Innovation and change have been the only constant over the past few years. We are facing a digital revolution, which completely upturns the way we currently function at work, at home, and even in educational institutions. The needs of the economy and nation are changing, thus altering the needs of 21^st century learners. These young children need to develop skills that empower them to stand tall and garner future success, skills like critical thinking, socio-emotional development, foundational literacy and numeracy, and more. 

Based on our years of experience in the early childhood education domain, we suggest these five ways to create an efficient 21^st century classroom:

1. Introduce Technology

NASSCOM data names India as one of the top enterprise hubs, second only to the USA. Even the Indian government has recognised the crucial need for technology in education and is investing in ed-tech, setting up global standards, and emerging as a key player in this sector. 

The Indian ed-tech sector has boomed since 2008; multiple start-ups, and increasing awareness have made this an attractive field. In a country like India, which caters to learners with varied needs and requirements, technology-led education is a valuable resource. AI & ML-powered learning makes classrooms accessible to every single student, regardless of their geographic location. Not only can tech be used to enhance learning for students, but can even be used in teacher training, and increasing educators’ digital literacy for a better teaching experience.

2. Blend Physical Learning Into Theory
Memorisation based on repetition, or rote learning, is not the most effective way to educate young children. With a child’s attention span being relatively low and research showing us that periods of focused attention improve cognitive information processing (i.e. learning), a blend of different techniques like using games in teaching and incorporating play-based activities and instructions will show stronger learning outcomes. 

A similar blended structure with teachers, Anganwadi workers, and other educators getting a chance to participate in activities and games themselves is precisely how training programs are to be structured. Educators learn to use the physical applications, tools, games, and activities so well that they are completely prepared to implement them inside their classrooms.

Want to set up a blended learning model in your classrooms and institutions? See our expert tips on how to get started here.

3. Include The Traditional With The Modern

India’s rich heritage has gifted us a wealth of learning tools that continue to hold value in today’s day and age. Every classroom, educational institution, and Anganwadi centre must take special care to adopt traditional games, music, art, and more alongside modern applications, linking children and their education to the past while bringing them into the future.

4. Transform Assessments

To paraphrase the revolutionary NEP 2020, assessments will undergo a shift from traditional rote memorisation tests, to ones that measure competency and higher-order skills, like critical thinking and analysis. This revision takes our existing teaching-learning process and optimises it to improve student outcomes across all levels of education. 

Realigning this process as per the NEP’s vision will take the help of technology and tools, for better delivery of feedback at every step of the process. Many such assessment tools personalise the feedback for each student, and provide a snapshot of the entire class at the same time, allowing educators to evaluate progress at various levels.

5. Professional Development For Educators And Anganwadi Workers

For a well-developed early learning landscape, we need to enhance the  21^st century skills of our educational community. These Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) stakeholders, comprising pre-primary and primary teachers, counsellors, principals, Anganwadi workers, etc., should be taught to understand early learning and the neuroscience behind it, basic digital literacy, and varied skill sets required for teaching today’s learners. Only then will they be equipped to create learning environments that nurture children with valuable life and academic skills, setting them up for a successful future.

In a step towards a stronger India, more attention has been accorded to developing crucial new-age skills in young learners. Advancing this vision is Square Panda India’s very own Aarambh initiative, which is powered by leading-edge technological innovations and the expertise of educators and neuroscientists. Our teaching-learning programs under Aarambh make us effective partners to various state governments and impact organisations across India. To learn more, visit ecce.squarepanda.in

The strategic reform in policies that focus on Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), as proposed by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, has prompted a call to realign the very structure of teaching-learning methods used to educate India’s young learners.

However, change cannot happen without people, organisations, and institutions learning from each other’s failures and success. Such a transformation requires open dialogue and a platform to collectively ask and learn from questions, problems, and solutions.

Currently, multiple challenges force our early education system to operate in silos. For example, two of the major early learning providers are handled by two different ministries within the government: Anganwadis fall under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme, which is run by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, and ECCE is looked after by the Ministry of Education. 

To see effective change, we need an interconnected and inclusive framework that links each element in the early childhood education landscape; we need learning communities.

What Are Learning Communities? The term ‘learning community’ indicates a group of people with similar academic goals and attitudes who collaborate regularly. 

Why Is This Network Important? When all the people invested in early learning—key stakeholders including parents, teachers, principals, etc.—are able to work together, they will be able to build a network of knowledgeable individuals, thereby improving student outcomes.

1. Facilitates the development of learning communities
2. Stakeholders begin working together as equal partners
3. A support system is formed that provides the means for early childhood innovators to set goals and share results
4. Such a network builds the framework for professional development and teaching-learning opportunities
5. Cultivates not only leaders, but also ideas

As our ECCE experience has taught us, such learning communities are crucial in ensuring the creation of a robust and healthy early learning landscape. That is why Square Panda India is building a community with each stakeholder in the Indian early education ecosystem — Anganwadi Workers, pre-primary and primary teachers, parents, and others who care about early education.

The following initiatives are examples of our active learning communities:

#1: Square Panda Thursdays

Educators are visionaries inspiring change in their students’ lives, shaping them for the future. Their passion and dedication influenced us, and a fun educational idea was born!

