Research has demonstrated how literacy and numeracy are intrinsically tied to future learning and success. Closer to home, the India Early Childhood Education Impact (IECEI) study conducted by the ASER Centre and the Centre for Early Childhood Education and Development (CECED) clearly showed that exposing children to high-quality early education, i.e., basic reading, math, and developmental skills, improves their learning ability in early primary classes.

Unfortunately, acquisition of foundational skills is inadequate across India, to the extent of being a learning crisis, reports the National Education Policy 2020. The ASER 2019 report paints a grim picture. 

• Only 34.8% of std. 2 and 50.8% of std. 3 students could read std. 1 level text
• 51.4% of std. 2 and 66% of std. 3 students could do single digit oral subtraction problems, placing them substantially behind the education curve

A strong education has far-reaching effects on society, including ensuring economic prosperity, and societal well-being. Research studies over the years concur with this, with research conducted by John Bynner and Sam Parsons highlighting the importance of literacy and numeracy skills for gaining and retaining employment. 

How Square Panda India Impacts Foundational Learning In India: Case Study Findings

As Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) experts and innovators, we have been working with multiple state governments and impact organisations to show the efficacy of our foundational learning and educator empowerment programs under Aarambh.

Our studies demonstrate encouraging trends to support the efficacy and use of Square Panda India’s teaching-learning programs with a large number of educators, Anganwadi workers, and children.

Study 1: CHHATTISGARH SCHOOLS

• We started our intervention in 7 schools from grades 1-5, with students who do not have access to education outside their classrooms and had never gone to Anganwadis. 
• Before our intervention, reading and comprehension were the weakest skills, with a majority of the students not having even the slightest exposure to the English language. 
• We trained teachers to effectively use our program in the classroom, providing constant support as we introduced our early reading app to the children. 
• At the end of five weeks with our SquareTales app, word reading skills had improved by over 300%, and sentence reading skills had improved by over 125%. Notably, children could use their learnings to read newer words and sentences.

“The intervention by our foundational program worked so well that a child with no prior knowledge of English could read the first five SquareTales books when he was taught only till book 2.” – Ashish Jhalani, MD, Square Panda India

Study 2: AKANKSHA FOUNDATION 

• We conducted trials with SKG and Grade 1 students across Mumbai and Pune with this non-profit organisation across four months. 
• By the end of the study, there was an overall improvement of 32% in SKG and 128% in Grade 1. 
• There was considerable improvement in literacy outcomes & different skills like Alphabet Knowledge, Letter Sound Knowledge, Word Decoding, Spelling, and Sentence Reading. 
• We saw that the students had become much more confident and interested in learning. 
• They could independently use tablets, leading to digital literacy in students.

Study 3: MUNICIPAL CORPORATION OF GREATER MUMBAI (MCGM) 

• This six-week program with grade 2 students showed significant progress in early literacy skills among the control group, without any external intervention. 
• After using our program 4-5 times a week, for 15 minutes a day, we observed an improvement of 75% in reading skills.

Study 4: SITAPUR AND CHITRAKOOT DISTRICTS IN UTTAR PRADESH

• These progressive districts signed up with Square Panda India to conduct a comprehensive Empowerment & Enrichment Program for ECCE Educators for primary grade teachers in government schools. 
• After our 60-hour training program, post-program assessment showed a 47.83% increase in understanding of teaching methodology, a 44.38% improvement in classroom management skills, and a 43% increase in knowledge of ECCE and its varied facets.

Study 5: UPSKILLING PROGRAM WITH A SOUTHERN STATE (ONGOING) 

• To adequately equip these crucial frontline workers, Square Panda India is partnering with a southern state to deliver an intensive program for Anganwadi workers. 
• This program will be conducted physically, covering six extensive core modules, and will include practical hands-on activities like role-playing and group discussions for additional comprehension.

Armed with continuous research in pedagogy as well as our product, Square Panda India is confident in its ability to adopt best practices from global markets, while streamlining our programs under Aarambh to cater to the early education system in India in alignment with the NEP 2020 goals. For us, this is an extension of our commitment to overcome the challenge of preparing our teachers for early childhood education and our children for the future. 

Learn more at ecce.squarepanda.in

Our understanding of the importance of early education stems from the fact that 85% of brain development happens before the age of eight. This fact is highlighted in the National Education Policy 2020, and is one reason for the renewed focus on Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). Studies show that for a young learner’s holistic development, there needs to exist a supportive, and stimulating environment. The lack of such an enriching environment can stunt brain development.

