ScooNews March 2019 Digital Edition by ScooNews

Children must be taught how to think, not what to think

Volume 3 Issue 8 March 2019 CHANGING TEACHERS’ LIVES EVERYDAY, EVERY WAY!

Margaret Mead

STRAIGHT

Group Editor Ravi Santlani Deputy Editor Parvathy Jayakrishnan

TALK

Reporters Anushka Yadav, Anshu Pande, Ashima Sharma, Anuj Kr.

Ravi Santlani, CEO

Website Team Pranav Sharma, Ojas Godatwar Art Direction Rexsu Cherry Advisory Board: Anand Kumar, Founder, Super-30 Dr Jagpreet Singh, Headmaster, The Punjab Public School, Nabha Dr Neeta Bali, Director- Principal, G D Goenka World School, Gurugram Dr Swati Popat Vats, President, Podar Education Network & President, Early Childhood Association India Geeta Dharmarajan, Founder & President, Katha Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar,Trustee, Vidyadan Trust & Maharana of Mewar Foundation Lt Gen SH Kulkarni (Retd), Director, Mayo College Meenakshi Uberoi, Education Evangelist, Founder, De Pedagogics Nishi Misra, Principal, Scindia Kanya Vidyalaya, Gwalior Prajakt Raut, Co-founder, Applyifi & The Growth Labs Sandeep Dutt, Founder & Chairman, Learning Forward India Skand Bali, Principal, The Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet Pics Pressfoto Pixabay, Shutterstock Cover Design ATLT Inc

Founder & CEO Ravi Santlani Vice President Operations Vinay K Singh Vice President PR Vanya Bhandari National Sales Head Pankaj Sharma BD Executive Yashwant Parmar, Shivam Joshi, Aryan Mudgal, Shoaib Ali Sagar Nagpal EDITORIAL OFFICE EduPulse Media Pvt Ltd, J-3, Jhalana Institutional Area, Second Floor, Jaipur 302004 India Email: editor@scoonews.com FOR ALL SALES QUERIES Pankaj Sharma +91-74120-27891 sales@scoonews.com FOR SUBSCRIPTION +91-72405-17913 subscribe@scoonews.com PRINTED AND PUBLISHED by Ravi Santlani on behalf of EduPulse Media Pvt Ltd PRINTED AT Popular Printers, Fateh Tiba, MD Road Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. PUBLISHED AT, J-3, Jhalana Institutional Area, Second Floor, Jaipur-302004, India Editor : Ravi Santlani Publishing Date: 10 March ‘2019 Total number of pages 112, including Covers

Surf’s up!

t is less with a touch of pride and more a sense of mild disbelief that I note that with every passing event, the bar just seems to be rising higher for us at ScooNews. I will not pretend that organising the Early Ed Asia 2019 conference in association with the Early Childhood Association, at the City Palace, Jaipur, was a piece of cake. Even as many gasped at the choice of venue—a first ever for such an event, thanks to the support and magnanimity of Princess Diya Kumari and the royal family of Jaipur— the sheer enormity of the conference was a tough test of our organisational, logistical and other capabilities. Heartfelt thanks here to the irrepressible Dr Swati Popat Vats, President, Early Childhood Association for this opportunity for growth. Going by the deluge of appreciation that has come our way—despite the mandatory hiccups a conference of this magnitude entails—we are allowing ourselves a smile of contentment. Watching 600+ early childhood educators from around the country and across the world come together to learn, share and network is nothing short of mind-blowing…especially when you also watch them gamely acing Bhangra moves, wearing their post-address turbans with pride and posing for selfies with elephants! A tad surreal, this ‘Kumbh’ of Early Childhood Education… There was significant takeaway for me as well, which I will delve into and learn from. The early years might be regarded as the period when maximum learning happens but learning never really stops and the lessons don’t necessarily get easier! Like Dan Millman puts it, “Life comes at us in waves. We can’t predict or control those waves, but we can learn to surf!”

March 2019

CONTENTS

14 #EEA 2019 A TREASURE TROVE OF LEARNING

102

100 UNFOLDING MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES IN THE CLASSROOM

LESSONS OUR CHILDREN CAN LEARN FROM WING COMMANDER ABHINANDAN VARTHAMAN

Dr Reeta Sonawat shares insights on Gardner's theory having direct educational implications.

90 GESS DUBAI 2019

ANUSHKA YADAV & PARVATHY JAYAKRISHNAN report on all the action at the vibrant GESS Dubai 2019

March 2019

104

BUILDING A SUPPORTIVE BRIDGE BETWEEN EARLY YEARS AND PRIMARY SCHOOL

YOURS TRULY HIGH STANDARDS Thanks ever so much for making this talk happen at EarlyEd Asia! The conference was very well organised, both logistically and in terms of its content. ScooNews took the conference to an international level. Your eye for detail was so palpable. Looking forward to more discussions about motivational talks. Dr Anupam Sibal, Group Medical Director, Apollo Hospitals Group

IN GRATITUDE I spent four days in Jaipur with the ScooNews team where we all attended the Early Ed Asia Conference on Early Childhood Education. A few words of gratitude and appreciation. I have come across international magazines in many parts of the world, but ScooNews beats them all. Your layout, quality of paper used, selection of content, bright, large and colourful pictures, and excellent editorial work, makes opening it a joyful experience. I could almost use this issue as a reference book on Early Childhood Education. Your presence along with your team throughout the duration of the conference, and the readiness with which little problems were solved is an indication of how seriously you take your commitments. While I go about doing my work I am often confronted with mediocrity and incompetence and it irks me no end. I found the excellent work culture of ScooNews percolating right down to the last man, whether it was at the office or at the conference. ECA has a strong presence in the country today, but undoubtedly collaborating with ScooNews has raised the bar for us. I congratulate the entire ScooNews team on the success of this conference. We had our bloopers, but in an event of this magnitude, they have to be accepted gracefully as learning for the future. Asha Varma, Chief Coordinator, preprimary, Children’s Academy

SPECTACULAR CONFERENCE The most beautiful moments captured of a spectacular ECA conference! The best educational conference with 600 delegates under one roof ! Prolific speakers, fairy tale ambience, unforgettable food spread complete with the bonanza of royalty! Can't get the right Indian word for the Disneyland experience, with of course, so much of learning to take away from the 40 national and international speakers! A holistic experience etched in

each of our minds...setting a standard, raising the bar of an experience! Well, next year will be another challenge! Kusum Kanwar, Director, KK Kids Learning Systems

GREAT INVESTMENT Due to miscommunication, we could not attend the pre-conference, and we felt bad about it. Yet there was immense excitement for the conference. On arriving, we didn't have the faintest idea that we are going to be taken aback in a few seconds. The entrance, the welcome was extremely mesmerising and totally unexpected. On being seated and within a few minutes, we knew that this is one great investment we did of time and money and attending this event along with two team members. You had picked an amazing range of speakers from all over the world. In addition, the outstanding range of topics catering to and touching each and every field in relation to kindergarten were worth applauding. The notes I have taken are going to not only help me but my entire team as well as my parents. I just conducted a session with my teachers today to share the learnings with them. I plan to arrange a similar event for the parents of our students as well.I run a kindergarten catering to 258 kids and a team of 36 teachers and 16 support staff. If in any way I can help ECA it will be my pleasure. I again thank you for arranging this deep ocean of knowledge sharing. Ritu Joshi, Head of Teachers, Little Oaks Preschool & Activity Centre

INFORMATIVE ARTICLES Thank you for giving us the opportunity to attend this fabulous conference. I have returned with renewed sense of excitement about teaching, some fantastic new ideas and many new friends.As educators, we are committed to lifelong learning and such conferences help us to fill that cup and leave with some goodies. I really appreciate the initiative taken by you to organise the conference. The conference was not only very well organised but very informative too. The flow of the conference was worth mentioning and, as we know, the schedule time that is maintained is really appreciable which is the speciality of ECA.Walking through the Expo made me feel giddy with excitement to see some of my favourite companies and obviously some new items. The articles in your special edition are also worth mentioning as

they are quite informative. Parmindar Kaur, Principal & Founder, Verbena Educational Foundation

NEW DIMENSION I would like to say that there was immense learning and it truly added a new dimension of my approach to the early years. I would love to be a part of any further seminars and conferences in the future. Geraldine D'mello, Curriculum Development Head, Kara4Kids

TIMELY REQUIREMENT Thank you to the team for the beautiful pictures; it was indeed a well planned and executed seminar which was badly needed. Moon Devdas, Pre-primary Supervisor, Thakur Public School

BUMPER EDITION Thank you so much to the entire team for putting up a wonderful show. What a bumper-edition full of great articles! Lee Ann McKee, Director - Marketing & Communications, Green School, Bali

INSPIRING SESSIONS A well-organised event; I enjoyed attending a few sessions in particular such as the keynote by Ammara Habib on Effective Ways of Building a Stellar Preschool Brand, Early Ed at Purkal Youth Development Society, Dance Therapy by Aarti Pandey, Assessment in Learning and Developing Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills Through Stories by Vaidehi K N. Day 2 was equally relevant with a brilliant PowerTalk by Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar, along with the panel discussion on building a story and supportive bridge between early years and at all levels, a brainstorming session by Lina Ashar on working with children in a way that limits limiting beliefs, and Dr Swati Popat Vats’ session on kindergarten to coding – how ECE is connected to development of economics of our country. Veena, Academic Director, Kayo International

SATIATING SHOW I thoroughly enjoyed attending the conference. The sessions were relevant with good content. Thanks to the ScooNews team for putting up a great and satiating show! Chinary Sruthi Subudhy, Pre-primary Teacher, Oakridge International School

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March 2019

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FRUITFUL LEARNING It was delightful to listen to such insightful speakers and Dr Swati’s sessions were particularly interesting. My key takeaways from the conference include the importance and craft of storytelling, parenting, the need for teacher upliftment and coding. Such conferences are highly relevant and a fruitful learning experience for educators. Sakina Bharmal, Head Mistress, Hasti Kindergarten

CONTENT & HOSPITALITY Relevant, useful and excellent session content along with good hospitality these two things defined my experience at EEA 2019! Thanks to the organisers for taking care of us and for a wonderful conference. Amanprit Kaur, Teacher, AmarJyoti International School

ENLIGHTENING EXPERIENCE It was a well-managed conference. It was enlightening to hear Dr Swati Popat Vats, Smriti Chopra Jain, Dr Anupam Sibal and Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar speak; the panel discussions were equally insightful. Jyoti Mehndiratta, A.G.M.(Academics), Seth M.R. Jaipuria Schools

VIBRANT SESSIONS I really loved the sessions by Dr Swati Popat Vats, Dr Anupam Sibal, Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar ji and Dr Daniela Lucangeli among others. Thanks for the vibrant welcome and well organised conference. Guruprem Dass Kapoor, Director, Noida Educational Academy

LIVELY THERAPY Thoroughly enjoyed the variety of sessions; loved the dance therapy by Aarti Pandey along with valuable panel discussions. Abhimanyu Jakhar, Director, Scotle High School

OVERALL SATISFACTION The overall agenda and sessions were very informative. Thanks to the entire team for a satisfying and excellent experience. Dr Seema Pachauri, Director, Budding Scholars Playgroup and Nursery School

IMPORTANT POLICY It was a good experience being at Early Ed Asia 2019. While I was delighted to listen to so many amazing speakers, my key takeaway from the conference was the ECA play policy. Hasti Gada, Franchisee, Podar Jumbo Kids, Chembur

STRENGTHENING BELIEFS Right from the title of the conference Our Children, Our Future, to the speakers and to the topics and power talks it was quite relevant. Thank you all for

taking good care of us and managing the event so well. Most importantly, the conference helped in refreshing our past learning and it has definitely strengthened our belief in our learners and thereby inspired us to continue doing our best. Rupali Tanna, Headmistress, Anand Niketan Joey’s, Ambli Campus

ENJOYABLE & INTERESTING Thanks to the entire team that curated the wonderful conference - Early Ed Asia 2019! I enjoyed my time and learned some interesting things at the conference. Anuj Sharma, Managing Director, Satyakaam International School

SIGNIFICANT LEARNING I was happy to see the fact that there was learning, networking and bonding for a cause. I learned more about the play policy, importance of teacher development, learning with nature, improving reading, and the critical role of ECA. Thanks to the wonderful team! Chandrika Ramakrishnan, Principal, Mongrace Montessori House and Day Care Centre

MOTIVATION GALORE It was really nice to be a part of such a well-organised conference. I felt motivated and the conference helped me in realising how one should work from the heart and should never stop learning. There were many innovative launches and stalls in the expo area which were really good for the growth of kids as well as school. Hoping to see EEA in Delhi soon! Surbhi Jain, Petrologist, Seedling Play and Nursery School

ENRICHING TIME I had an excellent time at EEA 2019! An enriching three days in an educator’s life! Gratitude... Hetal Rathod, Academic Coordinator, Tapti Valley International School

SINCERE THANKS Early Ed Asia was very well executed! Lots of takeaways! Thanks to the entire team of EEA 2019! Harsha Girish Ramaiya, Owner, Founder & Director, Small Wonders Play House

GREAT JOB I would like to extend my gratitude to the entire team of EEA 2019 for the wonderful efforts put in by each one of them. Arvinder Kaur, Head, Academics, Kinderpillar Ivy League Schools Pvt Ltd

DEFINITELY WORTHWHILE Early Ed Asia 2019 was a learning experience for me; to be able to learn from such insightful speakers and experts across the world made it worthwhile! Ishita Mistry Kansara, Franchise Owner, Podar Jumbo Kids, Ashanagar

BUILDING BONDS Enjoyed the sessions and the conference, it was a good opportunity to expand my network. Thanks to the EEA team! Deenal Bamania, Founder and Director, Winnspire International Preschool

ENGENDERING AWARENESS It felt great to be a part of this conference. I am taking many things along through this event. I have made a vision for myself after attending the event; to bring awareness at maximum places, reaching out to parents and teachers in various ways and I would like to go for research and development for betterment in child's education in early age. Thank you for everything. Parul Joshi, Sr. Manager LDQ, Kalorex Group

GREAT TRACTION It was great to see so many committed people focusing on Early Years. The Nature Kindergarten, Froebel, impact of pollution on infant brains, using our heritage in learning… It's great to see the attendance and traction the event has had. Sonia Kullar, Early Years Educationist

VALUABLE PLATFORMS I really loved how many non-franchisee schools having their own setup were invited while they were also nominated and awarded. Such conferences serve as valuable platforms for such schools. Kavitha Vyas, Founder Director, Crystal Kids Pre School

GROOMING OPPORTUNITY It was a great event with great hospitality. It was, indeed, a pleasure being a part of it. The event has groomed us like never before, simply loved it! Great job, team EEA! It was worth it. Nausheen Khan, Owner, The Growing Tree

VALUE-ADDED EXPERIENCE The sessions were good and enriching and I have learnt a lot by attending the Early Ed Asia conference. Each of the sessions was well timed and as per the schedule. I thank Dr Swati Popat Vats and Ravi Santlani for organising the event and being such good hosts. The icing on the cake was the beautiful City Palace ambience and of course, receiving the award from Princess Diya Kumari. It was a value adding experience. Bhupinder Gogia, Principal, Sat Paul Mittal School

STELLAR ISSUE! I got to read your latest publication of the ScooNews magazine and I'd like to share with you that it is marvelous and I have taken many tips from the wonderful write ups and articles. Dr. Bela Joshi , Principal, Subodh Public School

March 2019

TRENDING

RTE, EWS quota not implemented by 80% Delhi private schools The "Bright Spots: Status of Social Inclusion through RTE" has revealed that over 80 per cent of the private schools in Delhi fail at implementing the Right to Education (RTE) Act as well as at reserving 25 per cent seats for students from Economically Weaker Sections (EWS). Based on a survey having over 10,000 respondents, the report highlighted, "Thirteen states and UTs do not have readily available information on the number of students in schools under this provision. There is also ambiguity over the definition of free education." The report also said, "While there is lack of policy clarity on students' future after passing Class 8, document requirements like Aadhaar and certain others have excluded sections of the beneficiary population including children from migrant populations, children of single mothers, among others.”

