caregivers of children is extremely important for success in a school setting. Increased parental engagement, and an awareness of the importance of social emotional development helps children, particularly those struggling with behavioural problems. Schools can figure ways to reach out to the parents regularly, and encourage them to visit or volunteer in the classroom.
• Maintaining A Daily Routine Is Critical To Social Emotional Development: In any setting, adults need to stick to a regular routine each day so children can predict what comes next. This helps them feel safe and in control. In case of any adjustments to the schedule, make sure they know changes are coming, so they are well-prepared for it.
• Encourage Early Friendships: Young children often play next to each other rather than with each other. This has only increased with online learning. What educators now notice, is that children are beginning to show empathy to peer problems even online, giving rise to early friendships. Encouraging more interaction between groups of children, assigning buddies, and drawing out quieter children are some more ways to increase positive peer relationships from an early age.

Early childhood is a critical period to develop social emotional skills. The quality of experiences in this stage can have a lifelong impact on children. Adults are mainly responsible for developing strong socio-emotional skills in early childhood. The early learning programs that prioritise children’s social and emotional health are rewarded by highly engaged little learners who express and use emotion in productive ways.

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The ‘learning loss’ is real.

Multiple early education experts have sounded the alarm, saying the gap in learning caused due to school closures can impact an entire generation of children. In India, around 320 million students have been affected by COVID-19 school closures, and the numbers show no signs of abating. This situation is compounded by the fact that India had already noticed signs of learning poverty among our children. The ASER 2019 report shows only 16.2% of children could read Std I text while in Std I, and this number improved to 50.8% of children in Std III. This puts children’s ability to read at least two years behind where the current curriculum expects them to be at their age.

Why A Learning Loss In The Early Years Is Especially Worrying

Cognitive psychology suggests that without practice, children are most susceptible to forgetting facts and procedural skills (Cooper & Sweller, 1987). A WHO research paper shows a poor start in life can lead to poor health, nutrition, and inadequate learning, resulting in low adult earnings as well as social tensions. Because of this shaky start, affected people are estimated to lose about a quarter of their average yearly income, while their country may lose up to twice their current GDP expenditure on health and education. These consequences impact not only present, but also future generations.

Types Of Learning Loss

According to the CEO of Azim Premji Foundation, Anurag Behar, learning loss is of two kinds:

a) What children should have learnt during the period when schools were closed (e.g., in 2020-2021).
b) What children have already forgotten from their previous year (e.g., until March 2020) of learning, which we can term ‘academic regression.’ This phase is similar to children’s experience during the summer vacations when they forget parts of the previous year’s learning.

Experts warn that these effects will only compound over time. For early learners who are missing out on learning during the most crucial period — 85% of the brain’s development happens in the early years before the age of eight — this loss will negatively impact their future.

How Edtech Helped During This Crisis

India has always been invested in early childhood education; we are the proud flag bearers of one of the most extensive ECCE programs in the world – the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). We have taken further measures to increase the focus on early education with our National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

As a nation, we recognised the need for urgent intervention and have taken (and continue to take) steps towards mitigating learning loss. Educational initiatives by several nonprofits, learning institutions, and edtech organisations followed announcements of public-private partnerships by various state governments.

Teachers’ Ability To Use Technology Rose: The mayhem caused by school closures led to a nationwide crisis. However, educators across India rose to the challenge, valiantly fighting to deliver education to their students. Since in-person learning was not a possibility, educators used innovative modes of delivery, like loudspeakers, WhatsApp, and more. (Read their efforts, in The Inspiring Educators Innovating Teaching-Learning During This Health Crisis) While striving to figure out a way to teach despite school closures, multiple educators have reported a rise in their technology-based knowledge and ability.

Opinion About Using Technology In Education Has Changed: The scale tipped towards a more positive outlook, say educational experts. A significant portion of this change came from the outreach and support given to traditional learning by multiple edtech organisations and the Government itself. The Centre emphasised digital techniques and tools to help teachers navigate teaching and learning during this crisis. The increased usage of technology has given educators a better understanding of how to leverage online learning for better outcomes in their classrooms and learning centres.