To impact early childhood education on a large scale, Square Panda India has identified a need to impact each person responsible for imparting early learning. In effect, this includes ECCE stakeholders – parents, teachers, administrators, and other early years’ educators, leaders, and children themselves.

Every adult has to not only function as a high-quality content creator but understand the science behind early learning, and the system that comes into play as a young child begins to learn.

To further our goal of transforming the ECCE landscape in India, we adopted a three-pronged approach to develop the entire early education ecosystem; the Anganwadi workers, ECCE educators, and the children themselves. This early learning initiative, called Aarambh, holistically empowers each stakeholder through foundational learning and educator empowerment programs.

Square Panda India’s Research Into The Early Brain

Aarambh is completely research-driven, with each program interconnected. This comprehensive approach guarantees that we meet the desired learning outcomes. Knowledge of multiple crucial components of early childhood education is integrated into our programs, enhancing the development of foundational skills like cognitive development, motor skills, reasoning, and more. To impact learning outcomes holistically, we put years of neuroscience research into developing our foundational learning and educator empowerment programs. Our programs ensure every stakeholder is well-versed in the pedagogy and the neuroscience behind early learning, with a strong grasp of digital knowledge, for a well-rounded 21^st century approach to teaching-learning methodologies.

Strategic Expertise

Square Panda India has assembled a team of 100+ experts and specialists from the ECCE sector across India, including school administrators, educators, teacher trainers, counsellors, specialists in the fields of cognitive neuroscience and early education, child psychologists, technologists, game developers, and coders, whose participation and insights have proven invaluable while structuring our program curriculum.

We are constantly building our teams and ensuring we bring the most innovative ECCE programs to impact young learners and early years educators. Furthermore, we have built our teams keeping in mind regional language requirements. 

Curriculum Designing Process

STEP I: Our expert team of in-house researchers puts in deep thought and years of research while designing each module of the Square Panda India foundational learning and educator empowerment programs.

STEP II: We conducted on-ground pilots with governments and impact organisations across India to measure the efficacy of our teaching-learning programs.

STEP III: Expert on-ground teams were conscripted to assess each aspect of our programs.

STEP IV: This assessment led to the extraction of performance metrics, which were used to evaluate areas of improvement.

STEP V: Armed with analytics from our studies and field research to prove our impact, we have partnered with and continue to partner with multiple state governments and the central government to drive learning and skill development for millions of children and early years’ educators across India.

Our ‘Six-Pillar’ Approach 

Square Panda India follows a systematic approach with the following six pillars that we have identified, for a holistic change:

Pillar 1 – Goal Setting: We create a well thought out and structured plan around a common vision. We then define the program objective, its outcomes, and key measurement metrics. For greater clarity and alignment across the stakeholders, we identify and define the key responsibilities early on. Lastly, we design the program schedule, key milestones, and timelines.

Pillar 2 – Curriculum Designing: Our expert team designs our innovative curriculum, conceptualising them for India while using best global practices.  

Pillar 3 – Implementation: To bring about seamless implementation, we:

• Create a program management team comprising stakeholders from the Government, respective organisations, and Square Panda India, who create a detailed roll-out plan
• Create an on-ground team from the local community for additional effectiveness
• Implement our program

Pillar 4 – Measurement & Evaluation: Our programs are assessed periodically throughout the year to measure impact. The results are compared and presented at multiple levels – grade-wise, age-wise, skills-wise, school-wise, district-wise, and state-wise. These assessments throw light on gaps and common issues, providing actionable insights that aid in improving the subsequent program outcomes and effectiveness.

Pillar 5 – Monitoring & Accountability: Square Panda India promotes complete transparency while implementing our programs, conducting regular field visits, gathering feedback from participants, and ensuring Program Health checks are provided to stakeholders for review.

Pillar 6 – Support: We provide continuous support throughout the program by supplying end-to-end solutions, including teacher training, classroom resources like teaching-learning material, lesson plans, and performance data to help make decisions on how to help students better their learning journey.

Blending Practical With Theoretical

To transform early childhood education, and drive it to its fullest potential, we take on a holistic approach towards the development and implementation of our foundational learning and educator empowerment programs. Each aspect of our programs incorporates practical application alongside theory for better outcomes:

In Our Teams: Each member of our content and curriculum team has been chosen based on the expertise in teacher training and development, and years in ECCE. Subsequently, our content is based on their insight and in-depth practical knowledge of the early learning landscape in India.

During Implementation: Square Panda India translates our ECCE expertise and research into the field, taking a rounded approach to implementing each program. We blend practical knowledge with theory, using case studies, role plays, group games, and activities to enhance the understanding of our curriculum.