36,500 teachers’ posts lying vacant in Assam schools A total of 36,523 teaching posts lie vacant in schools of all levels across Assam, including 17,293 posts in primary schools; out of which 10,137 are in lower primary and 7,156 are in upper primary schools. Out of the high, higher and Madrasa schools, 63 principals, 512 vice principals, 1,353 subject teachers, 956 headmasters, 235 assistant headmasters, 15,923 assistant teachers and 188 demonstrators are lying vacant. Usually, schools fail to inform the Education Department about a teacher retiring until the person's last day in office, and it takes time to appoint a new one following a lengthy procedure. The schools have been instructed to inform 180 days before a teacher retires so that a new teacher can be appointed on time.

Dr Swaroop Sampat Rawal among Top 10 Global Teacher Prize 2019 finalists Shortlisted from over 10,000 nominations, Dr Swaroop Sampat Rawal has made the nation proud by being named among the Top 10 finalists of the USD one million Global Teacher Prize 2019 by the Varkey Foundation. Her unique teaching methods and motivation to reach out to children across the varied segments of society are an inspiration to educators all over the world. Sampat vouches, “Teaching is my refusal to remain silent. Education is my way to make better the lives of the children. I perfect my practice so I can improve their schooling. I imagine new ways of teaching so I can teach them well to enable them to learn well...innovative and improved technique, effective curriculums, valuable research for a safer, beautiful world...It is about the children, always about the children.” The annual prize will be announced at the Global Education and Skills Forum (GESF), Dubai in March.

March 2019

Mixed responses as India re-enters PISA

After performing poorly, India had dropped out of the Program for International Student Assessment or PISA, run by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. However, in January, the India government announced its plan to step back in the program. The government said that participating in PISA will help to assess the health of its education system, motivate schools and states to do better, and improve learning levels across the country. The test will also move India away from rote learning toward more competency-based examination reforms. Yamini Aiyar, president of the Accountability Initiative at Indian think tank, the Centre for Policy Research, summed up the mixed responses, “That there is willingness to reengage with PISA is a good thing. However, the way it is being done, limiting it to only certain kinds of schools and one city … [suggests] an unwillingness to confront the problem in its entirety on an international stage, and [instead to] try as much as possible to showcase our best.”

Baba Ramdev’s Trust responds to EoI to run the first Vedic school board

Single time zone in India impairs education, wages: New study

Yoga Guru Ramdev’s Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust responded to the ‘Expression of Interest’ (EoI), released by Maharshi Sandipani Rashtriya Vedavidya Pratishthan (MSRVP) on February 11. It invited applications for setting up the Bharatiya Shiksha Board (BSB). The Vedic Board aims to standardise “Indian traditional knowledge”, such as Vedic education, Sanskrit education, Shastras, Darsanas, etc. It aims to draft the syllabus, conduct exams, issue certificates and recognise gurukuls, pathshalas and schools that offer a blend of Vedic and modern education. The Board, like CBSE, will charge an affiliation fee and examination fee from schools. According to Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust's website, the trust aims at “studying and researching subjects associated with yajna, organic agriculture, cow urine, nature and environment in addition to the study and research of yoga and Ayurveda…”.

Each evening, the sun sets more than 90 minutes later in western India than in the east of the country, yet the entire country follows the same time zone. Later sunset means people stay awake longer, which induces sleep deprivation among children and negatively affects their study efforts, a new study by a research scholar at Cornell University has found. As a result of sleeping late, children are less likely to complete primary and middle school, and this e?ect is most pronounced among poor households, says the study, ‘Poor Sleep: Sunset Time and Human Capital Production’, which analysed the consequences India faces by operating under a single time zone. Geographically, there is a 30-degree longitudinal difference between Arunachal Pradesh in the east and Gujarat in the west of India. This qualifies for a twin time-zones setup. Before Independence, India had two time zones-Bombay Time and Calcutta Time-in large part to help traders make use of daylight. However, when policies were made for independent India, the government decided to go with a single time zone, at longitude 82.5º east and 5.5 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). All institutions across the country follow a single Indian Standard Time (IST), even though sunrise and sunset times vary widely. For instance, the sun rises as late as 8 a.m. in Gujarat, where schools start functioning as early as 8.30 a.m., when children’s body clocks are not aligned to the daily solar cycle. At the same time, the sun is out until 8 p.m. (depending on the time of year), yet schools and offices close by 5.006.00 p.m. Much natural light and people’s ability to stay awake are wasted and compromised to follow the country-wide standard time.

March 2019

TRENDING 32% students bullied at school worldwide: UNESCO A new UNESCO report confirms that school violence and bullying are major problems worldwide. The Behind the numbers: Ending school violence and bullying publication, is being released at the world's largest gathering of education and skills Ministers-the 2019 Education World Forum taking place in London (UK). It demonstrates that despite the gravity of the problem, some countries have made significant progress towards reducing or containing, school violence and b ullying. Almost one in three students (32 percent) has been bullied by their peers at school at least once in the last month and a similar proportion is affected by physical violence, according to the publication. Physical bullying is the most frequent type of bullying in many regions, with the exception of North America and Europe, where psychological bullying is most common. Sexual bullying is the second most common in many regions. School violence and bullying affect both male and female students. Physical bullying is more common among boys, while psychological bullying is more prevalent among girls. Online and mobile phone bullying has also increased. Political leadership and high-level commitment, together with a robust legal and policy framework that addresses violence against children and school violence and bullying, have proved effective in reducing or maintaining a low prevalence of school violence and bullying.

UNHCR, UNICEF urge action in Europe to end childhood statelessness UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and UNICEF, the UN Children’s Agency, are calling on States and regional organisations to take urgent action to ensure no child is born, or remains, stateless in Europe. While there are no precise figures on the total numbers of stateless children, more than half a million people in Europe are estimated to be stateless. As the overall number of asylum-seeking children in Europe has grown since 2010, with peaks in 2015 and 2016, so has the number of children identified as ‘stateless’. In 2017 some 2,100 children were registered as ‘stateless’, which represented a fourfold increase compared to 2010. Children without a nationality have limited access to basic rights and services such as education and healthcare and can face lifelong discrimination. Lack of official documents can put children at greater risk of experiencing violence, abuse and trafficking, and place them and their families at risk of arrest and detention. To better address child statelessness in Europe, UNICEF and UNHCR are proposing a series of low-cost, effective and sustainable solutions, including: Ensuring that every stateless refugee or migrant child is properly identified and protected upon arrival in Europe. Simplifying procedures to enable stateless children to acquire a nationality as soon as possible. Adopting or amending legislation to include safeguards granting nationality to all children born in a country who would otherwise be stateless.

‘ODB a revolutionary step to boost quality education’ –Prakash Javadekar The Minister of Human Resource Development, Shri Prakash Javadekar launched Operation Digital Board to leverage technology in order to boost quality education in the country. The Minister of Human Resource Development said that Operation Digital Board is a revolutionary step which will make the learning as well as the teaching process interactive and popularise flipped learning as a pedagogical approach. Shri Prakash Javadekar disclosed that the digital board will be introduced all over the country in government and government aided schools from class 9 onwards as well as in higher education institutions. The process will begin from the coming session of 2019 itself. He further said that ODB aims at converting a classroom into a digital classroom and in addition to availability of e-resources at any time and at any place to students, it will also help in provisioning of personalised adaptive learning as well as Intelligent Tutoring by exploiting emerging technologies like Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics. An expert committee has worked out optimum configuration of the Digital Classrooms under ODB. The Union Minister said that the biggest challenge facing education sector in the country is maintaining acceptable quality standards across the country. Although we have good number of premier institutions, which compete with the best in the world, a large number of higher education institutions and schools needs improvements in quality teaching-learning, as the students coming out of these institutions find themselves unsuitable for the requirements of the society and market. The spread of educational technology and connectivity has given an opportunity to resolve this issue and aim at equity in educational standards.

March 2019

GRATITUDE

WITH SINCERE

Appreciation Dear Princess Diya Kumari

A heartfelt THANK you for hosting the Early Ed Asia 2019 event at your royal residence, The City Palace, Jaipur. We were overwhelmed by your generosity and kindness during the two-day conference. Attending a world-class conference in a heritage structure was a one-of-a-kind experience for our visiting delegates too. You made the event even more special for Early Childhood Educators by personally presenting the awards for outstanding contributors. We thank you for sending out a strong message and supporting the cause of building a strong foundation for our young ones. We sincerely hope that you would continue to grace our other education conferences with your presence and inspiring words.

Heartfelt gratitude, ScooNews and Early Childhood Association

March 2019

BOOK REVIEW

ONCE UPON A STORY:

DIVASWAPNA AND THE GIJUBHAI METHOD

Anushka Yadav writeback@scoonews.com

ivided into 15 chapters with a playful and inspiring foreword by Dr Swarup Sampat Rawal, Once Upon a Story is a friend disguised as a guide. A carefully crafted and curated non-fiction book, it celebrates the methods of Gijubhai or Girijashankar Bhagwanji Badheka that he put into practice more than hundred years ago; practices that are being introduced in schools today. Gijubhai Badheka’s pedagogical input was the evolution of a system of education that was instinctual, intelligent and suitable to every classroom and school. The authors take their readers

on a journey into Badheka’s philosophies, from his firm belief in democratic classrooms, collaborative learning, developmentally-appropriate practice, curricular integration, inquirybased practice, transdisciplinary education, and hands-on learning to project-based curricula. His simple yet revolutionary method of using stories, music, dance, travel, and the playground have been discussed in detail through each chapter; his unique pedagogy was intuitive and child-prioritised and promotes changemaking, critical-thinking and freedom. We may think that each classroom and school demands a different pedagogy but Badheka’s methods were the ‘evolution of a system of education that

March 2019

AUTHORS: DR SWATI POPAT VATS & VINITHA

was instinctual, intelligent and suitable' for all. Don’t be mistaken in thinking that this is a book meant for educators only; from educators to parents, it includes practices that can be followed by all to ensure a healthy development of children. The book follows what it preaches; kudos to the authors for including excerpts from several engaging fables along with eye-opening quotes by writers such as Samuel Johnson. Want to know the dos and don’ts while being a facilitator in a child’s growing years? Once Upon a Story is just the book for you! An amalgamation of extensive research in the field coupled beautifully with excerpts, quotes and examples woven in a conversational tone, it's a read you shouldn't miss!

#EEA 2019

Team ScooNews recounts the many highs of the two-day Early Ed Asia conference at the City Palace, Jaipur

March 2019

A TREASURE TROVE OF LEARNING

aparisoned elephants swaying their heads in gentle unison, horses standing at attention, traditional musicians sending up a resounding welcome, and leheriya-clad young ladies welcoming delegates with a smile and a circlet of marigolds… Yes, Early Ed

Asia 2019, Asia’s largest early childhood conference, at the City Palace, Jaipur, showed, right from the onset, that a feast—on multiple levels—lay in store. With the motto ‘Our Children. Our Future’, the conference organised by ScooNews in association with Early

Childhood Association India, under the patronage of the royal family of Jaipur, went on to more than deliver on its promise to provide a platform for networking, learning, and sharing the best practices of Early Childhood Education in Asia.

March 2019

#EEA 2019

DAY ONE ocussing on relevant research and F developmentally appropriate practices in care, neurosciences, education and policies for the betterment of Early Childhood Education, the twoday conference teed off on February 12, amidst the sprawling lawns of the private expanses of City Palace, Jaipur. Accompanied by the occasional calls of the resident peacocks and mischievous mynahs, under a cooling canopy, Dr Swati Popat Vats, President ECA, and Ravi Santlani, CEO ScooNews, set the stage for the conference with brief yet powerful inaugural speeches. Dr Swati Popat Vats also revealed the new logo of ECA with drum rolls in the background. She shared that ECA has grown and expanded its reach in more than 29 active territories with 41 territory heads. ECA has more than 10,000 members with more than 3,000 schools who are members. ECA has supported more than 1,000 anganwadis and balwadis and conducted 200 quality audits of schools. ECA also conducts quality audits for products. Kidzania, for one, is quality audited by the ECA. ECA has trained more than one lakh teachers in the last seven years and mentored more than 30,000 parents. Yes, ECA has parents as its members too—the only association to do so as you cannot bring up young children just with educators; parents also need to be on board. Three lakh children have been given a workshop on “good touch, bad touch”. Dr Vats also thanked the Jaipur royal family for hosting the Early Ed Asia conference at the City Palace, voicing a special thank you to Rama Dutt, trustee of the palace, for rendering a helping hand. Rama Datt, Trustee, Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Trust, a well-loved and respected figure, welcomed the delegates and speakers on behalf of the royal family of Jaipur. In her gentle tones, she also added that apart from the elephants and horses that welcomed the delegates, the palace is also home to beautiful peacocks that sometimes dance which is a magnificent sight. She assured the delegates that they would enjoy their stay in the beautiful city of Jaipur, eve as she thanked Ravi Santlani, CEO ScooNews, Swati Popat Vats, ECA-President, the members of the ECA and all the participants for taking time out to come to Jaipur to attend the conference.