Online Instruction Took Hold: With little to no contact between children and their teachers, online instruction was one of the few ways educators approached the crisis. Fueled (at least in part) by increased access to digital devices, online learning emerged as a strong alternative to traditional learning. To withstand tech-equity issues, problems of internet access, and the dizzying array of approaches to online instruction across states and schools, governments partnered with the private sector, boosting access to educational technology programs and digital learning.

Square Panda India Recommends

The ripple effects of learning loss will take significant time to overcome. Strong policies backed by innovative edtech interventions across multiple levels are crucial to promote, protect, and strengthen children’s development, reaching even the most vulnerable sections of society. Only then can we truly diminish the learning loss due to Covid. 

Our projects in Chhattisgarh, Mumbai, Pune, and Uttar Pradesh demonstrate that effective early learning programs and teacher training programs can make a difference. Our partnerships with several state governments hinge on the fact that a child’s brain will already be majorly developed, and the foundations for success at school and in later life will be in place. On the backs of our expertise and research in ECCE, we recommend these key points to reduce the learning loss.

• Embrace Public-Private Partnerships: Even before the pandemic, a report by Redseer and Omidyar Network India estimated that by 2022, the K-12 edtech market in India will be worth USD 1.7 billion. With education moving online due to school closures, this figure looks set to change. Successful examples of public-private partnerships in commercial infrastructure, transport, energy, communication, etc., serve as an inspiration for adopting this model in education too. Partnerships and wide-scale collaborations with educationally inclined companies, foundations, and governments can bring in the necessary innovation and help the government ensure speedy NEP 2020 execution, to mitigate the effects of COVID-induced learning loss.

• Train Educators: A key factor to ensure the learning loss does not have far-reaching effects is educator empowerment via training. Teachers, Anganwadi workers, and other educators are at the heart of early childhood education. Simply put, we need to upskill our educators to recognise and work around the learning loss their students’ exhibit, using appropriate 21^st century skills.

For example, India needs initiatives like the kind Square Panda India has designed, which holistically develop competencies in ECCE, understanding of brain development, technical know-how, and classroom management in educators to help them impact the early learning landscape across India.

• Use Digital Tools Effectively: Education-led technology is an effective tool to overcome the effects of the pandemic on our children’s education. The NEP 2020 recognises this, emphasising, “Technology-based education platforms, such as DIKSHA/SWAYAM, will be better integrated across school and higher education,(…).” A combination of digital and physical learning can upgrade existing outreach programs and build future-ready skills in children while addressing the learning gap.

• Motivate Children To Grow: Applying labels and sorting children as per their learning loss will only add stigma and shake these young learners’ confidence, say experts. Using assessments and diagnostic tools should be used wisely to guide individual student needs and not simply to judge or rank these children, teachers, and schools. States and regions need to identify which areas, and subsequently, which children need more support, and rise to the occasion by honouring the needs of children without segregating them from their peers. Only then can we usher in a better, fairer era of education in the aftermath of COVID-19.

Our world as we know it has changed, and how we impart learning to children has to change accordingly. The pandemic has highlighted multiple areas of improvement in the early learning landscape in India. How we bridge the learning gap will decide our children’s future and the future of India.

What have been your young learners’ experiences with learning loss during the pandemic? Comment below.

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Technology advances have swept through every sphere, be it entertainment, business, or even education. The current generation is more technologically inclined than ever, having access to knowledge and tools at their fingertips. This lean towards a digital revolution is especially endorsed by India, which is said to be a flag-bearer in percolating digitisation through to the grassroots level.

Why We Talk About Digital Safety, Especially In Education

The pandemic has driven a widespread transition towards e-learning and edutech, leaving young minds wide open to the vast expanse of the online world. The flipside of this is the challenge of monitoring online activities, with curious young minds sometimes going down unfortunate paths. While the digital learning space is a treasure trove of information and connection to peers, they also do pose certain challenges that could hinder learning.

Square Panda’s Tips To Keep Young Learners Safe Online

1) Learn About Digital Safety: 

As an early learning stakeholder (parent, early years’ educator, etc.) who is in charge of shaping young minds, you need to learn the basics of online safety before imparting knowledge about digital safety. Some common safety measures include: 

• setting up the device with appropriate safety measures, like a firewall, antivirus protection, and security updates before handing it to children, 
• vetting all the apps and edutech tools yourself before they find their way into a child’s hands, and 
• ensuring digital learning labs are in an area where you can keep an eye on the children at all times.