Our years of research in early childhood learning, understanding of how young minds work, and use of neuroscience-backed learnings to develop our programs, sets us apart from similar programs, making us a partner of choice.

Learn more about us: ecce.squarepanda.in

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 aims to address India’s education imperatives, and sets a strong foundation for Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) for future generations to thrive. The holistic development envisioned by NEP 2020 must be supported by a strong need to update conventional means of learning and adopting innovative forms, for better results. The objective of transforming existing learning culture depends on changing a mindset stemming from decades of following a traditional approach to education. However, teaching methodologies that worked in the past might not be completely applicable in the future. We need early learning providers—educators, parents, and even leaders—to change their mindset, so that children are enabled to answer the question of “how to think”, rather than “what to think”.

To help navigate these uncharted waters, implement new teaching-learning methodologies into each classroom, and see greater holistic development, we will need to update traditional methods and merge the old with the new.

Square Panda India Recommends:

• Explain The Neuroscience Behind Early Learning: A young learner is not just experiencing their first brush with schooling and education; they are also developing around 85% of their brain in the early childhood period, until the age of eight. This learning is cemented by experiences from their homes and their surroundings. ECCE educators and parents need to comprehend the neuroscience behind the early learning process and the effort it takes to develop each young learner’s brain holistically, for them to develop an appropriate sense of gravitas towards this responsibility.
• Bring Learning Into The Home: The role of parents in early childhood education is vital to improving student outcomes and the overall learning experience. Parental awareness and engagement in early schooling impacts every step of the ECCE process, and complements the measures taken by ECCE stakeholders, including educators and policymakers. Parental involvement in the minutiae of their child’s life, which includes their early education, serves to improve their learning outcomes to a greater degree. To enhance this provision and to increase the success of early childhood programs, webinars and workshops can be conducted with expert speakers enhancing awareness of new age methods of teaching, developmental milestones, appropriate learning outcomes, and more.
• Conduct Training And Empowerment Programs: The knowledge about the impact of early education must be followed by information on new-age teaching methodologies that best impact early years’ instruction. Explaining various styles of teaching is vastly different from experiencing it firsthand. A practical application of 21^st century methodologies, including experiential and play-based methods, can have a drastic effect on the minds of educators and parents alike, allowing them to relate to these techniques and put it into practice in the classroom and at home. Additionally, this training sees a stronger impact if people at all levels of the ECCE sector—leaders and policymakers, educators, and parents—are involved in these training sessions. While teachers and parents play a crucial role in ECCE, coaching leaders help turn early learning into a more fruitful experience. The system is stronger when every stakeholder is aligned with each step of the program, and is advised on the knowledge and the workings of each phase of training.
• Reflect The Changes In The Curriculum Itself: Simple activities like play, activities, and even everyday experiences form a learning base for children, adding to their knowledge in the early years. To truly see mindset changes develop across levels in the ECCE landscape, each of these new age methodologies, the change in teaching patterns, has to be reflected in the curriculum, and the NEP 2020 highlights this very fact. This adds an air of gravitas to the methods previously labelled as ‘hobbies’ or ‘pastimes’. For added knowledge, learning outcomes expected from each activity can also be highlighted across the curriculum, which can then be conveyed to homes, again linking the early learning ecosystem together.
• Adopt Partnerships With Private Entities: An August 2020 study by UNESCO states that out of the 320 million Indian children affected by school closures during the pandemic, only 37.6 million across 16 states are continuing their education. As the pandemic has taught us, adapting to changing needs is crucial to creating a learning revolution capable of transforming our ECCE sector. Increased digital penetration, and subsequently teacher training and parental awareness programs, can be effectively wrought by robust public private partnerships. This PPP model can link each part of the ECCE landscape together, ushering an era of equality and inclusivity alongside changing mindsets.

NEP 2020 will remain a visionary document if we cannot nail its implementation. The success of this hinges majorly on our success in eliminating pre-existing misconceptions and bringing about a definitive change in the minds of each ECCE stakeholder, from the outset.

Square Panda India’s educator empowerment programs work towards the goal of eliminating mindset barriers & changing perceptions of parents & school administrations towards interactive early learning techniques & methodologies. Our team of ECCE experts train Anganwadi workers and early years’ educators in the neuroscience behind early learning, new age teaching methods, effective classroom management techniques, basic digital literacy and knowledge of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), and English language skills. 

Learn more about our programs here.

What Is Public-Private Partnership? 