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#EEA 2019 The occasion saw the unveiling of the book on noted educationist, Gijubhai Badheka, penned by Vinitha Ramchandani and Dr Swati Popat Vats. An ex-student of Podar, author Vineeta spoke about how for 15 years she had been nursing the idea of making the life and methods of ‘Moochhali Ma’, as Badheka was nicknamed by Gandhiji, popular through a book. She also shared a presentation about their journey writing this book about the work of Gijubhai in a small village in Gujarat, who, a hundred years ago, used Montessori, Froebel, story-telling, the play way method, and the outdoors in a large way. “Our book is a tribute to Gijubhai and his work, revisiting everything he did, contextualised with today’s theory, practices and research, to qualify what he did,” she explained.

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Another heartening launch—that of the Play Policy. The ECA has recognised that children of today need more play in their lives and a Play Policy was devised to make play the ‘right’ of every child in this country! Dr Swati Popat Vats explained the need for play and said that when children play, they learn and their brain develops. Dr Samir Dalwai, who was present on the

podium representing the Indian Academy of Paediatricians supporting the Play Policy, noted that every paediatrician will prescribe play for every child now. Samriddhi Sharma from German toy company Haba was also present supporting the Play Policy. ECA expressed its pride in having ScooNews as a partner and thanked Ravi Santlani, CEO for the beautiful

video presentation on the importance of play that was made by ScooNews. Dr Samir Dalwai, Ravi Santlani and Samriddhi Sharma unveiled the Play Policy along with members of the ECA. Dr Samir Dalwai thanked everyone who supported the Play Policy and assured that it would be circulated among paediatricians in India to increase awareness about the same.

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#EEA 2019 The February special issue of ScooNews magazine, a veritable bible of Early Childhood Education, was also unveiled to warm applause and appreciation. Echoing the theme of ‘Our Children. Our Future’, the issue contains a wealth of information about ECE theory and practices penned by renowned educators from across the world. The day also saw the unveiling of the logo collaboration with Cambridge which has partnered with the ECA with the motto of ‘Partnering to unlock the potential of early learners’. The Cambridge spokesperson emphasised, “This is a meeting of hearts and minds because these are the hearts that beat together and are committed to make a difference to early childhood. As part of the University of Cambridge, we are completely committed to advancing research and knowledge worldwide. We do this by partnering with brighter thinkers, who understand the subject matter, are doing practices which they bring on board to roll out into practices that can be used in and outside classroom.”

The stage was then set for a wealth of keynote addresses, brain-storming and provocation. Dr Daniela Lucangeli, President-Teacher National Association (CNIS), Gate Gifted and Talent Education, had the audience hooked with her address on Brain Development and Importance of Early Years. She maintained, “We want schools made for children and not children made for schools,” even as she

urged educators to plan a system that supports children to obtain their best development. Describing learning as a complex flow of functions, she highlighted the role of school and teaching, positive cognitive and emotional flow, social and individual interactions in the healthy development of an individual. “To understand the power of emotions, we need to understand the flow of energy from the nervous tissue

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to the whole body. If curiosity, interest them, this positive children to keep learning.”

teaching provokes and pleasure in emotion will help the pleasure of

Pointing at the alarming levels of abnormalities resulting from addiction to technology, she ended with a thought-provoking sentence: “Technology has to be an instrument not a purpose.”

Making Teachers Your Biggest Investment—this was the title of the panel discussion chaired by Mahesh Balakrishnan, Development and recognition Manager, IBO. Participants included Rama Datt, Trustee, Maharaja Sawai Man SIngh II Trust; Duriya Aziz, Senior VP, Scholastic International; Urvashi Warman Principal, The Palace School, Jaipur and Pooja Jain - Principal, Podar Jumbo kids, Aundh & Baner- Pune. Balakrishnan opened the discussion by stating that we need to regard teachers as professional capital rather than business capital - that teachers are not an expense, they are an investment. Explaining the current state of teachers in India, Pooja Jain opined, “Teachers are given a pretty raw deal. They are the heart and soul of a school. Schools are ready to invest in the latest technology like AR and VR but it is the teacher who brings the human connect and the current scenario does not give its due to the teachers.” Duriya Aziz explained that when you look at an investment, you think of the returns. If investment is not taken good care of, then you do not get the expected returns. “Research shows that a small change in the teaching quality leads to big changes in student performance. Students do not remember the fancy chairs or desks but they will remember a teacher who made a difference in their lives.” Rama Datt explained that

parents and teachers go hand in hand. “When you invest in teachers, you will get it back in the form of growth, progress and feedback that can help children.” Urvashi Warman brought in a different view by saying that you not only need to invest money in the professional development of teachers but you also need to invest time and emotion in them. “Teachers are always ‘giving’ to the children. So, the emotional wellbeing of teachers must be taken care of by the school.” To conclude, the panel agreed that teachers need to be treated well and it is also important that students see this while growing up and this will boost the quality of self-worth. Teachers need to be appraised annually and transparently. What’s more, teachers need to be encouraged to continue practices that are of value to the students. It was then time for Ammara Habib, Head of Business, Mad About Ed, to share insights into Effective Ways of Building a Stellar Preschool Brand. Teeing off by asking the audience the definition of a brand, Ammara went on to explain, “Brand identity encompasses identifiers or name, logo, and colour that assist in brand recalling; attributes and association. Companies like Uber or Ola invest millions of dollars to elicit feelings of comfort or luxury when thinking about their brand.” Thus,

associations link the identifiers to the attributes of a brand. Explaining the process of building a preschool brand, Habib revealed, “Begin with understanding the customer or the target audience and what will be your offering to determine the brand position. Next, identify the gaps when looking at the competition.” Ending her session, she explained, “While completing each stage, I will be able to define my communication strategy aiding in building a strong brand.”

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consistent, and develop decent communication. “We need to inculcate belief and trust in the profession and pride in remuneration. We need to teach them accountability, bonding, communication. We need to smarten up. Be self-motivated, mindful, analytical, open to ideas, ready to change, manage time, be energetic when needed, natural, understanding and upgrading, productive, and delivering,” she enthused.

Sonal Andrews, with her clear voice and enthusiastic delivery style, held forth on Teacher Training Trends—Diligent Today for a Brilliant Tomorrow. Founder and Director-IPTTA and ECA-Telangana Committee, she discussed the need for new trends in teacher training. “The leaders of the classroom are the teachers and they need to be diligent and mindful. Why do we need to upgrade ourselves? Society, family formation, and parenting have changed. How do we ensure the captain of the classroom—the teacher—is up to date and up to the mark? We need to smarten up. Change needs to be brought in in the attitude towards teachers and the respect levels, and passion for teaching. A teacher training programme needs to help teachers understand the developmental milestones of a child, learning styles, individual approaches.” She pointed out that teachers need to be trained in how to be persistent,

Smriti Chopra Jain, Co-founder I AM A TEACHER, shared personal anecdotes to underline her experience of the education system as disempowering and even cruel – just like millions of children do, where we learn that fear is essential for learning to happen. In the course of her keynote on Teacher Empowerment for the 21st Century Classroom, she declared, “The struggles of our teachers are mirroring the struggles of our children. The prevalent model of teacher training in our country is a stark resemblance of the schooling that is centred around rote memorisation and exams. When our teachers are not experiencing any progressive pedagogy, how can we even imagine that they will discover the vast potential of education?” Declaring that it’s we, as a system, that’s failing to prepare our teachers the way they need to be prepared, she shared her insights into teacher education, namely the power of practice, of intensive mentoring and coaching. “If we want self-directed learners then we need self-directed teachers, and most important of all—focus on self,” she concluded. Brain Development in the Early Years and its Impact on Child’s

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Learning – this session by Dr Ernesto Burgio, President of the International Society of Doctors for Environment, Italy, saw him begin his session by explaining the role of epigenetics in a child’s development. “The Lancet talks about the silent pandemic - a long list of neurodegenerative diseases that are caused by pollutants in the environment as well as the food chain.” he said. Further, he highlighted, “Where there has been a decrease in infectious diseases, there has been a steady increase in chronic and epigenetic diseases. Diseases such as juvenile diabetes and depression didn’t exist fifty years ago.” Foetal programming and epidemiological transition are affected by the external and internal environment such as pollutants and stress respectively; “educators, doctors, psychologists and parents need to form an alliance to bring change.” urged Dr Burgio.

The screening of a touching short film on Early Ed at Purkal Youth Development Society was followed by a much-awaited provocation by Dr Claire Warden, CEO Mindstretchers Ltd. United Kingdom. Holding forth on Nature Kindergartens: Exploring the Place of the Natural World in Children’s Lives, Dr Warden teed off with an alarming statement: “People in prisons have more time outside than children.” She went on to explain the necessity of integrating nature pedagogy in preschools. “Today, we know more about the natural kingdom than we’ve ever known. It is a different

thing to go out and find a stone that you feel is yours, to sit beneath a tree and feel the shade, no technology can replicate those emotional moments. Children need both direct and indirect learning. Then, why don’t we let children become the designers of their learning spaces?” she questioned. She advocated for children to experience the imperfect versions of nature for higher order thinking; “Let's not break the ability of children to have emotional connections with non-living objects. We can work with nature in a synergistic way to make sure that the futures of our children are positive and healthy.”

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The resultant sluggishness of a heavy lunch laden with Rajasthani specialities and lip-smacking desserts was successfully banished by a fun yet rigorous folk dance-inspired fitness session. Conducted by the enviably energetic Aarti Pandey, Founder-Folk Fitness and ECA-Pune Territory Head, she also shared, “Folk Fitness is fun, it’s dance and it gets a lot of smiles on faces but what it does is it releases the happy hormones and that is why after the sessions, you are

awake and energised.” Folk Fitness conducts a 35-minute crisp programme that starts with meditation, moves on to skill development, warm-up, strength and agility, energy busters and ends with the cool down. It helps kids moderate their stress from classes, increases motivation. “By 2025, India is going to be No.1 in obesity. 17 million kids are at risk of being obese. We are trying to ensure our future generation is fit,” she emphasised.

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Process of Cognition to MetaCognition in Early Years - this power talk by Dr Reeta Sonawat, Ex Dean Faculty of Home Science – SNDT Women’s University and ECAExecutive Director, was next on the anvil. Explaining the term cognition, Dr Sonawat said, “Cognitive growth occurs through three interrelated processes - adaptation where children assimilate new knowledge, Piaget says organisation of information is unique in each child and there needs to be an equilibrium between assimilation and adaptation.” She, further, explained metacognition as a process where children go beyond what they’ve learned; it’s their ability to think about thinking. “The advantage of metacognition is that when children explore things, they learn conceptually and the learning stays with them throughout their lives.” She listed metacognitive strategies including connecting information, organising, elaboration and imagery, concept mapping and mnemonic techniques, and rehearsing which makes information go in the long-term memory. “Critical and paired thinking, positive self-talk, reflection and scaffolding or providing help only when necessary are necessities for metacognition,” she explained.

The power talk that followed was Best Practices in Inclusive Education in ECE delivered by Dr Samir Dalwai, Founder and Director-New Horizons Group and ECA-Vice President. “Why do we exclude children who are not typical?” he asked, adding, “It’s because we’re trained to deal with typical children and we apply the same practices with these children.” He highlighted how physical exclusion begins with mental exclusion and labelling. He defined inclusion with the 3 I’s namely Interaction with children, Involving children in activities and Innovation in dealing with them and equitable distribution. For inclusion to begin at home, educators need to focus on solutions, empathising with and counselling parents, and individualisation i.e. understanding what the child likes, what he can do and make him better and independent with practise. Referring to this image of Calvin and Hobbes, Dr Dalwai ended his session by asking educators, “Can we be that person for the child?”

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Refreshed by cups of ‘kullad chai’ poured steaming hot by a colourful turbaned tea man stationed by his bicycle, the sessions progressed… Stefano Cobello, Polon Europeo della Conoscena, IPSAR, presented his provocation on Robotics in Schools in Italy. Cobello shared how in Italy the attempt is to create an inclusive learning environment. “Robotics could be one of the tools that can create the proximal learning environment,” he opined as he screened a video showing the creativity of children, including those with so-called learning disabilities, building robots in a classroom. “The children are learning from each other, especially in an environment without stress, judgement, measures or assessing. Interpersonal relationship is the most important part, as is the role in the group. In a group the children compensate for each other, and find their own strategies to do a task especially if the teacher is supportive. There is face to face social interaction, learning of social skills,

Robotics could be one of the tools that can create the proximal learning environment, - Mr Stefano Cobello meta cognitive evaluation,” he pointed out. Alluding to the real picture of applied learning platform made for a robot by the students themselves, he revealed that it leads to an increase in their own self estimation, allows children to make many mistakes and start over without any pain or sense of failure. “They stimulate curiosity and logic as robots have to be programmed to do what you want them to do. Robotics increases motivation, problem solving capacity, support learning processes,” he concluded.

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#EEA 2019 The next provocation — 9 Mantras of Effective Leadership — saw Kauser Sayeed, Founder Learn2lead and ECA – National Core Committee Member take to the dais. She explained that the word “leadership” has a lot of power attached to it. Leadership is the role given to a person but effective leadership is what he/she does with the role to bring about a change. She took her listeners through the mantras for effective leadership, namely: 1. Know yourself: You need to sit with yourself for some time every day. Honest self-reflection opens up your brain. It helps you recognise your own challenges, weaknesses and strengths. 2. Work on yourself: You need to strategise and plan. You cannot make mistakes when you’re a leader. 3. Eyes on your goal: It is important to put your vision in place. In schools, we have a vision that is much above any other profession we look at. You may have a vision for your school but you need to tone it down and split it into parts while explaining it to your teachers. 4. Think ahead: You have to be farsighted. You need to plan and strategise. 5. Form a team: There cannot be a one-man army. All the people in your boat may ride with different speeds but it is important to see to it that they ride in the same direction. 6. Creating an environment: It is necessary for leaders to create and environment. You need to create a learning environment in your school, that is happy. You also need to create a creative environment in your school without compromising on discipline. 7. Every problem is an opportunity: Leaders face problems every day. We cannot solve problems by crying or merely talking about it, we need to see it as an opportunity to learn. 8. Timely review: Something that works in your school may not work in another school. So you need to review the methodologies adopted. Our context is constantly changing. 9. Keep learning: As educators, we cannot stop learning. It is imperative that we keep ourselves updated with the latest knowledge.