2) Teach Children About Digital Literacy And Its Dangers:

Even with all the care you take, there is no guarantee of complete protection. In this event, safeguard children against online risks by guiding them about netiquette and the threats they could face. In particular, children should know about: 

• Links: Never click links coming in from any source without permission. Teach children not to click on links on any app or tool (for example, WhatsApp, SMS, emails, and more). These could be phishing links.
• Stranger Danger: Just like they are not supposed to speak to strangers in real life, children should be taught not to interact with strangers online too.
• Divulging Personal Information: Young children often do not understand personal boundaries, revealing important personal information like home addresses or family vacation plans online. Children should be made aware of the dangers of giving out too much personal information about themselves and their families on any online space, even to people they know. 

3) Allow Open Communication: 

Create an environment where children can freely come and talk to you about whatever it is they are learning or experiencing online.

4) Teach Them Digitally, But Offline:

Digital learning doesn’t mean children study online all the time. Some early education platforms provide offline access to their content, study materials, and even educational games. Schools and homes can utilise this feature whenever possible to limit internet exposure.

How Square Panda India Is Making Digital Learning Safe

Digital learning is the future (read our thoughts about it, and AI, here), and we at Square Panda India are making sure our programs under the Aarambh initiative, especially our foundational learning program, are safe for young children.

As our core impact group is so young (Square Panda India’s initiative aims to impact children between the ages of two and eight), we make sure to control every aspect of our cloud-based digital system. The digital part of our foundational program runs in a closed environment without any extra ads or purchases interrupting the child’s learning. Strict internal data safety rules protect all participants’ information gathered during this process to the highest degree possible. With each educational game an individual child plays, data on their progress is collected, and reports are generated for the parents/teachers, viewable inside the Square Panda Playground. Our adaptive AI software inside the Square Panda platform only uses its learnings to recommend what content is to be shown to the early learners, for optimal learning outcomes.

Digital learning promises to unite India, share information like never before, and turn the tide for socio-economic prosperity in our nation. However, digital education needs to be supported by online safety for a truly holistic and integrated educational experience. The need of the hour are policies and instruments that ensure accessible and safe early childhood education for every Indian child.

What are your thoughts on digital learning and safety? Let us know in the comments below.

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Ours is a world brimming with myriad cultures. Often, large segments of this teeming population have a working knowledge of more than two languages, making them multilingual. Estimates indicate that now on an average, one in three people all over the world are bilingual or multilingual (Wei, 2000). 

Given India’s diversity, many children across our nation grow up in a multilingual environment, surrounded by varied languages and dialects.

How India’s Multilingualism Gives Us A Benefit

Understanding and using more than one language is a critical benefit, opening doors for more academic and employment opportunities in a highly competitive world. A study conducted on bilingual and monolingual Konds-speaking children in Odisha (Mohanty, 2000) showed multilingual children both inside and out of schools had an advantage over their monolingual peers with respect to their cognitive and intellectual skills. Says Dr. Nandini Chatterjee Singh (PhD, Cognitive Neuroscientist from National Brain Research Centre, on deputation to UNESCO-MGIEP), “Unlike everywhere else in the world, in India, we do everything differently. We are the only country in the world that exposes our children to read two distinct writing systems.”

In a TedX talk, applied linguistics professor Panos Athanasopoulos remarked that we do not necessarily need both eyes to see as one eye does the job just as well. However, having a pair of functional eyes helps us see three dimensional objects, in high definition. Both eyes see objects in slightly different dimensions; the brain then maps these images and combines them into one multidimensional image. The same way, learning and using multiple languages present different world views and cultures to the mind, which helps us see the world in a different way.

Challenges Multilingual Classrooms Face

A multilingual student population requires educators and Anganwadi workers who can converse or simply understand multiple languages. This is especially true of many primary education facilities across India, where one teacher/worker is responsible for imparting knowledge on various subjects. To explain content when they are not well-versed in at least one common language themselves, will deprive children of a chance at holistic early education and the opportunity to flourish in a global environment. 

However, realistically, in a country with 22 official languages and numerous dialects (recognised and otherwise), one teacher may not always be proficient in the language(s) of a respective region. Few early childhood educators are fluent in more than one language, and fewer receive training in cultural and linguistic diversity. Additionally, today’s population speaks such an array of languages and dialects that it is entirely possible for bilingual or even multilingual educators to have no context for their students’ languages.