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are collaborations between the public and private sectors with a focus on system efficiency, cost-effectiveness, innovation and accountability. In a PPP, the private sector provides infrastructure, assets and services that were otherwise provided by the Centre. An innovative idea to tap private resources, the PPP model looks at encouraging the private sector to participate in national development. We see successful examples all around us, in infrastructure, energy, communication, airports, and more.

The NEP 2020 addresses a wide range of reforms aimed at increasing enrolment and retention while making Indian education broad-based, skill-oriented and contemporary with potential to unlock a part of the demographic dividend in India. With the allowance for 100% FDI in the education sector, there have been numerous initiatives from the Centre and State governments to develop the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) landscape further.

Why Does Early Education In India Need The PPP Model? 

Currently, in India, there are around 240 million children under the age of 8 who can benefit from equitable access to good quality education. At present, we can divide them into Metropolitans, Tier 1, Tier 2, and so on. The other parts of the ECCE ecosystem, like the anganwadis, the schools, are just as many. Implementing any sort of program is not a task for a single entity to accomplish easily, whether it is a public concern or a private organisation. A public-private partnership speeds up this process, reducing the time taken. As a result, the implementation itself speeds up. The PPP model is critical to see a better and larger impact across the spectrum: young learners benefit from early implementation, it affects future learning, and the economy and future of the nation are also impacted.

As we cannot have a one-size-fits-all approach to implementation, and as each state presents its own sets of challenges and opportunities, partnering with another concern, one that shares a common vision to create an increasingly literate India, is more a necessity than a want.

Strategic Advantages To Adopting The PPP Model:

Well-designed public-private partnership models can help the government effectively implement the NEP 2020’s vision. The key benefits to such a partnership would include:

• Equal Access To Quality Early Education: The focus is currently on providing quality in ECCE. A PPP model is key to fulfil goals of reduced resource wastage, lower dropout rate, and reduced absenteeism. Private edtech organisations, by their very nature, are innovative and research-driven. They are scientifically sound, flexible, and can introduce better pedagogies and stronger management techniques to early education. An effective PPP model also helps bring in marginalised sections of the society into mainstream education, fostering inclusivity and breaking geographical barriers.
• Gains From Efficiency: The private sector’s ability to specialise in certain areas equip it with added benefits. Including such partners, with highly specific skill sets, can increase the efficiency across the board, raising the funding, boosting the delivery, and heightening the development of every ECCE stakeholder (Anganwadi workers, pre-primary and primary educators, and children) in the process.
• Innovation, Technology, & R&D: Private edtech organisations, by their very nature, are innovative and research-driven. Most invest heavily in R&D, using technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to enhance their services. This technology brings the edge and innovation needed to keep costs low, improve efficiency and speed of execution.
• Targeted Focus: Private players help the government function effectively across SDGs, streamlining their focus towards a particular sub-specialisation. This helps them impact the last-mile delivery efficiently, with minimal wasted effort.
• Speed Of Implementation: Implementation is key to any structural change. The government should look towards the PPP model for faster and quality implementation of NEP 2020’s vision. PPPs can help extend the reach and effectiveness of government funds, encourage innovation in education, increase safety, efficiency, and capacity of physical educational infrastructure, and given the right public policy context, extend access to educational services and parity of services received across a population. They allow the government to maintain strategic, financial and regulatory control over public education, allowing them to step back from the day-to-day delivery and management of the infrastructure and/or service in situations where their resources are limited.
• Accountability: “The private sector is built on accountability. This is where the biggest part of the PPP model can impact early learning, by bringing accountability into the public framework, and impacting learning outcomes.”, says Square Panda India MD, Mr. Ashish Jhalani, in an excerpt from our upcoming round table discussion on ‘Role of Public Private Partnerships in Innovation and Implementation of NEP 2020’. 
  *The fourth episode of our #EarlyLearningMatters series is airing this Saturday and Sunday, only on the Times Channels.

• Effective Service Delivery: A responsive and effective service delivery framework depends on the right combination of supply and demand, alongside a robust governance framework, that can help resources flow right down to the local levels. Most private partners, especially those in early education, are always engaged in continuous improvement of their services, and believe in keeping a high quality standard, delivering programs that efficiently impact every stakeholder in the ECCE ecosystem.

Partnerships and wide scale collaborations with educationally inclined companies, foundations, and governments can bring in the necessary innovation and tools that can turn the NEP 2020 vision into a reality.