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Vaidehi K N’s power talk on Assessment in Learning and Developing Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills through Stories was next. The Podar Jumbo Kids Franchise and ECA-Karnataka Territory Head held forth on critical thinking, where the thinker thinks deeply, analyses, reasons out and finds answers where some might not even apparently exist. Discussing the importance of bringing critical thinking into the early years classroom, she pointed out, “The frontal lobe of the brain develops at the age of 5 – 7. It develops on the principle ‘We build what we use’. The frontal lobe is responsible for all the complex cognitive decisions, executive functions, reasoning etc.” Referring to this crucial phase, she focused on the ways of enhancing critical thinking namely through ‘remember, understand, apply, analyse, evaluate and create’.

The frontal lobe of the brain develops at the age of 5 – 7. It develops on the principle ‘We build what we use’. The frontal lobe is responsible for all the complex cognitive decisions, executive functions, reasoning etc - Vaidehi KN

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Leading Change and Becoming a Change-maker in ECE – this power talk by Dr Kamini Rege, Assistant Professor at College of Home Science Nirmala Niketan and ECA-Treasurer, was next. Dr Rege explained that a true leader is someone with the right mix of service and spirit. She said that the job of a leader is not easy and that leaders are also nervous and have to face challenges. “The most important thing is leaders have to go first. Leadership does not require a title and if you have a title that does not make you a leader. Leadership is action and not position. Leadership also has 3 Rs - Reflecting, Representing and Realising. Leadership styles need to be changed based on situations—at times you need to be controlling, at times you need to be delegating, at times you need to be communicating, at times you need to take the initiative and at times you need to advise,” she explained. She shared the story of how toilets were introduced on Indian trains in 1909, merely by a letter written to the station master by a man in West Bengal. A good leader can bring about good change. “To become a leader, you need to have more than one of the following qualities - strong social mission, openmindedness, innovative ideas, opti-

To become a leader, you need to have more than one of the following qualities strong social mission, open-mindedness, innovative ideas, optimistic attitude, high potential of growth and big heartedness. - Dr Kamini Rege mistic attitude, high potential of growth and big heartedness.” She also explained that change is a must. “Many-a-time in order to survive, we need to start a change process. We need to get rid of our old memories, habits and our past traditions. We can have the advantage of the present only when we have been freed from the past. The ability to make changes is crucial and if you do not change, then you will be stagnant and have a dead end there. Action changes things.”

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Umme Salma, Principal-New York Academy, Progressive American School-Hyderabad, shed light on Best Practices from US in ECE. Speaking on nurturing growth mindset in young learners, she shared, “We are all born with an intense drive to learn and develop our skills and to conquer the world. As we grow, it’s our mindset that can make one a non-learner.” Defining mindset as our belief about our intelligence, abilities, skills and talents, she declared that depending on what our belief is, we are either in a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. “A person with a fixed mindset believes he cannot learn and grow, so he avoids challenges, gives up easily when faced with obstacles, and sees effort as a negative thing. He hates feedback because he feels people are validating his intelligence. When he sees somebody succeeding, he feels threatened. Eventually, he becomes stagnant and loses interest in learning.” On the other hand, a person with a growth mindset believes his abilities and talents can grow, so he embraces challenges, persists in the face of obstacles, she explained. “Effort becomes your friend because you know the more effort you put, the more successful you are going to be. You appreciate feedback because it helps you learn more.

“We are all born with an intense drive to learn and develop our skills and to conquer the world. As we grow, it’s our mindset that can make one a non-learner.” - Ms. Umme Sala You get inspired by successful people. Eventually you become a lifelong learner who will reach your full potential.” She added that a teacher’s mindset plays a crucial role in shaping a student’s mindset. “Our brains are growing at their fastest pace in the first five year of our life. Educators can help children set goals because it boosts

their confidence in learning and improvement. Avoid using labels. They can support kids with right strategies and mentoring. Praising effort over the result makes the student better at overcoming future obstacles,” she summarised. After a day of intense information sharing, sunset arrived with the prom-

ise of entertainment as the Jaipur moon rose slowly in the night sky. The ECA Hall of Fame awards, followed by a scintillating Sound & Light show on the ramparts of the City Palace, capped by a dinner hosted by the Jaipur royal family at the Sarvato Bhadra Chowk, City Palace… A feast for the senses, in every sense of the term!

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DAY TWO D

ay 2 dawned cool and bright with a Day 1 Rewind: Glimpses of the day gone by by Vanya Bhandari Lodha, VPScooNews. Even as eager educators snapped up his bestselling books outside, Dr Anupam Sibal, Group Medical Director, Apollo Hospitals Group, held educators enthralled with his keynote address on New Age Parenting. “Kids don't remember what you try to teach them. They remember what you are.” – sharing this quote by Jim Henson, he explained, “For a child, you’re a parent, nothing more and nothing less, with whom they want to share how their day went.” He stressed on not wanting to create perfect children with the “perfection bug” because “we aren’t perfect parents” either. “In our quest for perfection, we try to be super parents without realising that it’s pretty hard to just be a normal parent.” he added. Speaking on communication barriers, he quoted Charles Wordsworth “By the time a man realises that his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he’s wrong.” He urged parents to have two-way communication with values slipped in real-life situations and interesting stories of personalities such as Nelson Mandela and Steve Jobs. “My method is simple to have the child’s undivided attention for 15 minutes every day while focusing on what we teach them with our actions.” concluded Dr Sibal.

Building a Story and Supportive Bridge between Early Years (Preschool) and Primary School, at all levels, (Parents, School, Government Policy, etc) – this panel discussion was up next. Moderated by Arunabh Singh, School Principal, Educationist, Innovator and Promoter of Nehru World School, Ghaziabad, the participants included Sneha Tapadia, CEO - Jumpstart International Preschools and Learning Center; Kusum Kanwar, Principal, Kangaroo Kids, Mumbai & ECA Ambassador for Principals; Asha Varma, Consultant Early Childhood and Co-ordinator Life Skills Program - Children’s Academy Group of Schools & ECA – Secretary; Nisha Jain Grover, Founder - Vatsalya Legacy Educational Society & ECA - Jaipur Territory Head; Harsha Ramaiya, Owner, Founder & Director, Small Wonders & ECA - National Core Committee And Firdaus Lalkaka, Founder, Thumbelina Nursery and KG School. The witty Arunabh opened the session by mentioning outsourced parenting, Article 21A and Article 45 in the Indian constitution which asks states to give compulsory education. “It’s a complicated construct we work in but schools

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and early childhood education centres are trying to bridge this gap.” he added. Speaking about the disconnect between preschools and full-fledged schools, Kusum Kanwar opined, “The disconnect exists with the parents, the school as well as with how we’re working with the child during the transition. Everything changes from kindergarten to grade 1 for a child; for example, messy play with sand changes to once a week directive art class. The first transition has to be taken care of by parents and schools through positive communication for other transitions in life to be equally successful.” Asking Sneha Tapadia’s view on preschool education and learning centres being unorganised, Singh made an important observation: “The principals of K-12 schools are people who’ve taught senior classes rather than someone who’s been working in the primary or early years. There’s a gap between knowledge and the way it’s imparted; first, there’s no government authority to check on preschools. Secondly, there’s a huge gap between standalone preschools and K-12 preschools for children. Children have difficulty in the transition from these schools to bigger schools,” she shared.

On preparing children for school readiness, Asha Varma maintained, “Recently, we’ve had a paradigm shift as we talk about readiness on the part of the child, parent and the school. The three components that work together include the school’s environment in terms of safety, security and developmentally appropriate curriculum, the parents’ attitude and expectations from the school wherein the role of the father as well as the socio-economic status are important factors determining child’s readiness. The child is getting ready for life and needs to be instilled with right attitudes, values and communication skills. Finally, preschool teachers should give a report of the child to primary teachers to be better prepared.” Adding to Varma’s point, Harsha Ramaiya said, “It’s the responsibility of preschools to make children ready. We should always work according to the needs of the child as well as keep in mind the importance of play. I suggest preschool educators should join campaigns such as Right to Play.” On recognising students with special needs, Nisha Jain Grover stated,

“If there’s any kind of discomfort in social, emotional or academic skills in a child, he or she will immediately show it. It’s depends on a teacher and the parent to identify it. We get substantial information from the first behaviour tantrum that the child shows in front of the teacher or the parent.” Nisha believes that the schools can empower teachers on special needs through certain courses if counsellors aren’t available. Before concluding the session, Arunabh asked Firdaus Lalkaka to suggest three recommendations for policy makers to improve early childhood education. “My first suggestion is to follow one nation, one policy. Secondly, instead of starting from class 1, right to education needs to be introduced from three years of age; when children begin from class 1, it’s as risky as boarding a running bus. Finally, we need a transition from examination-based model that promotes rote learning to a model based on children’s attainment of learning outcomes. Following this, it’ll be comfortable and seamless to bridge the gap between preschools and primary schools,” concluded Lalkaka.

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Teaching Parents about Parenting – Chief Programme Officer, World Reader, Rebecca Chandler’s power talk saw her ask her listeners what children remember when you tell them stories. “It is probably the parts where you were most engaging that they will remember and take to heart,” she pointed out, adding that parents and caregivers need to provide children a protective and nurturing environment in early years. Discussing the role of stories in children’s life and growth, she pointed out, “They build language development - the more descriptive and creative our stories, the more vocabulary they build. Children start to see things in new ways. It also builds emotional intelligence because they learn from the movement of our cheeks and eyes and our expressions. Stories build moral understanding and empathy and empathy is so important in today’s world. Stories also build confidence and resilience, both of which are necessary in today’s world.” She also expressed how important it is to take 15 minutes time off and spend time telling stories to our children. “These days we don’t spend enough time telling stories to our children. But technology has made it easier to tell stories. Worldreader app has a kids’ collection of over 550 books and they include picture books, pattern books and nonfiction books. Let’s use our phones in a new way, to enhance our storytelling experience, to enlarge the vocabulary for our children,” she encouraged.

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Creating a buzz of excitement with his presence, Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar, Trustee-Vidyadaan Trust and Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation, made an easy victory with his down to earth approach, sensible points and sprinkling of wit. The topic of his power talk was Education for Tomorrow: Time to Leave the Shallows. The People’s Prince, as he is often referred to, started off on a light note thanking ScooNew’s Ravi Santlani for having him, adding, “You are clearly a man who likes to repeat his mistakes, you had me here the last time as well, and I will try and make it least torturous for my listeners.” He had his audience chuckling over the link between his school masters and regular beating, which today made him worthy of addressing an august audience. On a more sober note, he pointed out that in the course of his travels he has realised that ours is the only country that places the Guru or teacher even higher than one’s parents on the respect scale. Delivering the major chunk of his speech in Hindi, he declared that while English is an international language that we should be fluent in, we should also take interest in our local languages. “While English starts with A for apple and ends with Z for zero, Hindi starts with ‘Aa’ for anpad and ends with ‘Gya’ for gyaani,” he noted, to applause from the audience.

Brimming with fervour, he maintained that we seek knowledge in the West where the sun sets, while ignoring our own land, where the sun rises. He also opined that today we are more interested in relaying information but emphasise less on how to become a human being, which is true teaching. The dapper royal who clearly has a flair for public speaking, also narrated an anecdote about an imaginary conversation between a key and a hammer. “The hammer was flummoxed by how, despite his immense strength, the lock resisted his attempts to open up, while yielding smoothly to the far less powerful key. The key responded, ‘It’s very easy. I touch the lock lightly, enter its mind, engage with its soul, and express my desire that it open up—and it does!’ To engage with children’s minds, we must do likewise,” Prince Lakshyaraj emphasised. Another pertinent point he made was our own attitude towards studies, how we tell children that they can go to play once they complete their lessons and homework. “We are thus ourselves admitting that studies are not good and desirable but playing is. Only once we convince our children that studies are as good and fun and desirable as play, will we make real progress.” He ended with a short poem: ‘Niyat jiski achchi hai, kismet uski daasi hai; aur kalam jiske achche hain, uske ghar mein Mathura-Kashi hain’, to resounding applause.

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#EEA 2019 This was followed by a searing brain-storming by Lina Ashar - Can we work with children in a way that limits limiting beliefs? “Most abusers were once victims,” she shared, citing examples of four different cases of abusers who were victims of abuse as children. “But we teachers have the power to stop the cycle of pain,” she delivered her message of hope. Children do not have a proper measure of themselves and they create a measure of themselves by how people react to them. Teachers need to be trained to know that the child who bullies others, bites others - the children who need the most love will ask for it in the most unloving of ways, she averred. Ashar explained that labelling is a tool that humans use to resolve the impossible complexities of the environment. It contributes some of the deepest problems that mankind faces. “The long-term consequences of teachers labelling a child as smart, slow or dumb are profound. When you have to label, let’s do it sensitively and effectively,” she suggested. As teachers, the first step is to see what each and every child in their care “can” do, she advised. “We need to pay attention on the subconscious mind and not on the conscious mind. The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice. Genes are only a biological tendency for expression. Changing our sense of consciousness can change completely the tendency for genetic expression. When teachers do this, they can rewrite the code of the children in their care.” Teaching Language Skills in Infancy - Dr Robert Titzer’s brainstorming session provided plenty of aha moments. He pointed out that there are many studies that prove that a child’s early language environment has long lasting effects on their later language skills and reading abilities. “Earlier is always better for learning syntax, speech production, sentence processing skills, sign languages and also written languages,” Dr Titzer explained, adding that babies at 18 months who understand more words are able to think faster. “This is called a brain processing speed gap and this gap also does not go away. Language scores at age 2 have a long-lasting impact on academic success, communication skills and even happiness,” he pointed out. Helping children to read early is also critically important because it is linked to better health, better education, higher socio-economic status, more creativity and more intelligence. “If a child is not able to read at the grade level by end the first grade, hardly one out of 8 will ever

catch up to read at grade level again. So it is much easier to prevent a problem than try and fix it later,” he declared. He went on to explain the scientific principles for learning language substantiated with data based on his own research, namely: 1. Maximise window of opportunity for learning language - best age to learn is till age 4. 2. Some syntax of the first language should be given in the first 12 months of birth. 3. Value baby’s time at a high level

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because their brain goes through rapid development and they go through this only once. 4. Positive benefits of teaching a child to read early can be limitless. 5. Speak words in isolation. 6. Give intersensory redundant information - for example say a word and show a picture. Babies learn faster this way. 7. Don’t sort by colour, sort by shapes 8. Teach multiple languages simultaneously.