Lessons To Support Multilingualism In The Classroom

• Non-verbal communication is key: When encountering an unfamiliar dialect or language in the classroom, educators and Anganwadi workers can increase responsiveness by active listening and gesturing. This also helps communicate caring to a child, especially when you cannot understand or speak their first language.
• Support development of multiple languages simultaneously: Data and multiple studies establish how bilingual and multilingual children outperform their monolingual peers. Every early learning stakeholder must be similarly aligned towards fostering inclusive growth by enhancing multi-language acquisition.
• Encourage learning in pairs: Strong social and emotional foundations support all other learning, a fact that authors Iliana Alanís and María G. Arreguín-Anderson prove in their paper ‘Paired Learning: Strategies for Enhancing Social Competence in Dual Language Classrooms.‘ Their observation of children in dual language classrooms, from preschool to first grade led them to the conclusion that learning in pairs increased conversational opportunities for dual language learners and greatly reduced their stress. This in turn led to better overall learning outcomes.
• Take time to explain one word in multiple languages: Languages often have varying degrees of similarity to each other, something that educators and Anganwadi workers can use to enhance a child’s foundational literacy skills. From here, the explanation can move to how one word changes across languages. For example, the word ‘flower’ is pronounced and written the same way in Hindi (फूल) and in Marathi (फूल).

Learning to speak and read in multiple languages is healthy for the brain as it requires more concentration, focus and thought, which conditions our mind to handle a higher cognitive load. Learning a language alongside a child’s native language prepares them for the future, opening up a world that is not accessible to them otherwise. Additionally, a workforce filled with multilingual workers, who can speak different languages with confidence, will help improve income levels and socio-economic quality in our country.

At Square Panda India, we believe that in a multilingual country like India, children AND educators need to be well-versed in more than one language to properly succeed in the future. Our Aarambh initiative, which immerses educators, Anganwadi workers, and children in local languages, will greatly impact India’s early learning landscape. Learn more: ecce.squarepanda.in

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Early Childhood Care and Development or ECCE. 

This term has gained much attention across India, a country that has long since taken strides to bolster early development with world-famous schemes like the ICDS scheme, and more. The NEP 2020’s focus on bringing early childhood education into the formal schooling framework serves to support such schemes, and revive interest in ECCE. While the focus is on providing equal access to early childhood education across the nation’s grassroots, this is only the first step towards becoming a literate India. What we need is equal access to quality early education.

Global and national organisations both heed this fact; renowned children’s social welfare organisation, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), always prefaces the word education with ‘quality’ across their policy documents and resources.

This, however, begs the question…

How Do We Define ‘Quality’ In ECCE? 

This definition differs from country to country, and even across the stakeholder groups, depending on values, socio-economic context, and more. Research has tended to use structural or process dimensions, or both, to gauge the quality of preschool programmes (Lamb, 1998). 

*Structural measures refer to staff–child ratios, staff qualifications, teaching experience and stability, health and safety factors, and the physical setting. Process measures include the quality of interactions between staff and children. These measures are then related to favourable child outcomes.

Low-quality Programs Hinder Progress

The research is clear; early experiences have a longstanding impact on children. To summarize, all brain development depends on what we have experienced before. All our neural pathways are formed as a result of repeated actions, and occur from the bottom up. These early experiences shape our learning capacities, our behaviours, and even our physical and mental health. When these early experiences — of which early education is majorly responsible for — are not supported by an adequate quality of ECCE, we risk our children’s future.

Square Panda India Recommends: How We Go About Implementing Quality In ECCE

• Trained ECCE stakeholders: There is strong evidence that enriched stimulating environments and high-quality pedagogy are fostered by better qualified staff, and better quality pedagogy leads to better learning outcomes (Litjens and Taguma, 2010). This suggests well-trained and well-educated adults are key to providing high-quality early educational programs for favourable child development. However, training is simply one factor that impacts child outcomes. It is the ability of the trained adult to create a holistic learning atmosphere and pedagogical environment that makes a difference in quality. This includes:
  – A good understanding of ECCE
  – Knowledge of how an early brain develops, and how early experiences impact learning
  – Supporting resources (like tools, infrastructure, and a strong early learning community) to reduce burden on educators and Anganwadi workers

• Content Backed By Early Childhood Research: Global research is clear; not only are the early years crucial to children’s development, but they also need to be supported by a stimulating and enriching environment. For a well-rounded development in these early years, ECCE programs need to include quality content that is based on the latest learnings in early childhood research. This curriculum needs to take into account the entire ecosystem that comes into play when a child begins to learn, and integrate multiple crucial components of early development into the programs.
  Read more about Square Panda’s research into neuroscience and the early learner.