Square Panda India’s early learning initiative, ‘Aarambh’, as the name suggests, aims to holistically develop the ECCE ecosystem, which includes the Anganwadi workers, ECCE educators, and the children. Through this initiative, Square Panda India works closely with government schools, communities and organisations across the grassroots levels, to provide NEP 2020-focused foundational learning and educator empowerment programs. Aligning all the stakeholders towards a common goal, Square Panda India is dedicated to transform the Indian early learning space, by up-skilling Anganwadi workers, empowering ECCE educators, and providing foundational learning to the children.

Reasons Square Panda India Is The Perfect Partner For ECCE Development Across India:

• We are geared towards inclusive growth.
• We invest heavily in innovation and R&D.
• Our NEP 2020-aligned curriculum is designed by an in-house team of ECCE experts with a collective experience of more than 50 years in this domain.
• We upskill educators and students with technological knowledge, helping them acquire important 21st century skills.
• We facilitate impact measurement at the core of each program, for timely interventions.
• We conduct regular self-audits, allowing for course corrections.
• Each of our programs is customisable as per the state’s requirements.

An effective and well-designed public-private partnership has the potential to take teaching beyond the classrooms, and give teachers the tools to impact the child in all aspects of their lives. We at Square Panda India believe investing in PPP is a very strong strategy to accelerate development in the Indian early childhood education sector.

Young children in developmentally critical periods of their lives, between the ages of 2-10, see a much higher impact when their parents get involved in their learning. The research into parental involvement in schooling is not new; a study called “Parental Involvement in the Classroom” by Machen, Wilson, & Notar, published in 2005, revealed that enhancing the involvement of parents in the classroom goes a long way towards improving the quality of the schools in general, besides contributing to higher standards and providing opportunities for students. The study also stressed the importance of creating parent-teacher collaboration strategies to eliminate all hindrances to parental involvement in early childhood education. During the years a child’s brain is still forming connections and synapses, building a network of supportive behaviour can define the chance of said child’s future success.

How Early Learning Centres Can Encourage Parental Involvement 

Parental awareness and engagement in early childhood development and learning can strengthen the experiences from the Anganwadi centres, pre-primary schools, and primary schools. This responsiveness plays a critical role in ensuring optimal and holistic development of young learners. ECCE centres need to do their part to ensure early involvement from parents. This can occur as:

• Introduction to the anganwadi centre/pre-primary/primary school: To leverage parental support and to gain tangible outcomes, early learning centres can showcase their internal infrastructure and personnel, to pinpoint the people and places responsible for turning their little ones into responsible citizens. This increases the level of engagement, and the solidarity from parents. 
• Develop an understanding of the curriculum: The comprehension that the early years’ education can build the foundations of lifelong learning in children needs to be cemented in the parents’ minds. A parent who understands the need for early learning, and knows what their child is working on in school, has a better sense of their child’s competency and areas of improvement.
• Acquainting parents with teaching methodologies: “If parents themselves don’t understand the (early learning) program and program components, it is very difficult for them to provide their support” was just one of the sentiments expressed in our second educative #EarlyLearningMatters session, as we spoke about the importance of parental resources. 

*Watch the episode here, and join us on 13th and 14th February for another educational session on the ‘Role of Public Private Partnerships in Innovation and Implementation of NEP 2020’.

Harnessing this particular hidden resource involves explaining the teaching methodology undertaken and the philosophy behind the methods followed. This step is aimed at increasing parental knowledge about new age methods of teaching, developmental milestones, appropriate learning outcomes, and more.

For example: Square Panda India’s teaching-learning programs involve an introduction to play-based and activity-based learning, the adoption of which we believe impacts early learning outcomes to a great extent. 

• Building a connection between school and home: Extending the classroom experience to the home, by expanding the curriculum to involve home-based play-and-learn activities, can establish a connection between classroom learning and real-life experience. Additionally, this connection supports further learning, acquisition of key skills, and promotion of school-readiness, resulting in a lower drop-out rate.
• Encourage active parental participation: Schools can request parents to be more involved in their children’s progress, through volunteering programs, regular parent-teacher meetings, hosting special events for parents, inviting them to share their expertise and talents, and more. Schools can also make useful resources available to the parents, to increase their intervention and help them feel more engaged in their child’s education.

Square Panda India has always taken steps to ensure parental awareness as we teach, knowing that parental involvement is a key ingredient in raising the quality of ECCE provision. Building a program like Aarambh is not effective without strong support from parents and families. We recognise the role parents play in ECCE and work towards enlightening educators with the same level of understanding. Our educator empowerment programs include explaining the importance of parents in the ECCE ecosystem and in collaborative learning.

Children learn better if their parents are actively involved in their education. Parents serve as a critical partner to educators in the ECCE landscape. When early learning facilitators are able to work together with the parents, we will be able to build a successful network of learning, allowing our students to develop holistically.