This illuminating session was followed by Kindergarten to Coding How ECE is connected to development economics of our country by Dr Swati Popat Vats, President-Podar Education Network and ECAPresident. “Children are only 20 percent of our population right now but they are definitely 100 per cent our future,” she announced, moving on to explain how most people in India do not understand the meaning of the word kindergarten and how we have abbreviated it to KG, which also stands for kilogram, indicating the heavy weight of books kindergartners are forced to carry. “Students are getting smarter and a good teacher is one who goes into the classroom saying ‘You and I are going to learn new things together’ and that’s what education is all about. Teachers are there to scaffold their learning.” She declared that it was pointless to teach child how to write before teaching them how to read. “We need a child-centric curriculum. Parents are ready for the change but we need to convince them about the change.” She stressed that the importance of play needs to be recognised. “Children pick up concepts easily if explained though play because they are happy to do it. Emotions are important for learning and children cannot learn under stress. If the emotions are free, the intellect will look after itself. Teaching must make a child independent and self-sufficient,” she emphasised. Focussing on the contribution of Friedrich Froebel, who invented kindergarten, towards brain development studies, she pointed out that Froebel’s Gifts were the first educational playthings made of natural materials, and they are specifically designed to demonstrate the key concept of spiritual ‘unity’ that can be recognised in play, which Froebel believed to be the clearest expression of the human soul. That Froebel’s Gifts need to revived in our schools, is something Dr Swati wholeheartedly believes. Moving on to coding, she explained that it denotes giving a set of instructions to a computer and children need to be given pre-coding activities to grow. “Children need to be given activities where they will be able to break down/decompose a problem. Coding needs a perfect set of coding instructions. Patterning is also important - it means that the instructions need to be given in the perfect order. Looping of instructions is also required. We do pre-coding activities without realising that we are doing it and this is best done in the early years of a child’s life,” she shared.

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#EEA 2019 Post lunch and a quick dance therapy session, it was the turn of Mahesh Balakrishnan, Development and Recognition Manager, IBO, to discuss Investment in Teacher’s Training. “Our mission is to make the world a better place through education and that’s what we strive to deliver,” he said. The audience was pleased to know that IB education is national centric with international context and includes learner centric traits as it’s meant for kids from three to 18 years of age. Quoting a study commissioned by IB and conducted by the Centre for Program Evaluation, University of Melbourne, Balakrishnan said, “An ideal teacher training program is effective when it has a sustainable length of minimum 14 hours, enables practice in classroom and feedback from peers, is job-embedded and is in coherence with the curriculum and the content. The fundamental framework of our workshops includes collective and collaborative learning and planning.”

Shedding light on Importance of Investing in Quality Early Years Programme, Sunisha Ahuja, educational specialist, UNICEF, explained that ECE is all about brain development. Pointing out that at birth the brain of a cow is 80% developed, that of a monkey is 45% developed and that of

a human being is just 25% developed, she underlined the potential of the work in early childhood education. “The developing brain needs nutrition, enrichment and protection,” she maintained, adding that children with higher school readiness scores do better in early grade assessments. “This is

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where quality of preschools matters in creating school preparedness. However, neither the government nor preschools offer developmentally appropriate practices. There is a need to ensure that all service providers meet quality standards and that the focus is on delivering the right kind of inputs.”

B612: A New School Model – this power talk was next in line, delivered by Dr Patrizia Granata, Didactic creator of B612 model, Head Teacher and Vice National President of CNIS. Dr Patrizia believes “to bring individual qualities in the best learning context, teachers should remember Leo Vygotsky’s proximal development zone i.e. the difference between what a learner can do without help, and what they can't do. A child’s learning is similar to a stairway and helping the child to reach the next step is the goal.” The B612 consists of three primary workshops - “to say includes operating on verbal and nonverbal languages, to do includes activities about thinking, learning, cosmology, physics, logical mathematics, science and research, and to kiss includes development of the emotional and affective area. Teachers work with their peers and parents on three phases namely exposure, facilitation and helping.” Sharing her secret, she concluded, “What’s essential might be invisible to the eye but not the heart.”

Capacity Building in ECE: Challenges and Way Forward by Dr Adarsh Sharma, saw the Former Director NIPCCD and ConsultantSocial Development applauding the extensive work of ECA, India. She quoted Maria Montessori “The child is both a hope and a promise for mankind,” a thought that never fails to inspire. “The foundation years are critical years of development. We owe a lot to every child to make him realise his potential,” she said. The healthy brain development and well-being of children is dependent on successful synaptic connections and tuning of neurons as “Neurons that fire together, wire together”, stress-free environment, love and care for sensory stimulation, nutritious diet, self-regulation and developmentally appropriate practices. Dr Adarsh believes that teaching young children requires professional innovative training and personal credentials; “there’s an urgent need for standard curriculum for diverse training options, expansion in infrastructure, using diverse approaches for training distance education, information technology, and setting up equitable education system.”

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#EEA 2019 An intriguing session was up next, Using Culture and Heritage in Preprimary Education conducted by Director, Seth M R Jaipuria group of schools, Mehak Jaipuria. Jaipuria explained how we search and go to museums abroad while we ignore the prospect of visiting museums in our own country. How to make monuments, art, museums, heritage sites exciting for children, formed the crux of her presentation. Being at City Palace, Jaipur added weight to her views, as she explained that actually being in the palace was such a different experience as it was not like any picture of palaces she had seen in story books. She pointed out that often on museum visits from school, teachers are stressed that they have to go through the entire galleries in a day and they tend to miss out on explaining to the students what they are seeing in the museum. “Teachers also need to keep it simple and explain these in simple ways and organise treasure hunts to help children learn and develop an interest in culture and heritage,” she shared.

Sonal Singh, Director-Academics, NWS, Ghaziabad, delivered a power talk on Play with a Purpose. Discussing the power of play, she explained that play can take many forms—at least 25 different forms— for educators to play around with and use in our classroom. “There is no denying that playing is very important in the early years for cog-

nitive, social development. However, the practitioners, the teachers in the classroom, are faced with various dilemmas such as how much play, whether indoors/ outdoors and how to show that play is leading to learning. Play and learning are not antithetical but integrally connected. Guided play is a powerful tool in the hands of a teacher. It is a form of

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play where children explore within their environment created by adults, where adults may or may not scaffold or support the children’s play. Some activities could be exclusively child-led while others could be child-led yet adult-supported,” she summarised, whetting interest in this yet under-explored area of education.

Tips for Parents: Encouraging Reading – this was the subject of the panel discussion that ensued, which saw Neeraj Jain, Managing Director, Scholastic India chairing and the panel comprising Susan Holmes, Head Teacher, Nehru World School, Ghaziabad; Dr Bindu Kapoor, School Counsellor, G D Goenka Public School, Rohini, Delhi; Ezette Grauf, Head – Teaching and Learning, Heritage Xperiential Learning School and Vaidehi Singh, Principal, Maharaja Sawai Bhawani Singh School, Jaipur. Vaidehi Singh pointed out that it was important to provide plenty of reading material in the house and for parents to read themselves, as children learn by observation and imitation. “Make reading enjoyable and take it beyond books initially, including even grocery lists, instructions for board games,” she recommended, adding that schools can make a reading hour mandatory in the morning where every person in the school is reading including the support staff. “Treasure hunts, creating graphic novels, inviting parents to school to take story telling sessions, teachers enacting stories using plac-

ards are other ways to increase engagement,” she advised. Ezette Grauf pointed out that in India we have the most amazing narrative story-telling culture that pervades our religion and our lives. “However, that strength isn’t as well represented in the way that parents interact with children at home in terms of story and reading.” She shared three critical, mind-changing strategies that could help: “Making parents aware of the link between deep reading and brain development, helping parents understand the huge difference between spoken and written language—spoken language involves limited vocabulary as the people are in the same place, talking about the same thing. When transforming the same into written language the grammatical structure becomes more complex and the vocabulary becomes incredibly dense – this is what children experience when parents read to them. Reporting to parents about children’s reading success is also very crucial—if you only report phonics as a skill or that they have learnt the letters of the alphabet, you’re telling them that that is the

only critical part. You should also report that a child is able to make connections to their own lives, that the child has a particular point of view and they are able to share that,” she maintained. Dr Bindu Kapoor emphasised that focussing on reading is essential but not by imposing it harshly, while Susan Holmes declared, “The greatest gift parents can give to their children is to read aloud to them. Orientate parents via grade-wise sessions, encourage them to keep trying even if the child seems disinterested as it takes 21 days to form a habit.” Moderator Neeraj Jain concluded soundly by suggesting that children be given the choice of books they would like to read. He added, “Schools and parents need to work jointly to build readers— neither can work in isolation. Teachers and principals can be as big if not bigger role models than parents. So principals, go back and have another look at your office—does it have trophies or books?” Something to definitely ponder there!

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In his provocation on Fun with Science, Francis Downey, Editorial Director- Engage Learning delivered some sound reasons about the need for including science in early childhood curriculum and more importantly the need to include it in a way that the tiny tots can understand. He explained with a story how science begins with an “observation”. He said, “We tend to think that a child’s first words are “Mom” or “Dad” but if you ask any teacher, they will say that the most common words used by a child are what, where, how and why, quickly followed by another what, why, how question.” Children observe things around them and it is okay even if they come up with a wrong theory. That's what science is all about, he noted, adding, scientists come up with wrong answers

every single day and the road to the right answer is paved with a lot of wrong answers. Downey pointed out that in early childhood, we teach science as vocabulary. “We teach kids what a caterpillar or a butterfly is but we leave the science to higher grades. We can teach young children with books but go to an early childhood classroom and you will see a bunch of fiction books but not many science books. We need to give early learners authentic reading material - not necessarily something that they can read but something that they can open up and look at. In such books, they can find answers to questions that they can’t find from their observations. An authentic product will encourage reading,” he concluded.

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Researcher and Play facilitator for early childhood places – Jaipur, Chirag Singal was up next with his provocation - Why I Hate a Lemon Spoon Race. He began his session by urging educators to drop the term preschool and use kindergarten instead, a term given by Friedrich Froebel. Naming the two types of early childhood centres as kindergarten and kinderburden, he said, “It’s a burden on childhood when competition is established on playgrounds without any purpose or logic. We want to enable learners but we end up disabling the learner from enjoying play.” Advocating to increase play time and pretend play for immersion, he added, “Lemon spoon races last for less than thirty seconds, thereby, wasting 87.5% play time.” It’s safe to say that Singal convinced educators to adopt new play activities and drop the race!

Up next was the Launch of ESafety Portal for Children by Kunal Chawla, Director, Online Learning for Awareness & Prevention, Arpan NGO. Chawla discussed a few big ideas that propel and impede a child’s learning. He said, “Child sexual abuse is one of the biggest problems our country’s facing. A research by the Government of India says 53% of our children face sexual abuse; pointing to the sad fact that one in every two children have to face this evil.” Chawla urged educators to work together towards eliminating this “massive problem.” “If you want to bring change, join Arpan. We’ve

worked with over one lakh children for the last ten years,” he shared. Offering age-appropriate online courses on www.arpanelearn.com along with healing services through counsellors, Arpan is designed to make children, parents and teachers aware through their free portal. Even as the Valedictory Note was delivered by Dr Reeta Sonawat, and Early Ed Asia 2019 drew to a close, hope and determination were writ on the faces of the attendees to make a better tomorrow for ‘our children, our future’.

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ECA HALL OF FAME AWARDS 2019

EDUCATION’S TESTIMONY OF EXCELLENCE THE AWARDS ARE THE EARLY CHILDHOOD ASSOCIATION'S ENDEAVOUR TO CELEBRATE THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATORS FROM ACROSS ASIA

ippy air, the shimmer of silks, the glitter of jewels— Pritam Chowk at the City Palace Jaipur glowed that wintry night. However, the brightest sparkle came from the happy smiles and radiant faces of educators gathered to celebrate the achievements of Early Childhood Education’s brightest gems from across Asia. The presence of Princess Diya Kumari of Jaipur, gracious host of the Early Ed Asia conference and Chief Guest, infused an additional edge of excitement to the proceedings. In the presence of the key office holders of the Early Childhood Association, helmed by ECA President Dr Swati Popat Vats, the ECA Hall of

Fame awards were presented in various categories including Top 50 Preschools (non-franchised) of Asia and Top 50 Franchised Preschools of Asia. Individual awards were presented in the categories of Progressive Principal, Safe School, Empowering Support Staff, Teacher Development and Excellence, ECE Influencer of the Year and Green School. Presenters included luminaries such as Princess Diya Kumari Jaipur, Maharaj Kumar Saheb Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar of Udaipur, Dr Daniela Lucangeli, Stefano Cobello, Dr Patrizia Granata, Lt Gen Surendra Kulkarni – Director, Mayo College, Ajmer and Dr Claire Warden.

