The home environment and the stimulation children receive within the home may be important contributing factors.
Early Childhood Education (ECE) is vital to the overall development of children, which has an impact on their ability to learn and even earn throughout life. Despite the importance of ECEs, little has been said about continuing ECE deliveries during the COVID-19 school closures, reminiscent of remain so Even before the novel coronavirus pandemic. Preschool attendees are primarily enrolled in about 1.4 million Anganwadis spread across the country, where ECE suffers from low attendance and instructional time Among the priority of other early childhood development services in the Anganwadi system.
Where ECE has continued during the COVID-19 pre-school closure, there has been reduced access and ECE in homes has a lower priority. one in Recent Study by Vidhi Center for Legal PolicyOf the 650+ households surveyed in urban Maharashtra, 45% reported that they prioritize their older child’s education over ECE.
An important factor for families to be able to prioritize ECE is active parental involvement in their child’s education, especially for children aged three to six who spend most of their time indoors. and rely heavily on parental support. learning process. The holistic development of a child at an early stage also reflects parental involvement in addition to a conducive home environment and equal access to the schooling system. As such, the home environment and the stimulation children receive within the home can contribute to their overall development. for example, studies have found That the act of interacting with your child in the early years has a significant advantage on the language skills they develop.
role of parental engagement
Enabling parental involvement in ECE requires an understanding of the barriers that typically prevent parents from meaningfully engaging in their child’s education.
The socio-economic background of families determines access to preschool and the ability to invest in ECE. Worryingly, the lack of priority for ECE often means that households give up investing in ECE altogether. The pandemic has exposed the clear digital divide in the country even in the urban context. Unless the state pledges to provide equipment and internet to all children, it is clear that complete dependence on technology is not an option.
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Even for those who are able to overcome the initial barrier of access, the ability to engage in ECE at home remains dependent on time and ability. Families with limited resources have little time to invest in educational activities at home. In the study mentioned above, with low-income households engaged in ECE in urban Maharashtra during COVID-19, we find that job and income loss led to higher priority for education, and for educational and digital resources. need to invest in. The school continues during the shutdown.
Even in families that are able to make time for education, many parents lack the self-efficacy to support their child’s education. Most of the parents do not have the knowledge of effective methods to facilitate learning within the home and suitable means of using technology for education. Parents from low-income families are also less likely to be able to get help to learn such methods. With the COVID-19 school closures, it became another necessity for parents to engage in their child’s education.
overcome obstacles
Overcoming these barriers will become critical as we move towards achieving universal and equitable ECE, as envisaged in the National Policy on Education (NEP) 2020. Some of these are difficult to address, such as internalizing the importance of ECE among parents. This change of mindset requires prolonged and committed state action, which at present does not show any such urgency.
However, other barriers are easier to overcome if we drive the support of the state, schools and teachers to the goal of enabling parental involvement at home. The pandemic has created an opportunity where parents and teachers have recognized the important role of parents as partners in their child’s education. As we slowly move towards reopening schools for smaller classes, we should not miss this.
In the same study we conducted in urban Maharashtra, we studied two ECE programs – the e-Pathshala program in kindergarten run by Rocket Learning, and the Akanksha School in Mumbai and Pune. For those who were able to access the programs, we found that participants in these programs showed higher engagement levels associated with the elimination of some of the barriers discussed above. What may have worked for the e-Pathshala was its design to use materials available at home for educational activities. This reduced the need for parents to purchase any additional resources and ensured that it was relevant to the child’s environment and experiences. We found that programs that supported parents financially through the provision of rations and equipment for education resulted in higher parental participation in ECE.
The study also highlighted that a more decentralized approach to identifying and reducing these barriers to ECE, through teachers and school systems as pioneers, goes a long way. Being the first point of contact for both child and parent, teachers are most equipped to effectively engage with parents, address their challenges and design adaptable and innovative methods of teaching and learning.
empowering families
We should take advantage of the present opportunity to enhance parental engagement in children’s education. Efforts should be made to empower families with the time and resources so that they have the ability to prioritize ECE and not be forced to choose between their children’s education. The provision of non-educational support to low-income families to reduce income and food insecurity can be just as important in helping parents invest in education.
Second, we need to learn about teachers’ experiences (appropriate methods of engagement with parents and children, delivery logistics, parental constraints, etc.) and what they have developed to increase parental engagement during school closures. Information should be collected about the innovations made. What we need to ask is what has been done to remove the barriers, and how can these be driven to reach more homes?
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While teachers should remain at the center of this effort, we must also ensure that they are not burdened further by providing adequate resources and institutional support.
Nisha Varnekar and Pooja Pandey work on education at the Vidhi Center for Legal Policy. Karan Singhal is a researcher at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. views expressed are personal
.