Learn more about how Square Panda India’s educator empowerment programs change the way we approach the parental involvement aspect of early learning, at ecce.squarepanda.in

The early years are the most crucial period of brain development, research shows. In this time frame, young learners need to be introduced to essential life skills like cognitive reasoning, socio-emotional development, motor skills, foundational literacy and numeracy, and more, to enhance their future success, as well as impact the future of the entire nation.

The revolutionary National Education Policy released in June 2020 reviewed the definition of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), stating, “ECCE ideally consists of flexible, multi-faceted, multi-level, play-based, activity-based, and inquiry-based learning, comprising of alphabets, languages, numbers, counting, colours, shapes, indoor and outdoor play, puzzles and logical thinking, problem-solving, drawing, painting and other visual art, craft, drama and puppetry, music and movement”.

According to NCERT data, only 14% of the Indian classrooms utilize teaching materials beyond the content-heavy textbooks. With the new direction as the NEP 2020 envisions, there is a need to go beyond the existing rote learning method and move towards a more experiential learning approach in teaching and learning methodologies. Educators are now required to change their mindset, while the conventional curriculum, assessments, and teaching practices get transformed into a more NEP-aligned position. In a country where traditional forms of learning have been prevalent such as writing on a blackboard and reading from the textbook, or ‘rote learning’, teachers will now have to adapt to a new way of teaching which is more hands-on, experiential & inquiry-based.

How We Expect Experiential Learning Methods To Help

Young children learn best with play and activities where they are given opportunities to explore their equipment, surroundings, or techniques to resolve and respond to situations effectively. Experiential learning promotes interest, aptitude and cognitive development, and departs ways from rote learning especially during the primary years of education. Usage of various resources such as flashcards, puppets, story books, etc., to engage the early learners has the desired effect of increasing engagement, retention, and enjoyment of learning too. 

To help educators impart instruction that cleaves away from the traditional practices and incorporate new age (read: 21st century) skills, there exists a need to provide training in how to adapt experiential methods in the class, how to wield technology effectively, and what happens in a child’s brain as they start to learn. Classrooms will benefit from using a blended model of learning, including a strong emphasis on AI and ML-driven learning, which can not only help scale efforts to suit needs of various states, but can even be personalised to individually impact each learner.

Square Panda India’s Teaching-Learning Model

Foundational Learning Program: Square Panda India’s interactive model, combined with storytelling pedagogy are aimed towards developing a real understanding of the subject in question, rather than focusing on rote learning, which aligns with the policy’s goal to teach children ‘how to learn’. Our methodologies align to the unique needs of each child, enhancing their learning outcomes.

Educator Empowerment Program: Our unique training programs:
– The Anganwadi Workers Upskilling Program
– Empowerment & Enrichment Program for ECCE Educators  

work towards empowering early years’ educators-Anganwadi workers, pre-primary and primary teachers-to help them develop holistically, and in turn, impact their students’ learning and development.Early learning experts have always emphasised the importance of deep comprehension of deep meaning over recollection of facts. “Learning cannot happen by memorisation. We have to put what we learn in context of real life, to actually learn,” says Square Panda India MD, Ashish Jhalani, in the very first edition of our educational #EarlyLearningMatters series of panel discussions. Watch session #3, this Saturday and Sunday, only on the Times channels.

A fast-paced world demands academic improvement, and the Indian educational landscape can fare much better when traditional learning is updated with experiential teaching and learning techniques. 

We at Square Panda India are excited to see the changes our Aarambh program can bring to the ECCE ecosystem, with our experiential and innovative programs. Learn more about us: ecce.squarepanda.in

Early childhood care and education (ECCE) aims at the holistic development of a child’s social, emotional, cognitive and physical needs in order to build a strong foundation for lifelong learning and wellbeing. ECCE is the pathway to nurture caring, capable and responsible future citizens.

Research shows us that the critical period of brain development, almost 85%, happens before young learners reach the age of six. To build a better foundation for future success, these early years need to be supported by a stimulating and enabling environment. 

For the well-rounded development of each child across the heartland of India, we need to recognise and acknowledge the various key stakeholders of this environment or ecosystem: 

– The Anganwadi workers, who prepare the child.
– The primary and pre-primary educators, impart this new age education
– The children themselves
*Read our article on Anganwadis, here.