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#EEA 2019 FRANCHISED PRESCHOOLS WINNERS Name

Organisation

City

Vaidehik N

Podar Jumbo Kids Sarjapur

Bangalore

Samara Jagwanee

Serra International Preschool Nibm

Pune

Ranjana Janapurkar

Jain Toddlers Pre School

Aurangabad

Sangeeta Pandey

Podar Jumbo Kids Andheri East

Mumbai

Jayashree Mehrotra

Birla Open Minds Preschool Jubilee Hills Hyderabad

Shobhan Soi

Clay Pre School

Ludhiana

Meghna Jain

Kingdom Of Kids

Kolkata

Ruchi Gulati

Khyatininos

Ahmedabad

Hasti Gada

Podar Jumbo Kids Chembur

Mumbai

HimaBindu R

Oi Play School Botanical Garden

Hyderabad

Parvinder Kaur Suniar

Kidzee

Ludhiana

YeshwanthrajParasmal

Strategum Eduserve

Raipur

Karan Bajwa

Shemrock School

Chandigarh

Bhumika Patel

Podar Jumbo Kids

Palanpur

Preeti Kwatra

Petals Preschool

Delhi

Sanjay Bhoir

UcKindies Int. Kindergarten

Thane

Ashwini Kumar Lakhotia Kangaroo Kids Bhawanipur

Kolkata

Anamika Anjaria

Rangoli

Gandhinagar

Vasavi Acharya

Tenderpetals

Guwahati

Pallavi Rao Chaturvedi

Aisect

Bhopal

Hema Harchandani

"Canvas International Pre Schools (Ingenious Eduscholar Private Ltd)"

Jaipur

Vijeeta Mathur

Iris Florets – Leela Nagar

Hyderabad

Kaushik Mitra

Sesame Street Preschool (Little Mind Educare)

Gurgaon

Prakash Ajs

Sanskriti Global Preschool

Hyderabad

Podar Jumbo Pimple Saudagar

Pune

Praveen Gajawada

Hello Kids Vedas

Hyderabad

Sirish Turlapati

Iris Forets –Main Office

Hyderabad

Iris Forets –Bhakatpur

Nepal

Iris Forets –Srinagar Colony

Hyderabad

Iris Forets -Kphb

Hyderabad

Ankit Rastogi

Iris Forets Main Office

Noida

Nishu Jain

Hello Kids - Rainbow

Bangalore

Sunita Jain

Hello Kids Venus

Bangalore

Sunita Jain

HELLO KIDS Preschool (Mahadevpura)

Bangalore

Sunita Jain

HELLO KIDS Preschool (Kaggadasapura)

Bangalore

Sunita Jain

HELLO KIDS Preschool (Jeevan Bima Nagar)

Bangalore

Pradnya Surve

Euro kids Dhayari

Pune

Sarah S Quadri

Eurokids Nallagandla

Hyderabad

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Dignitary giving the award

"Mrs Rama Datt, Executive TrusteeMaharaja Sawai Man singh II Museum Trust"

Mr. Arunabh Singh

Dr Claire Warden

Dr Ernesto Burgio

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#EEA 2019 NON FRANCHISED PRESCHOOLS WINNERS Name

Organisation

City

Dignitary giving the award

Beacon High School

Pune

Anupama Bhutani

Joy Ride School For Juniors

Faridabad

Lubna M

Aala Nature Playschool

Hyderabad

Harshit Bansal

Abhinav Juniors

Delhi

Vaibhavi Solanki

Kidz Kingdom

Pune

Vikrant Kapoor

Angels Paradise Pre School

Amritsar

Ruhena Fathi

Focus School

Hyderabad

Hema Talwar

Pkr Jain Vatika School

Ambala

Divya Latha

Insignis Transnational School

Hyderabad

Dr.Mrs. Pankaj Kalkal

Brilliance School

New Delhi

Dr. Daniela

Beacon High School

Pune

Lucangei

Anupama Bhutani

Joy Ride School For Juniors

Faridabad

Lubna M

Aala Nature Playschool

Hyderabad

Harshit Bansal

Abhinav Juniors

Delhi

Vaibhavi Solanki

Kidz Kingdom

Pune

Vikrant Kapoor

Angels Paradise Pre School

Amritsar

Ruhena Fathi

Focus School

Hyderabad

Hema Talwar

Pkr Jain Vatika School

Ambala

Divya Latha

Insignis Transnational School

Hyderabad

Dr.Mrs. Pankaj Kalkal

Brilliance School

New Delhi

Swati Sarawagi

Swarnim International School

Kolkata

Kavitha Vyas

Crystal Kids

Vadodara

Sumita Shah

Tapti Kids

Surat

Suman Sood

Mongrace Montessori House

Kolkata

Roshan Patel

Buds N Blooms

Lonavla

Mr. Stefano

Dr. Bijoy K Sahoo

Saiangan

Bhubaneswar

Cobello

Sonal Ahuja

Srf

Delhi

Pathik Shah

Anvil Foundation

Ahmedabad

Reema Ganguly

Asis

Bhavnagar

Anand Ruikar

Pathshaala

Pune

Sheetal Paranjpe

Glendale Edufun

Hyderabad

Dr.Mona Lisa Bal

Kiit International School

Bhubaneswar

Suchita Kumar

Wonders Kids

Hyderabad

Little Pearls School,

Little Pearls Play School And Day Care

Noida

Neelu Kalro

Jbcn International School Oshiwara

Mumbai

Sushma Nalapat

Sadhbhavana World School

Calicut

Kusum Jain

Pyramid Kidszone

Thane

Surbhi Jain

Seedlings Play And Nursery School

Delhi

Little Angels Play School Little Angels Play School N Daycare

Chennai

Yesha Mahesh

Mumbai

Budding Blossom Ashoknagar

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Lt Gen Surendra Kulkarni, Director, Mayo College, Ajmer

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SIX CATEGORIES - WINNERS Name

Category

Dignitary giving the award

Organisation

Bhupinder Gogia

"Progressive Principal award (Principal of a high Sat Paul Mittal School, Ludhiana school that has an attached preschool)"

Urvashi Warman

"Progressive Principal award (Principal of a high The Palace School, Jaipur school that has an attached preschool)"

Jyothi Reddy

"Progressive Principal award (Principal of a high The Shri Ram Universal School, Hyderabad school that has an attached preschool)"

Neelu Kalro

Safe School Award

JBCN International School – Oshiwara, Mumbai

Yesha Mahesh

Safe School Award

Budding Blossoms, Mumbai

Safe School Award

Podar Jumbo Kids, Mumbai

Aditya Tapadia

Safe School Award

Jumpstart Preschool, Pune

Preeti Kwatra

Empowering Support Staff Award

Petals Preschool, Delhi

Asma Zaidi

Empowering Support Staff Award

Focus High School, Hyderabad

Aditya Tapadia

Empowering Support Staff Award

Jumpstart Preschool, Pune

Masarrat Tavawalla

Empowering Support Staff Award

Sunderji's Global Academia, Pune

Sonal Andrews

"Teacher Development & Excellence Award"

"Integrated Preschool Teachers Training Academy (IPTTA)", Hyderabad

Vaidehi KN

"Teacher Development & Excellence Award"

Podar Institute Of Education, Mumbai

Suman Sood

"Teacher Development & Excellence Award"

Mongrace Montessori House, Kolkata

Nandini Mathur

"Teacher Development & Excellence Award"

Oakridge International School – Einstein Campus, Hyderabad

Poonam Lalvani

ECE Influencer of the Year Award

Lifetrust, Mumbai

Pritam Kumar Agrawal ECE Influencer of the Year Award

Princess Diya Kumari

Maharaj Kumar Saheb Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar of Udaipur

Hello Kids, Bengaluru

Maharaj Kumar Saheb Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar of Udaipur

Amarnath Chayanam

ECE Influencer of the Year Award

L.I.F.E, Mumbai

Lucky Surana

ECE Influencer of the Year Award

Mind Ventures International, Pune

Kausar Sayeed

ECE Influencer of the Year Award

Learn 2 Lead, Hyderabad

Mona Bhatt

Green School Award

Bhavnagar Public School, Bhavnagar

Kailas Jain

Green School Award

Hasti Public School, Dondaicha

Prabhavathi PK

Green School Award

Mar Athanasius International School, Ernakulam

Insiyah Rahim

Green School Award

Toddlers Nursery, Pune

Dr. Claire Warden

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EVENT

GESS DUBAI 2019 AN EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCE FOR EDUCATORS WORLDWIDE ANUSHKA YADAV & PARVATHY JAYAKRISHNAN report on all the action at the vibrant GESS Dubai 2019

he Dubai World Trade Centre was lit during the stellar and vibrant GESS Dubai 2019 from February 26 to 28, 2019. An extraordinary experience for educators worldwide, GESS Dubai had more than 200 powerful keynote presentations and workshops for the entire duration of the three-day show and gathered thousands of education stakeholders from around the Middle East. According to BESA’s latest research, the UAE has overtaken the USA and Saudi Arabia as the country that UK companies are most interested in exporting to. GESS Dubai is the leading education conference and exhibition in the MENA region, with visitors expected from 92 countries and over 550 brands representing local and international education suppliers. The export market, especially within the MENA region, continues to increase in importance and be a major focus for UK companies. It was organised in partnership with the UAE Ministry of Education and held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin

Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai. The Global Educational Supplies and Solutions (GESS) show put the spotlight on empathy and emotional intelligence to help schools deliver a more enriching and meaningful learning experience. “There is currently a growing movement in progressive schools around the world on developing soft-skills of students alongside digital abilities to deliver a more enriched and empowering learning experience. We’re delighted to have been able to gather world-leading experts to share insights and practical tips on how this can be achieved in classrooms across the region,” said Matt Thompson, Project Director, Tarsus F&E, organisers of GESS Dubai. His Excellency Engineer Hussain Ibrahim Al Hammadi, UAE Minister of Education, delivered the opening remarks that provided a pivotal update on the Emirates’ pioneering initiatives in education.

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Aligning its theme with the UAE’s proclamation of 2019 as the Year of Tolerance, GESS Dubai adopted the theme of Empathy, hoping to Inspire, Empower and Flourish with nine prominent leaders in the field of education delivering keynote presentations on the subject, including Dame Darcy Bussell DBE (Fostering Empathy through Dance), Dr Anantha Kumar Duraiappah (Predators to Nurturers), Dr Ilona Boniwell (Positive Education: Global Developments in Well-Being and Resilience Education), Dr Michele Borba (Empathy is a Verb: New Lessons for Student Success in the Digital Age), Gilda Scarfe (Empowering Students through a Strengths-Based Approach to Bullying Education), Joseph South (Empowering Learners in a Connected World), Nicola Morgan (Inside the Learning Brains in Your Classroom), Olli-Pekka Heinonen (Education Systems as an Innovation Platform in for Lifelong Learning) and Professor Peter Barrett (Designing the Emphatic Classroom).

UK companies among those seeking to tap Middle East schools for growth Empathy as a powerful transformative tool In today’s plugged-in world of virtual workplaces, electronic communications and increasing personal disconnection, Dr Borba, a noted psychologist and consultant, points out that empathy among students must be activated, because “the habits that achieve this also make us more effective leaders, insightful managers, collaborative colleagues, and compassionate community members.” Drawn from her inspiring TEDx talk, Dr Borba’s presentation will help educators use the “Empathy Advantage” to build valuable social capital within our students. Another eminent expert, Dr Duraiappah, Director of the UNESCO’s Mahatma Gandhi, shared a new approach to learning that builds not only intellectual intelligence, but also emotional intelligence to draw out empathy neurons that can help motivate powerful behavioural changes among students. Other trending education initiatives on spotlight Global developments in well-being edu-

cation were also discussed in a presentation by France-based Dr Ilona Boniwell, CEO, Positran, who provided the latest insights on how positive psychology interventions are being successfully developed in various countries that focus on sustainable wellbeing of students over short-term learning achievements. Meanwhile, Olli-Pekka Heinonen, Director General of the Finnish National Agency for Education, shared how schools in the region can develop 21st century skills among students by working closely with start-ups and educational technology experts as practiced in Finland, which has set a global standard for quality education and developing high-achieving and wellrounded individuals. Another keynote presentation from Joseph South, Chief Technology Officer of US-based International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), explored key principles and strategies to help schools achieve global standards on implementing learning systems that harness the power of

technology in developing advanced digital skills among students. In addition to its top-level conference content, GESS Dubai also showcased important education initiatives from around the Gulf with participation of the education ministries of Kuwait and Bahrain as well as from Saudi Arabia, whose contingent includes five Tatweer companies, the Saudi Digital Library and the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA). On top of these state-led participation, over 500 local and international private companies exhibited the latest education-focused products and solutions - from hi-tech teaching aides and materials, to innovative STEAM equipment and tools. Technology is playing a key role in transforming the learning process in the Gulf region as educational institutions are investing heavily to shift from lecture-style classrooms to activelearning environments, say experts. According

Patrick

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Hayes,

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‘The aim of pi-top is to inspire learners and creators to develop their creative thinking and design skills’

Ryan Dunwoody, CTO and Co-Founder, pi-top

Director at British Educational Suppliers Association, “The strategy not only enhances the knowledge of the students via increased engagement but also improves retention and recruitment rates at the end of their studies.” “Technology benefits schools and students many ways. Some of the technology may not directly drive education but reduces the workload of teachers. If we have happy teachers, it’s all about benefiting children. Technology benefits schools that’s the reason UK educators spend half a billion pounds per annum on technology,” said Hayes, who was attending the Global Educational Supplies & Solutions (GESS) exhibition in Dubai. Stressing on the importance of the role of technology in boosting the learning experience in the classrooms, Venkatasubramanian Hariharan, Business Unit Director B2C, Canon Middle East, said, "It has been reported that by 2020 there will be 175,000 class spaces coming up in the UAE. At Canon, we believe four walls of the classroom is not just education, it’s beyond the four walls. The way technology is moving you see right from education intelligence to big data and interactive displays, there are multiple things coming more and more in the schools.” Highlighting the benefits of technology in the classrooms, Duncan Kemp, International Business Development Manager, pi-top, said, "Technology, used correctly, makes les-

How does pi-top aid learning by making? pi-top allows children to create and collaborate. Students can use pi-top to create and programme anything, from drones to lighting systems through to both proprietary kits and other existing tech. pi-top [4] is a go-anywhere computing device so learners can make whatever they think up from their imaginations. By giving learners a product that allows them to (a) chose what projects they want to make and (b) actually work out how to make these projects using code and programming; we are ensuring learners are solving problems by being creative and using their own initiative. The aim of pi-top is to inspire learners and creators to develop their creative thinking and design skills. These are skills that aren’t typically taught at schools therefore pi-top helps advance these skills. Critical and creative thinking skills are key aspects of a learner’s development and are skills that quip them for the future. It’s important that these skills are developed and that learners have the resources to aid their curiosity – pi-top gives them this. How can one access projects that can be implemented using pi-top and what sort of projects does it support? With pi-top [4] you have instant access to thousands of free projects, components and resources. There is also support from a global community of teachers, learners and makers, so you can get started with engaging, fun and stimulating learning as soon as you have it. pi-top [4]’s new operating system comes with a Search Portal built-in – you type in what you’re looking for and it instantly will find thousands of the best educational projects, articles and research papers selected by the pi-top team. pi-top aren’t just a technology company – our purpose is to build a global community of makers. Having access to technology is great but also having access to this massive global community to share ideas and to collaborate and to learn from is what pi-top is all about. Examples of projects include an automated plant watering system, controlling your robot in robot wars, a telemetry system, making traffic lights, testing air pollution and many more. The only limit of pi-top is your own imagination. How is pi-top designed to support diversity? At pi-top, we believe our product can work for everyone – it doesn’t matter what your age or ability is, accessibility is at the heart of things with pi-top [4]. All pi-top [4] learning materials and text use the font FS Me. This font has been specifically designed to improve legibility for people with learning disabilities and is supported by the charity Mencap – who also receive a donation for each licence purchased. pi-top [4]’s four programmable buttons have been chosen specifically to aid recognition for those with colour vision deficiency and works with all the technology you have already. At pi-top our mission is for students to collaborate and inclusivity is at the heart of this. We have designed a product that anyone can use, no matter their ability.