• Measurable Outcomes: While driving up the accessibility to early education is a noble cause, attention must be taken to ensure high quality programs reach India’s children. Data from multiple countries share a cautionary note; evidence from high-, middle- and low-income countries alike demonstrates that even when access goes up, children’s outcomes do not always improve (e.g. Wong et al., 2013). Measurement is the only way to gauge if our early learning programs are having the required impact on children’s development. We can track outcomes at scale across the entire early learning landscape, customising the indicators of development as per each state. The data derived can then be used for actionable insights and corrective actions. 

As innovators of high-quality ECCE programs ourselves, we are uniquely positioned to partner with multiple stakeholders at different levels of India’s early learning landscape. Learn more about us and our NEP 2020-aligned programs at ecce.squarepanda.in.

*To view our approach to implementing our foundational learning and educator empowerment programs, read this article.

The largest child care program in the world, the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), is a powerful testament to our nation’s commitment to children and their development. Spanning each region in India, Anganwadi centres aim to reach children across rural areas and marginalised and disadvantaged sections of society. There are 1.36 million functional Anganwadi centres and over 25 lakh Anganwadi workers and helpers across the country. 

While initially conceptualised to address malnutrition problems and provide nutrition to young children and mothers, the Anganwadis have now evolved to include intersectoral collaboration between health and education. At present, these centres focus on food, nutrition, and early childhood education equally.

Why The Focus On Early Childhood Education?

A young child’s brain sees the highest period of brain development in the early years; if this development is not nurtured in a supportive environment, their growth can falter, causing irreparable damage and lifelong repercussions.

While recognising the important role of nutrition and food in the growth and development of children, our policymakers kept in mind the nature of ECCE, which involves a holistic intervention that covers health, nutrition, and foundational learning (including psycho-social and emotional needs).

As the primary care providers for a majority of the population — out of the 240 million children in India aged between 0-8 years, 74%, i.e., 178 million live in rural areas — Anganwadi workers truly are at the frontlines of early development.

These warriors have already proven their mettle while impacting nutrition across India. The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) calls them instrumental to child development for the role they play in fighting malnutrition.

The New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 recognises the immense reach and potential of these centres. The guidelines now require Anganwadi workers to impart pre-primary education to their charges, thus turning them into early years’ educators.

While a visionary thought, certain challenges impede a swift transition for the workers: adequate knowledge of ECCE, qualification and training dedicated to early childhood education, structured curriculum and resources, and an understanding of 21^st century skills and methodology.

Journey From Anganwadi Workers To Anganwadi Educators

As leaders in the early education space, we at Square Panda India believe we need a three-pronged approach to empower Anganwadis as the NEP 2020 envisions:

• Training And Skills Development: Anganwadi workers will need to be skilled in the pedagogy of today’s changing world, including adapting to a teaching-learning methodology that is more hands-on, experiential, and play-based. The main objective of this training should empower Anganwadi workers with knowledge of ECCE, including the neuroscience behind early learning, an understanding of various early childhood education schemes, and a well-rounded understanding of nutrition and how it affects learning and the young mind.

• Build An Early Learning Ecosystem: An early learning ecosystem cannot exist without the support of each of the early childhood education stakeholders – parents, pre-primary and primary teachers, principals, Anganwadi workers, administrators, and other early years’ educators. To create a nurturing environment for children, we need to combine the efforts of each of these stakeholders and build an early learning community to share knowledge and information, taking our early learning landscape to new heights.

• Hand-holding And Support: To ensure seamless transition from Anganwadi workers to Anganwadi educators, they  need to be supported by a network of resources that are easily available at their disposal. Technology and digital tools can be leveraged for a more comprehensive approach to reduce the Anganwadi workers’ burden. 