Square Panda India is looking to bring about a systemic change in the ECCE landscape in India by introducing Aarambh, an early learning initiative to holistically impact the ECCE ecosystem in India, which comprises the Anganwadi workers who prepare the children for schooling, the ECCE educators who impart new age education, and the children themselves. As a part of this commitment, we have created NEP 2020-aligned foundational learning and educator empowerment programs that holistically empower each part of this ecosystem. We believe empowering anganwadi and balwadi workers, along with ECCE educators, will drive early childhood education in India to new heights, creating a truly self-reliant nation. To spread awareness about various crucial topics related to early education, we have planned a series of round table discussions with early childhood education experts, on the theme—EarlyLearningMatters. 

Watch our 2nd panel on the ‘The literacy & numeracy conversation must begin from Anganwadis and Balwadis’, right here, and stay tuned to our social media for news on upcoming discussions.

There is a very strong correlation between early learning and a positive long-term impact on the GDP. Multiple studies have shown us that early childhood is the most fertile, most crucial period, with 85% of the total brain development happening before the age of eight. Building these foundational skills in young learners contributes to future success, both their own and their nations’ too.

Many economists believe that an investment in early childhood education yields economic growth. India stands firm in its belief that a robust ECCE system strengthens our population; the Indian government allocated 4.6% of the GDP to the education sector in 2019-2020, with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 even pledging to raise this to 6%.

“The demographic trend shows that India will soon have a large ageing population which is supported by a gradually shrinking workforce. So, it is imperative to have this workforce firing on all 4 cylinders with high productivity. That’s the only way we can keep our economic growth rate going.” says Nisha Holla (Co-Editor & Author, Observer Research Foundation), during a panel discussion on ‘Decoding the economics of early childhood learning and its impact on India’s GDP’, conducted by Square Panda, in partnership with the Times Network, for a special #EarlyLearningMatters series. 

*Watch the whole discussion here and follow our social media pages (Facebook, LinkedIn), for more information about this series.

HOW EDUCATION RAISES ECONOMIC GROWTH

The skills developed in early childhood will create a base for the enhancement of greater cognitive development, socio-emotional skills, reasoning, and more. This new and improved workforce will then find it easier to use new technologies and software, think creatively, adjust to the changing employment landscape, and generally be more accomplished as workers. Firms with better workers will, in turn, perform better. These firms go ahead and contribute to the economy as a spillover effect. Ultimately, the GDP of our nation will reap the benefits of a good early education system. This new educated workforce can then compete with their global counterparts, getting more mobile and adaptive. Beyond that, a more educated workforce results in a healthier environment with less crime and better functioning civil institutions.

FURTHER CASE FOR INVESTING IN ECCE

• Research Supports The Positive Connection Between Early Education And The Economy: Studies conducted by bodies such as UNESCO clearly show that investment in early years had the highest returns of any education and training program, recovering at least ten times the initial cost.
• Narrows Socio-economic Disparity: When high-quality education programs are made accessible to all children across India, each community fares better with marginalised communities seeing the highest returns.
• Benefits Outweigh Costs: The short-term costs of investing in early childhood education is offset by the immediate and long-term benefits that an educated workforce bring. Additionally, there is less need for remediation and special education, better health outcomes, lower criminal justice costs, and increased productivity, all of which contribute to the development of the nation.
• Multigenerational Effects: These educated and empowered citizens will not only reap the benefits of the strong ECCE foundation in their own lives, but will pass on their learning to future generations as well, multiplying the dividends from the initial investments.

THE WAY FORWARD

• Increasing Public-Private Partnerships: While the government has already been conducting exemplary projects to enhance early learning in India, like their ICDS schemes, there are multiple areas when a public-private partnership can add value:
  • many private partners invest heavily in R&D for their own services and programs, giving these offerings a strong base of research.
  • a partnership can allow the government to focus on the macro levels, while their private partners can impact each micro field and sub-specialisation.
  • private companies are usually external companies that have been hired to achieve a specific goal; they can be audited and course corrections can be made as required.

• Increase Quality Along With Investment: An education is only as good as the educator. For better student outcomes and a strong foundational base, educators need to be trained in the pedagogy and the neuroscience behind early learning, along with 21st century skills. This improves classroom management and delivery of curriculum, which subsequently enhances learning outcomes.
• Effective Data On Performance & Assessment: For a clearer picture of how high-calibre ECCE projects and programs affect student outcomes, and to gauge their efficacy, there is a need to regularly collect and collate real-time data on overall school performance and student assessments. This will help policymakers decide their way forward, while clearly demonstrating the positive effects of investment in early learning.

Investing in early childhood programs serves to promote inclusivity in learning, to bridge the gap between disadvantaged children and their more advantaged peers. The country’s GDP, and health and welfare, reap the benefits of a solid early learning system, with its empowered and literate citizens.