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‘We are giving teachers a choice of different interfaces’ Rachel Ashmore, Head of Training and Strategic Alliances EMEA & APAC, Promethean Could you explain how ActivInspire and ClassFlow works? We have two panels on our stand this year. We have version 6 panel and we are also previewing a new panel for 2019. Both panels allow you to access windows interface. So we are still able to use ActivInspire and the great flip charts that we know teachers have created along with being able to access apps through an android or probox interface. We are giving teachers a choice of different interfaces, so that they can use any program that they like. We do have teacher training, so you can visit our website and you can search through the language sites, you will find top pager link to a professional development link and we have lots of videos online and also on YouTube in both English and Arabic and we have many training documentation to download. If people contact us directly, we may be able to support with face to face training. So ActivInspire is our award-winning software and has been around for many years now. Many teachers in the region are still creating flip charts in ActivInsipre and that software is downloadable. There's a live system that comes with every panel and again features can go to a full flight H download software, put the user life number in and they have access to the software. Teachers can also go online to ClassFlow and create a free ClassFlow account. Using ClassFlow they can deliver lessons online. They can connect to the Dubai server and they can download pre-made multi search resources or flip charts resources that they can use in their classroom.

sons and learning better. By correctly I mean teachers and educators who have the confidence and skills to coach and mentor students and bring different subjects to life through technology. Technology has allowed educators to access new ways of teaching that weren’t possible previously. It allows students to become more creative, whereby they can create products or use code to solve the real world problems that matter to them." Speaking on “Online Learning: A Case for Flipped Classrooms in the UAE” during the Future Learning session at GESS 2019, Claire Hazenburg, Classroom Technology Teacher,

Australian International School, Sharjah, said, “Technology benefits teachers in terms of efficiency. We get contents to students more quickly through technology and it helps students build their capacity through digital literacy. About 80 percent of students are happy with the technology use and 20 percent are reluctant to participate that’s might be a challenge for the time being.” On being asked if increasing the role of technology is making education expensive for students, Osama Mohammed Idrees of Mohammed Bin Hamad School said, "No. It does not make it expensive since schools have

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high numbers of students.” Mona Al Laham from Saudi Arabia also agreed with Mohammed. "Well, books are not cheap as well. So, it’s kind of in the middle," she said. Ali Akbar, a teacher from Indiabased Attalim School shared, "Five years ago, the education technology was considered expensive for schools. But it has gradually become affordable." To ensure that the graduates from the UAE remain future-proofed against the rapidly changing demands of the modern workforce, global technology companies have come up with new products that will boost learning process at the educational institutions in the Gulf country. Immersive VR Education unveils ENGAGE Platform Irish virtual/augmented reality (VR/AR) software firm Immersive VR Education (IVRE), showcased its latest offering to the virtual reality education market when it exhibited its ENGAGE Platform at the GESS Dubai Education Expo. ENGAGE is an online virtual social learning and presentation platform. It is a powerful virtual reality collaboration and creation tool, allowing educators and corporate trainers to host meetings, classes, private tutorials, training sessions and presentations with people from all over the world, participating in a safe, virtual, multi-user environment.

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"ENGAGE is at the cutting edge of this technology’s usage in the education sector. It is uniquely placed to do two things. Firstly, help educators visualise how technology can positively impact their profession and their ability to influence students’ participation and performance and secondly, become synonymous with education and training technology, in the ‘learning space’ which can be applied anywhere – whether it is in an interactive museum, a second level school, a university, or a corporate training setting," said VR Education CEO and Co-founder David Whelan. pi-top At the GESS 2019, pi-top launched a new modular computer in the form of the pi-top [4] which is powered by the awesome Raspberry Pi mini PC and has been designed to easily connect to other PCs such as Windows, Macs, Chromebook’s and more. It also works out of the box with your existing screens, keyboards and mice, as well as the companies’ new wireless keyboard and HD touch screen. Duncan Kemp, International Business Development Manager for EMEA/APAC at Pi-Top, said the company launched this new model earlier this year in London and here is the Middle East launch at GESS 2019. Kemp mentioned that more than 2,000 schools are using this product in over 80 countries. Edutech Middle East represents pi-top in the region. Its director Faisal Karim said several private

schools use pi-top in the UAE. Alef Education Alef Education, an education technology company based in the UAE, is also one of the key exhibitors at GESS. The company launched an Alef Parents/Guardians App at the show. Its benefits include parents get immediate and relevant feedback to support their child’s learning journey such as their child’s learning gaps which allows them to provide appropriate support to aid their learning and also parents receive immediate feedback from teachers. Alef Education also introduced ‘100 initiatives’ at GESS 2019. The first 100 schools to sign up with Alef Education enjoy pioneer benefits. Top four benefits are ongoing onsite training, experiential learning, IT and digital transformation support and blend with Alef Certification. LEGO Education/ Atlab Lego Education on the first day of GESS 2019 launched a couple of new things including ‘Coding Express’ for primary education. This intuitive solution brings students all aboard to learn the basic language of the digital age in a creative way. Coding Express combines digital and physical elements like action bricks and switches to introduce early learning students to coding concepts like sequencing, looping, and conditional coding. Nilesh Korgaonkar, CEO of Atlab, said that students will learn collaboration, language, critical thinking skills, and more as they explore and create play

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scenarios using a classic train set. The company is also showcasing KUBO - a screen-free coding, as easy as solving a puzzle, for students aged 4-10 years. Learn&Go goes international Learn&Go, the French start-up that created a world-leading digital writing application using a tablet and stylus, has announced that it will launch an international version of Kaligo in English in March. This will be followed by the launch of exercises exclusively designed for children with dyslexia in September 2019. The pre-launch of Kaligo in English-speaking countries has been positively received, with the nomination of Kaligo as a finalist for the BETT Awards 2019 (British Educational Training and Technology). Sennheiser empowers hearing-impaired students Sennheiser, while engaging with regional universities at GESS Dubai 2019, demonstrated its WiFi-based MobileConnect system for accessible hearing in classrooms. "We have a clear objective of being the preferred choice of audio brand for Universities worldwide. Our systems are designed to save time, costs and trouble by offering integrated, scalable solutions that are easy to operate and maintain, letting lecturers focus on imparting knowledge while we handle the rest,” said Mig Cardamone, Director of Sales and Marketing at Sennheiser Middle East.

‘ENGAGE is designed for educators to create and share their own content’

David Whelan, CEO, Immersive VR Education

Could you explain how the ENGAGE platform works? Engage is a multi-user platform where you can be joined in the party by people from all over the world, your educator and students can be at different places from all over the world. It is designed for educators to create and share their own content. Once you enter the virtual classroom for a classroom presentation, there is a virtual version of you, the platform records all your movements and what you say and make objects 3D and when you are done with the presentation and you’re happy with it you can publish it. It is fully immersive. They have engaged in simulator training, they did it for physics lesson on calculating how to hit a target and then put the user next to a cannon and trained them, and they can also do it for fire safety training and many other things.

Texthelp showcases classroom innovations Texthelp -- a world leader in literacy, language learning and now STEM software -- presented the latest additions to its award-winning family of assistive tech solutions for schools and colleges at GESS Dubai 2019. The company’s Read&Write is one of the world’s most popular literacy and learning support solutions with over 18 million users across 182 countries. And thanks to the recent additions of an Arabic version, Check It, Data Desk and Exam Mode, Read&Write now provides even more supports to students and teachers alike. Robotix unveils Robobricks for children

‘We added new show features and presentation platforms’ Matt Thompson, Project Director, Tarsus Organisers of GESS Exhibition and Conference in Dubai, Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey What was unique about GESS Dubai 2019 as compared to previous years? We added new show features such as our Virtual Reality Experience and enhanced our GESS Talks Arena with new presentation platforms, enabling teaching professionals to learn from our speakers in engagingly different ways. Every year, we come up with an upgrade or enhancement to make sure we keep our content relevant and our audience engaged.W What is the prime purpose you wish to achieve by organising a conference of this scale and do you think it was achieved? For the past 12 years, GESS Dubai has become the premier platform for education stakeholders to connect in two important ways - our conference programme provides educators and teaching professionals the opportunity to learn the latest insights and developments on teaching best practices, curriculum development and other important issues from world-leading experts – from education and neuro-linguistic programming to technology and innovation. Equally important, teachers who attend our CPD sessions get Ministryrecognised certifications that they can use to advance their careers. Meanwhile, our exhibition allows school decision makers to explore the very latest innovations in education-focused products and solutions that help to improve the teaching and learning experience. I believe we have been successful, as the show has grown from year-toyear, in terms of the quality and quantity of visitors we receive, as well as the exhibitors who participate. GESS today has its presence in Indonesia, Mexico and Turkey as well. Which are the countries that have a prospect of seeing GESS soon in the future? We’ve just organised a GESS Leaders in Education Summit in Kenya last year, our first show in Africa. We are keen on growing this event as another key platform for educators and teaching professionals, as well as companies doing business within the education sector in this part of the world.

Robotix announced the global launch of Robobricks for kids ages 4 and above, at the GESS Dubai 2019. Robobricks is a screen-free interactive robotic construction toy bringing moments of magic to a child’s playtime. Kids ages 4+, can build and code, bringing robots to life with motors, CPU, Sensors, Wand, coding chips, Audio Sound block, LED Light block using Origami and paper craft and with Duplo (Morphun) Lego bricks. Robotix is also the creator of Phiro educational Robots for children ages 4 to 18. Phiro was successfully crowdfunded on Kickstarter and was recognised by Intel USA as one of “America’s Greatest Makers”. BenQ’s Future-Proof ClassroomCare & DustGuard Pro Technology BenQ, the global leader in innovation, technology and display solution featured its latest cloud-based collaboration and Interactive solutions for class-

March 2019

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Smart learning tools will be among top purchase priority for schools in 2019

Strong local and international delegation of education professionals expected at 2nd edition of GESS Turkey room learning at GESS 2019. The educational professionals and visitors witnessed a healthy learning journey with BenQ’s Future-Proof and ClassroomTM Technology that includes Premium Interactive Flat Panels (IFPs) and BlueCoreTM Dustproof Laser Projectors empowering innovation, integration and intelligence that enables the students to lead the world in the Digital Era by learning in a safer and healthier environment. Her Excellency Jameela Al Muhairi, UAE Cabinet Member and Minister of State for Public Education

at the inaugural day of GESS Dubai, the MENA region’s biggest education conference and exhibition, said for the UAE to succeed, students must be equipped with advanced skills and values such as compassion and tolerance. “Trends in the uses of technology in education, artificial intelligence, large data, blockchain and other recent developments have emerged. It is essential that we address all these changes and take the initiative in studying them and how to use them to develop learning and learning processes.” “Our responsibility lies not only in educating students in modern education but also in preparing compassionate, tolerant generations who are fully aware of what is going on around them. They will be responsible individuals who will make the right choices that positively affect society as a whole. This is the principle of lifelong learning that we want our schools to develop in our students,” Al Muhairi continued. Bahrain’s Education Minister Dr Majid bin Ali Al Nuaimi as well as Egypt’s Minister of Education and Technical Education Tarek Shawky also attended GESS Dubai to share

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their vision for the future of education in their respective countries. Meanwhile, Olli-Pekka Heinonen, Director General, Finnish National Agency for Education, concurred with the UAE’s vision, saying any education system needs to be renewed continuously and must include the individual learner, schools and society. He shared Finland’s successful collaboration with start-ups and educational technology experts as a powerful platform for developing student skills that have lifelong relevance and value. Sallyann della Casa, Chief Identity Hacker, Gleac agrees that future success must come from developing both core education capabilities and soft skills, such as critical thinking, leadership, decision-making, collaboration and communication. “Many forwardthinking and successful companies are increasingly investing in developing soft skills within their organisations, as well as in looking for these traits among students because these are what matter in achieving success at work and in life.” ScooNews will be back with more exciting experiences at GESS Dubai next year!

