Shaping the Future
Editorial . . . . . . . .
Our children, without a doubt, require holistic development in terms of knowledge, skills, and attitudes. To promote mental, social, emotional, and physical well-being, strong and effective promotion of life skills is essential. It will serve as the foundation for the development of skills such as early literacy, numeracy, and digital literacy. Self-control, critical thinking, teamwork, and effective communication are all required in today’s fast-changing environment. The trademarks of holistically compatible children are the ability to be change agents, independent learning, making informed decisions, and exercising the right to live a healthy and productive life. The first three years of a child’s life – ages three to nine – have been established to be the most significant phase of growth, with 85 per cent to 90 per cent of a child’s brain development taking place during this time. This is the tipping point, and recognising the child early establishes a solid foundation for his or her overall success and development in later years. In fact, the government’s National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading, Understanding, and Numeracy (NIPUN) Bharat Mission focuses on this age group in order to transform India’s elementary education. The goal of this flagship programme is to create a conducive atmosphere for the universal acquisition of foundational literacy and numeracy so that by the conclusion of third grade, every child has acquired the desired learning competencies in reading, writing, and numeracy. The mission emphasises three developmental goals: health and well-being, effective communication, and engaged learning, and it specifically advocates revolutionary pedagogical changes in early education. After a child reaches the age of three, the mission has identified performance metrics in three years of ECCE and three years of the foundational stage. At the early education level, the transition toward competency-based learning in the teaching process is considered a game-changer. Competencies have been identified to achieve the three developmental goals. At the foundational level, these competencies have been formalised and mapped to the learning goals for each level. The flagship NIPUN programme advocates for a shift away from textbook teaching and toward experiential learning. Teachers’ ability to use toy-based teaching-learning techniques, narrative, and ICT-integrated learning in the classroom would be increased. The curriculum will be centred on achieving developmental objectives. It will ensure that children’s health and well-being are maintained. The physical, socio-emotional, and psychological health and well-being of children will be the focus of this goal. It will also be in charge of assisting the children in becoming more effective communicators. It’s quite difficult right now since the statistics on literacy and language abilities aren’t encouraging, and there’s a national urgency to deal with the literary challenges. According to recent polls, 25% of school-aged children between the ages of four and eight do not have age-appropriate cognitive and numeracy skills. As a result, there is a significant learning disadvantage at an early age. 4% of youngsters under the age of six can recognise at least letters, according to ASER, NAS, and other international survey studies. In class 3, 33% of students are unable to read with comprehension. In class 3, 44% of students are unable to handle daily issues using basic math. Children must, in the meantime, be active learners who are aware of their environment.
The world enchants youngsters from the moment they are born, with its colours, shapes, sounds, sizes, and forms. The ability to connect with others and exchange feelings with them provides a unique learning foundation. Patterns, procedures, and other mathematical dimensions are explored by children in their immediate environment. Based on the children’s prior knowledge and immediate context, this aids in the development of their cognitive domain, which leads to the development of their five senses and the encouragement of the 3Es, i.e., Exploration, Experimentation, and Equity. The argument is that today’s one-size-fits-all approach to pedagogy, instruction, and evaluation has reached the end of its usefulness. The educational system of the twenty-first century must devise answers to rising flaws and investigate efforts to capitalise on strengths and prospects.