We at Square Panda are committed to building a more literate India, with a large productive workforce capable of soaring to greater heights. To further this aim, we developed holistic programs based on NEP 2020 guidelines that impact the entire ECCE ecosystem in India-the anganwadi workers, the ECCE educators, and the children themselves. To learn more about these programs, visit ecce.squarepanda.in.

The National Educational Policy (NEP) 2020 has highlighted what the pandemic has shown us-teachers, and educators, are the true heroes, devising various strategies and designs to make sure learning reaches those across all levels in India, even the grassroots. 

UNESCO reported that around 2.7 million teachers who were impacted by the pandemic, faced challenges while handling the new teaching-learning requirements. Despite the odds against them, educators across the Indian educational landscape have grappled with challenges the lockdown has brought and have come out on top, doing their best to significantly impact the lives of their students by making sure their learning continues. Today, let’s meet some of these inspirational educators:

#1: Anganwadi Workers Across States – The lockdown due to the COVID pandemic saw countless anganwadi centres temporarily closing their doors, and all their charges staying put inside their homes. That didn’t stop these amazing volunteers, who have been soldiering on since the beginning of the pandemic, hand-delivering educational material and involving parents in the learning process. 

• In Odisha, the Department of Women and Child Development in collaboration with UNICEF launched the ‘Ghare Ghare Arunima’ initiative in April. The anganwadi workers focused on the males in each household, to ingrain equal child responsibility, reducing the gender divide, and increasing family bonding in this time of adversity.
• The ‘Aakar’ initiative was introduced across Maharashtra and saw an incredible amount of father-led participation. Everyday learning activities are shared with parents over Whatsapp; anganwadi workers explain the details in person to those who don’t have digital access.
• The state of Chhattisgarh has come up with the ‘Sajag’ initiative, where a short audio message about specific learning tasks is delivered directly to the parents’ inboxes or explained in person by anganwadi workers.

#2: Jeyaishwari R Nadar – Another example of a teacher’s dedication is Ms. Nadar, a mathematics teacher at the Gandhi Memorial English High School in Matunga, Mumbai. Her inventive teaching style went viral on social media after a journalist picked up this story in June 2020. Ms. Nadar was pictured conducting a class with the mobile phone on a refrigerator tray, which in turn was balanced on two containers. She came up with this idea when, as a math teacher, she realised she needed her students to simultaneously see the board while she took online classes. While she had tried whiteboards and other tools to teach, she found this particular technique makes it easier for her to broadcast notes.

#3: Shyam Kishore Singh – A headmaster of a school in Jharkhand’s Dumka district, Mr. Singh saw how many of his students faced learning challenges since the lockdown commenced because they lacked access to smartphones. He came up with an innovative way to keep their lessons going-by April 16, he had put up several loudspeakers across Bankathi village, where his Upgraded Middle School is located, to make sure his students heard him teach. These speakers have been put up on trees and walls in different locations across the village, with high volume speakers present where the number of students is more.

Dumka’s district education officer Poonam Kumari lauded this effort, adding that all 2,317 government schools in that region should emulate this model.

#4: Sonia Relia – While many educators are reaching out to their charges and students to prevent a learning loss, others are focusing on developing new-age skills in their peers and colleagues, through professional development courses. Among those ranks is author and teacher trainer Ms. Relia, who shares professional tips and advice with her fellow educators, through webinars and other online methods. She also regularly conducts storytelling sessions and fun activity-based talks with parents, teachers, and kids, to enhance the homebound teaching-learning experience.

Square Panda would like to appreciate the efforts of teacher Ranjitsinh Disale, who has been innovating teaching and learning long before the pandemic forced students into virtual classrooms.

Ranjitsinh Disale, a teacher from the Solapur district of Maharashtra, beat out 12,000 teachers from 140 countries around the world to win the Global Teacher Award this year, which is awarded by the London-based Varkey Foundation. His contribution towards the field of education-he supports girls’ education, he has contributed towards building coded QR textbooks, and he puts in efforts to generate interest about education among children from rural areas-won him a prize worth Rs. 7 crore. The first Indian to win this award, Ms. Disale says he will share 50% of his winnings with the other 9 finalists for the award, to support their incredible work and thereby provide quality education to thousands of children in 9 countries.

These visionaries are setting a strong example, collaborating with other stakeholders in the educational process—volunteers, edtech companies like Square Panda, parents, and children themselves—to garner results. These novel approaches exhibit how educators’ dedication can transform education and professional development in revolutionary ways.