Picking up where our previous educational talks (Square Panda Sundays) left off, our new series is honouring the commitment of early years educators towards early childhood development. Each Thursday, we delve into insightful topics and discussions with early learning expert Ms. Sonia Relia (Author of MY LEARNING TRAIN-Activity-Based Series for Early Years, and Developer Activity-Based Learning Programs – KINOLEARN, KINOPHONICS).

*Catch next week’s talk on ‘Connecting Heart, Head, Hand – The Need for Activities and Play in Early Years’ live, on March 18th at 5 pm, only on Facebook @SquarePandaIndia

#2: Behind Every Step

This inspiring series celebrates each contributor (teachers/parents/other stakeholders) who stands behind young learners, supporting them as they take their first steps along their educational journey. Each week, we showcase inspiring tales from educators, children, parents, and other ECCE stakeholders across our social media platforms.

Teachers, Parents, Early Educators, other early learning stakeholders, we want to hear from you! Tell us the motivating/inspirational story behind your journey, what made you become a part of this community, how you support children as they take their first learning steps, and more. Send us your tales via DM, and we will share them across our channels.
Facebook
Instagram
LinkedIn

We recognise the value each stakeholder holds and how this impacts the ECCE ecosystem. Our online programs, together with our early learning initiative Aarambh, are specially designed to enhance each person’s impact and build a supportive learning community.

*Aarambh empowers all stakeholders in the early learning ecosystem through NEP 2020-aligned programs. Learn more: 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

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.

India has one of the largest education systems in the world, providing learning to more than 260 million students with around 1.5 million schools. Most of these schools depended on traditional methods of teaching and learning in the classroom, until the COVID pandemic pushed us to revise our existing techniques. 

The blended learning model, defined as ‘a style of education in which students learn via electronic and online media as well as traditional face-to-face teaching’, was seen in some classrooms across the globe, but had experienced little popularity in India. With the migration of classrooms into the digital learning space, and in the interest of further boosting the education sector, the Ministry of Education has mandated blended classrooms as a new method of teaching and learning. Apex educational bodies in India like NCERT & CBSE have already announced their intentions of implementing a hybrid system of schooling with blended learning post the lockdown.

We at Square Panda believe this move towards a blended classroom will benefit learners across India, particularly young learners.

Here are our expert suggestions for setting up successful blended learning models in classrooms across states, divided as per stages:

PLANNING STAGE

• Redefined Educators’ Roles: Educators, particularly anganwadi workers (add link to anganwadi blog post) and primary educators, are the lifeblood of the teaching learning process. In the new blended model, each educator will play a new role with enhanced skill requirements. To see successful implementation, each educator from the ground up has to be trained in 21st century skills, to understand the neuroscience behind early learning and to enable holistic development of children.
• Restructure Curriculum: The existing curriculum needs to be reworked to adopt the NEP 2020 vision of experiential learning in a blended classroom. A flexible design, with multi-platform availability to reach even the most remote of areas, is a good start towards standardisation of education, ensuring no child is left behind.
• Factor In The Digitally Deprived Learners: The NEP 2020 addresses this concern, by concluding that, “the benefits of online/digital education cannot be leveraged unless the digital divide is eliminated through concerted efforts, such as the Digital India campaign and the availability of affordable computing devices. It is important that the use of technology for online and digital education adequately addresses concerns of equity.” Not every child will have access to digital tools necessary to make blended classrooms a success, and if they do, internet connectivity can pose a problem. It would be more effective to take these challenges into account at the planning stages itself, and work with tools and aids that provide easy-to-access offline content which can reach learners even in the heartlands without any trouble.
• Private + Public Collaborations: The ed-tech sector in India is booming, as evidenced by an Omidyar Network India & RedSeer Report, which estimates that by 2022, the K-12 ed-tech market in India will be worth USD 1.7 billion. This trend can be used to the government’s advantage. Partnerships and wide scale collaborations with educationally inclined companies and foundations can bring in the necessary innovation and tools that turn the NEP 2020 vision into a reality. 

IMPLEMENTATION STAGE

• Retraining Educators: Every educator involved in ECCE needs retraining to acquire new-age skills that will help them optimise technology at the ground levels, for better teaching and learning experiences. The training must involve the currently envisioned pedagogy, keeping in mind the young learners’ educational needs. Again, NEP 2020 recognises this, adding value to content creation by teachers themselves, adding that they need to be trained and equipped with digital knowledge to be able to create online content modules with ease.
• Using Aids & Tools: Adopting blended learning models in classrooms across states would be easier with digital tools, to aid with implementation and future hand holding and support, for workers at all levels. 

REVIEW STAGE

• Pilot Studies: Administrators can test the efficacy of programs and plans to be used in their blended learning program with a scaled down group, as a precursor to a complete roll-out. These results can be used for continuous improvement, to decide on the preferred forms of e-content, areas of challenge, and more.
• Different Blended Learning Modes To Suit Requirements: Face-to-face interactive learning sessions are extremely crucial to the success of blended learning classrooms, and need to be factored into the program structure, after the planning and implementation process. As states are armed with suitable knowledge about the extent of implication blended learning has on overall outcomes, they can suitably identify different modes of blended learning to suit each subject, classroom, district, and state. 

While the recent pandemic pushed the Indian education system to adapt to a new way of learning, we saw a new beginning with more opportunities to bring in equality to learning. There is a need to seize this chance, making a concerted effort to impress the need for blended classrooms and learning across our country.