India has left its mark on the world and the early childhood development sector with the ICDS scheme. The Anganwadis have the power to break the vicious cycle of undereducation, and holistically develop children’s minds and health equally. All that is needed is our support, investment, and an enabling environment.

Square Panda India’s Anganwadi Workers Upskilling Program aims to empower Anganwadi workers, transforming these centres to their fullest potential for children’s holistic development. Learn more about our programs here.

Early experiences during the period of rapid brain growth until the child is eight can influence future learning, health, and behaviour. Studies conducted by the Harvard Centre for the Developing Child show us that a child’s brain makes one million new neural connections per second in the early years. Subsequently, children deprived of developmentally appropriate stimulus in these early years are at risk of lagging behind their peers.

Given the widespread agreement in research and education literature that discovery-based methods could be more effective in academic and cognitive development, play-based pedagogy is a powerful mechanism to support early learning. Numerous researchers agree that learning through play builds a foundation for creativity, intellectual growth, and problem-solving ability in children.

*Why is play-based learning so important? Read this article to find out.

The importance of play-based learning has been recognised by the New Education Policy (NEP) of 2020, which outlines an educational transformation based on the principles of a play-based approach to early childhood education.

However, simply sending children off to play will not culminate in them acquiring essential foundational skills. Facilitators are needed at each level of the early education landscape, from administrators, to teachers, and parents, if we are to insert effective play-based instruction into daily activities.

THE BENEFITS OF PLAY-BASED LEARNING

A quick glimpse at how play-based learning strengthens many areas of a child’s development:

WHAT SKILLS DOES PLAY-BASED LEARNING DEVELOP?

Much of the early learning programs developed by experts include experiential forms of learning, including play-based instruction. 

For instance, Square Panda India uses our expertise in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) to design a curriculum that strategically embeds play into our learning system. Our program weaves in gamification and storytelling as a part of our experience-based learning model, ensuring children are constantly engaged and enjoying their learning.

These play-based activities and learning games expose children to a new skill:

HOW CHILDREN LEARN THROUGH PLAY

By his own admission, Albert Einstein’s introduction to scientific inquiry came about accidentally, with play. This pivotal event occurred when he was just four or five years of age, stuck in bed due to an illness. Seeing his boredom, his father handed him a magnetic compass to play with, and Einstein spent hours twirling the compass this way and that, wondering why the needle kept pointing north. This experience left a lasting impact on his mind, leading him to believe that a greater truth was hidden behind everything.

“Play is a powerful instrument to guide knowledge and education, and is, in fact, the key to learning. We’ve seen the research, and have found through our own expertise and case studies, that play-based instruction enriches the early education experience while reinforcing essential skills like literacy and numeracy, inquiry, expression, creativity, experimentation, and teamwork.”

– Ashish Jhalani, MD, Square Panda India

Young children learn differently from adults, taking inspiration from pretense and their imagination. Play brings together the logical and creative parts of their brain. Children tap into various skills as they play, creating an outlet for stress and anxiety at the same time. They begin to communicate ideas, develop a foundation for literacy and math, understand vocabulary, learn about actions and consequences, build deeper understandings about social relations, and recognise how their initiative influences decisions and self-choice. Researchers have even found that play helps children regulate their own emotions, helping them think before they act. Their experience with play-based learning helps children become thriving adults capable of living in any range of personal and professional environments.

 “The heart (human values and ethics), the head (our minds), and the hand (our bodies), can be holistically balanced with play and activities”

Says early years’ author, educator, teacher trainer, and content developer, Sonia Relia

*Watch her educational series with Square Panda India, called Square Panda Thursdays, here.

The education space is evolving; early childhood educators, Anganwadi workers, and adults responsible for imparting education must strive to create a play-friendly learning atmosphere with an appropriate balance of play and academics to reach young learners naturally. This is the best way to bring tangible results to children’s growth. 

See how Square Panda India is helping ensure that today’s young minds become tomorrow’s visionaries: ecce.squarepanda.in

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We at Square Panda India have always believed that high quality early childhood education paves the way to future success, turning early learners into productive citizens that directly impact national growth. With this in mind, we partnered with Times Network’s India Economic Conclave (IEC), held on March 25th and 26th in New Delhi to highlight the latest and greatest advances in education.

Here are some highlights from this momentous event:

SPEAKERS FROM SQUARE PANDA

1. Ashish Jhalani, Square Panda India – Managing Director
2. Andre Agassi, Tennis Legend, Chairman & Founder – The Andre Agassi Foundation for Education, Chairman of the Board – Square Panda

GALLERY OF EVENT PHOTOS

TOP TWEETS

“Education is what takes a person, nation and economy to greater levels. It is the very backbone that supports growth and prosperity,” states Ramesh Pokhriyal, Minister of Education #IEC2021. @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/Q6waSZJ8kP

— ET NOW (@ETNOWlive) March 26, 2021

“The pandemic has not just caused loss of 1 year of learning for the children but also several years of social development,” says Ashish Jhalani (CMO Global), Square Panda (USA) & MD, Square Panda India #IEC2021. @IDFCFIRSTBank@squarepanda_edu @tanvishukla pic.twitter.com/RzXI5MTVAb

— Mirror Now (@MirrorNow) March 26, 2021

“Without education, there’s no choice. No choice means they go in a downward spiral. And so, I took a 40 million mortgage and opened a school in Las Vegas. Because kids aren’t failing. We’re failing them.” @andreagassi at #IEC2021, speaking about his passion for education.#ECCE pic.twitter.com/UJ8EHhkojW

— Square Panda India (@squarepanda_edu) March 26, 2021

He added, “My request to the government is to involve innovative, research-based private players early on so that our nation can execute the NEP rapidly.”

— Square Panda India (@squarepanda_edu) March 26, 2021

“The challenges that exist are daunting. We need to educate teachers too, it’s important. The most efficient way of reaching kids is investing in early childhood. It offers the greatest social return on capital.”

— Square Panda India (@squarepanda_edu) March 26, 2021

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM IEC 2021

Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal: The Union Education Minister of India, Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal, took centre stage and delved deeper into his passion for learning and education. Echoing the ideas and growth put forth by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, Dr. Pokhriyal reiterated the need for inclusive education at all levels across India. This was only possible with the alignment of each stakeholder in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) ecosystem, namely educators, parents, early learners, Anganwadi workers, and administrators. 

He also underlined the importance of imparting education in one of our many mother tongues and regional languages, with multilingualism given its due. The Minister elaborated on the importance of native-language instruction, and expressed a desire to make India a hub of global education, just as it was centuries ago.

Ashish Jhalani: The Square Panda India MD discussed the importance of ‘Investing in Education’ with Sampark Foundation’s Founder, Mr. Vineet Nayar. Read a synopsis of their talk here.

Andre Agassi: The closing address at the IEC was delivered by world-famous tennis legend, educational facilitator, and Square Panda’s Chairman of the Board. Citing his lack of education and thereby, lack of choice, as the inspiration behind his educational efforts, Andre believes the world is failing children at the moment. Building 125+ charter schools across the United States has made a substantial impact, but there are multiple roadblocks to overcome, a challenge compounded by the lack of innovation across this segment.

Remarking on the need to innovate across the education spectrum, he said, “You bring someone from the past, someone who lived 200 years ago, and walk them into an airport, a train station, or a hospital, and they won’t be able to recognise these places. You walk them into a school, and they won’t have even a moment of confusion. Education is the only industry that has remained stagnant and without innovation for 200 years.”

In keeping the recurrent theme brought up across multiple discourses that evening, Andre pointed out the myriad benefits of public-private partnerships in education, including access to resources philanthropy cannot always provide, and an ability to innovate at scale. 

At Square Panda India, we recognise the crucial need to empower educators and Anganwadi workers if they are to have a better impact on early learning outcomes. This was a sentiment echoed by Andre during his near hour long deliberation. 

Pondering the road ahead, he noted that, “The challenges that exist are daunting. We need to educate teachers too, it’s important; and the most efficient way of reaching kids is by investing in early childhood. It offers the greatest social return on capital.”

A quick Q&A session with an eager audience later, Andre signed off, and with that the curtains came down on another thought-provoking edition of the India Economic Conclave.

Watch Andre’s speech here:

Square Panda India was honoured and energised by the presence of leaders from across industry, government, academia, and civil society, and only served to reaffirm our commitment to take the entire early learning ecosystem to greater heights.

Learn more about Square Panda India, our mission and goals, and how we envision transforming education for millions of children, educators, and Anganwadi workers, here.