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OP-ED

Unfolding

MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES in the Classroom

Dr Reeta Sonawat writeback@scoonews.com

Dr Reeta Sonawat is former Dean, Faculty of Home Science, Professor and Head, Department of Human Development, SNDT Women’s University, Juhu Campus

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very child is unique with an innate potential. It is our responsibility to help them achieve their potential. Children learn in a variety of ways. When children enter primary school, too much emphasis is laid down on linguistic and logical skills. Teaching and learning is restricted to the curriculum. Teaching is one way and lacks interaction with the students. Using multiple intelligences in the classroom allows a single topic to be taught and learned in eight different ways. It also enables children to learn that there are eight different ways to learn. Children can exercise their choice by learning in any of the eight ways, thereby facilitate their own learning. Before we begin to understand the concept of multiple intelligence, let’s take a look at where this idea originated. This revolutionary concept was proposed by Howard Gardner in 1983. A developmental psychologist and professor of cognition and education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education at Harvard University, Howard Gardner was an enthusiastic pianist. His extensive work in the area of human cognition led him to his theory of multiple intelligences. In simple words his theory leads to the understanding that intelligence is a property of all human beings. Each one of us possesses the eight intelligences listed in Gardner’s theory. This theory gained popularity because of how relatable it was to educators. Every educator had faced the problem of not being able to reach a few stu-

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dents in their classroom until the information was provided in a completely different manner. For example, fractions may seem difficult to understand when explained through the chalk and board method but when they use ‘gems’ or a whole piece of chocolate that gets broken and divided into parts the very same students grasp the concept with ease. Similarly, there are several instances where concepts when presented differently for different individuals have more value and yield better learning. The important thing to remember in all of this is that, the theory must not be used interchangeably with learning styles. It is very easy to mistake these intelligences as learning styles, whereas Howard Gardner proposes them simply as intellectual abilities and not learning styles. According to the theory, every individual possesses eight types of intelligences but at varying levels. These intelligences include: 1 Linguistic - having sensitivity to the meaning of words, the order among words, and the sound, rhythms, inflections, and meter of words (e.g. poet). In simple terms it means the ability to speak and understand spoken and written language. People with good linguistic abilities can think in words and use language to express themselves well. 2 Musical - having sensitivity to rhythm, pitch, meter, tone, melody and timbre. May entail the ability to sing, play musical instruments, and/or compose music (e.g. musical conductor). 3 Logical/Mathematical - The capacity to conceptualise the logical relations among actions or symbols (e.g. mathematicians, scientists) is what logical

intelligence entails. It is the ability to develop equations, calculate, solve abstract problems. 4 Spatial - The ability to comprehend spatial information. The ability to understand three-dimensional space. 5 Bodily – Kinesthetic - The ability to use one’s whole body, or parts of the body (like the hands or the mouth) to solve problems or create products (e.g. dancer). It is the ability to control body movement. 6 Inter personal - The core capacity here is the ability to notice and make distinctions among other individuals and, in particular, among their moods, temperaments, motivations and intensions. 7 Intra personal - The core capacity at work here is access to one’s own feelings. Intrapersonal intelligence amounts to the capacity to distinguish a feeling of pleasure from one of pain and, on the basis of such discrimination, to become more involved in or to withdraw from a situation. 8 Naturalistic - The ability to make consequential distinctions in the world of nature; between one plant and another, or one cloud formation and another (For example: taxonomist). (Sometimes called nature intelligence). Multiple intelligence is a way of providing children with multiple perspectives towards things, ideas and concepts. Multiple entry points are different ways of introducing a different topic in the classroom. Explaining a topic through different entry points helps to make the information more accessible to a range of differing learners, addressing their strengths, while challenging their weaknesses. It also makes the material seem more interesting and relevant to the students, encourages a multiple faceted understanding of the topic and helps students to keep their minds focused on the material. It is not necessary to use all entry points every time, just enough variety to accommodate different ways of learning. The choice of entry points will depend upon the circumstances as well as the nature of the material. Multiple representations help the teacher to gauge how much the children have understood. Besides the routine academic tests and exams, there are various ways of knowing whether the children have understood and learnt a concept or not. What is learnt and understood can be represented in the following forms:

Common characteristics for various intelligences Linguistic intelligence • Notices grammatical mistakes • Often speaks of what they have read • Likes to use "fancy" words • Loves word games • Cherishes their book collection • Easily remembers quotes and famous sayings • Likes puns and rhymes • Enjoys writing • Enjoys foreign language • Always enjoyed English class

Logical intelligence • Can easily do math in their head • Good at strategy games • Has a mind "like a computer" • Really likes math • Enjoys science experiments • Organises things by category • Abstract thinker • Looks for rational explanations • Wonders how things work

Interpersonal intelligence • Empathetic • Extraverted • Enjoys social events • Loves groups and crowds • Enjoys teaching others • Has many friends • Enjoys team sports • Likes to counsel others • Loves meeting new people • Cooperative in groups • Sensitive to others' moods

Intrapersonal intelligence • Introverted • Prefers working alone • Philosophical • Self-aware • Perfectionist • Often thinks of self-employment • Enjoys journaling • Intuitive • Independent • Spends time thinking and reflecting • Likes learning about self

Musical intelligence • Has good rhythm • Can easily memorise songs • Notices and enjoys different sounds • Often sings, whistles or taps a song • Talented with an instrument or singing • Can tell when a note is off-key • Often has a song running through their head • Can create original music

Spatial intelligence • Good at solving visual puzzles • Enjoys geometry in school • Good at drawing • Can visualise pictures in head • Notices colours and shapes • Enjoys photography • Good with directions • Can remember places vividly • Good at artistic composition • Likes books with pictures

Bodily – Kinesthetic intelligence • Learns by "doing" • Would rather touch than just look • Well-coordinated with good motor skills • Likes figuring out how things work • Enjoys the outdoors • Likes to work with hands • Can't sit still for too long • Enjoys sports and exhilarating experiences • Likes to be active • Has a lot of physical energy • Athletic

Naturalistic intelligence • Bothered by pollution • Enjoys having pets Likes to learn about nature • Enjoys gardening • Appreciates scenic places • Feels alive when in contact with nature • Likes to camp, hike, walk and climb • Notices nature above all other things • Conscious of changes in weather

Ever since Howard Gardener has expounded his theory in his path breaking book – Frames of Mind; practitioners in the field of education and human development have grappled with its implementation with varied degree of success. As it is true for any new theory, every implementation brings out a better and newer nuance of MI. The beauty of multiple intelligence is it is a very simple theory. Most people intuitively know that every child is different and that they learn and express differently. Multiple intelligence theory is very important for anyone involved in the field of human development on at least two fronts.

1 It broadens the definition of intelligence. Historically we are accustomed to a linguistic – logic definition of intelligence. Traditional IQ tests assess this. But MI gives credit to artistry, melody, physical performance, relationships and selfawareness and society. 2 It provides a framework to guide human development if there are intelligences beyond the traditional linguistic-logical, how should education evolve to give every child the chance to succeed by using his/her unique combination of the eight intelligences. This psychological theory has direct educational implications and it reveals the differences in the intellectual profiles of individuals. Thus, these differences can be considered as a factor while devising the education system.

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OP-ED

LESSONS OUR CHILDREN CAN LEARN FROM WING COMMANDER ABHINANDAN VARTHAMAN Varun Bodhwani writeback@scoonews.com

eams of newsprint and hours of air-time were dedicated in February, and rightly so, to the daring Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, a flying pilot of the Indian Air Force. The brave pilot from South India was in the news for all the right reasons. India collectively gasped in horror when news started trickling in on February 27, that this tall pilot with a swinging moustache had been shot down from the sky and arrested behind enemy lines, while pursuing an enemy aircraft which had ventured into Kashmir airspace. What followed was a 60-hour ordeal where Government used its entire diplomatic might, the media covered the issue sometimes to the chagrin of the government, international pressure on the neighbouring government, collective prayers from the nation and prevailing of good sense all culminating into Abhinandan coming back to India.

Varun Bodhwani is a Mumbai-based Marketing Consultant.

But as the frequently invoked proverb says, All's well that ends well. India got back its brave pilot safely. The tension with the enemy gradually diffused. The international community heaved a collective sigh of relief. But this author couldn’t stop wondering at all the lessons that our children could pick up from this episode. Never hesitate to take up challenges The wing commander was flying a MiG21 Bison aircraft, which in comparison to the neighbouring country's F-16 aircraft was outdated, bulky, slower and could carry much lesser ammunitions. All of this gave a major edge to the enemy. Adding to that was the timing of the mission. Abhinandan got into a dogfight with the enemy aircraft early in

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the morning as the Indian Air Force jets were scrambled at the nth hour. His mission, along with another half a dozen pilots, was to counter enemy planes which had entered Indian airspace with an aim to target Indian military camps along the border. Since it wasn’t a pre-meditated flight he had to be quick thinking, quick reacting and lightning fast in his actions. Not only did he extract the maximum out of his plane, but also he had managed to lock-on to the enemy aircraft. A lock-on is when you have your missiles targeted on your objective and destroying it is only a matter of pressing a button. So engrossed was he in the pursuit of his goal to destroy the enemy plane that somehow he couldn’t manage to avert a ground-to-air missile fired at his plane by the enemy. His plane was damaged and as he ejected, his parachute drifted into enemy territory. Life doesn’t come with a manual for our children. We as parents, educators and caregivers should encourage our children to always face challenges boldly. Be prepared for unexpected challenges, make the best of whatever resources are available at hand and lastly, singlemindedly focus on coming out on top of the challenges faced. Still at the end of the day, they could very much fall down due to an unforeseen factor like our pilot did. Our children should be taught to be prepared for such an eventuality. Staying calm in the face of difficulties After being hit by a missile, Wing Commander Abhinandan ejected from his plane and parachuted down in enemy territory. It was an unknown terrain and he wouldn’t have known much about what he could face there. But he was supremely calm. By keeping his head he could quickly think of ways to follow his duty. He was carrying maps and other important information in his pockets. It was most important to

brought forward to the Pakistan Army camp. He was blindfolded and his hands were tied behind his back. He had sustained swelling and injuries to his face and a black eye. If he had other injuries they were under his uniform. This is where our soldier had to be the bravest and probably it is here where the most important lesson lies for our children. Another video which was doing the rounds on mobile phones and the social media was where Wing Commander Abhinandan was standing tall and with full authority in front of his interrogators. Despite his hands being tied, his eyes blindfolded and possibly a throbbing pain from all that beating, he was answering questions with an air of dignity and pride. The nation saluted when Abhinandan refused to provide answers to questions which could compromise the safety of India in any way. Mind you, he was standing right in front of the enemy, in the enemy’s country, in the enemy’s camp and he had the gumption to politely and honourably refuse to answer questions which he shouldn’t have. He wasn’t sure if he would be spared alive, but he didn’t care.

destroy the confidential information and not let it fall in other hands. He quickly adjusted to his surroundings and ran towards a stream, where he tore and destroyed all secret documents in the water. He further discarded everything that could be of risk to the security of India. Just when he was doing so, he was spotted by locals who grabbed and thrashed him violently. The unfortunate scene was shot on a smartphone and consequently the clip went viral on mobile phones. But he did not fight back as he understood that it would bring an even stronger retaliation. When we teach our children to keep their calm during trying times, we are setting them up for success. We are teaching them to prioritise and execute things which are important no matter how dire the situation. Keeping calm also primes to be ready for bigger challenges in life as we will see ahead. Courage in the face of defeat Unfortunately, things started taking a turn for the worse for Abhinandan Varthaman. He was rescued and

There comes a moment in the journey when our children will feel like giving up. When they will be faced with their biggest fear or challenge. When their feet will tremble and their knees will shiver due to fear of the unknown or the sheer difficulty in front of them. It is in those moments, that our children should be courageous to face the tallest mountain with a quiet resolution. This is the core lesson that parents and educators need to teach our children. To keep their head held high even in the toughest of times. This courage will help our children focus so intensely on their goals that one way or the other they will meet with success. Having Faith Surely not everything is in human hands. What next? Must be the question which might have echoed through Abhinandan’s head a million times after being questioned by the enemy. He had done everything that he was trained to. He protected national secrets, he refused to divulge too many details. But there you have it, there comes a moment when you have done all you can and the only thing left to do is keep faith. Faith in the system, faith in the passage of time, faith in yourself and lastly faith in the Divine.

While Abhinandan hung in there in the enemy camp, India was buzzing with activity. The Defence Department, the Foreign Office, the Home Ministry and the family were working overtime for his rescue. It was through a concerted effort that he finally came back to his motherland. Our children need to be taught to let go. When they have done the best with a calm state of mind. When they have delivered to the peak of their abilities without any compromise whatsoever, when there’s genuinely nothing more to deliver, they need to learn to let go. Our children need to learn how to keep the faith. In their parents, their teachers, their well-wishers, their own selves, their abilities and last but not the least a divine power. Only when they learn to have this faith do they truly begin to receive what they truly deserve. The winning walk A little after 9:00pm on February 1, 2019, 60 hours after he crash-landed in enemy territory, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman walked back into India at the Wagah border in the northern state of Punjab. Wearing a crisp formal pant under a navy blue blazer, Abhinandan walked tall and ram rod straight to be greeted by Air Vice Marshall RGK Kapoor, the BSF officials and his family. The pilot had a black eye but he walked with an air of confidence, defiance, authority and victory. He was coming home. No whooping, no jumping, no victory cries. The most dignified celebration ever. Our children can learn a very important lesson here. When life tests them and they come up on top, they have to maintain their poise. Celebrations demand as much dignity as losses. Frivolous celebrations would mean giving up on the character that the tough time just built. These observations made by the author aren’t very big things in themselves. But as they say, the Whole is greater than the sum of its parts. When we help our children slowly inculcate these values in their personality, we will not only be helping them cultivate a strong respectable character but we will be setting them up for a life of success. Lastly, the author salutes Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman of the Indian Air Force for showing exemplary grit and character in the face of extraordinary odds.

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OP-ED

Building a supportive

BRIDGE

between EARLY YEARS and PRIMARY SCHOOL Firdaus F Lalkaka writeback@scoonews.com

Firdaus F. Lalkaka is Administrator, Thumbelina Nursery & KG School, Ahmedabad

oing to school is an exciting as well as a challenging time for young children and their families. Moving from early childhood education to an elementary school can be a positive and rewarding experience that sets children up for a happy and successful academic pathway. It can also be a period of vulnerability for many children. Effective transitions are critical to the development of children’s self-worth, confidence and resilience, and ongoing success at school. This is a time to build relationships, maintain excitement for learning and ensure children experience continuity in their learning. Ensuring continuity of learning poses quite a challenge while children move through preschool, elementary school and beyond as children are required to become familiar with new people, practices and expectations. Unless the “learning” that the children have achieved during their preschool years seamlessly transfers to and is built on, in the next stage of elementary school, it will get interrupted and cause impediments in their progress and achievement. A smooth transition can only be achieved through a combined effort of all the stakeholders namely, the government (through a robust policy framework), the schools (preschools and elementary schools) and the parents. In order to better achieve the objective of “inclusion” under RTE for ensuring a smoother transition especially for children coming from disadvantaged families, rather than laying

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emphasis on preparing the “child to be ready for school,” India would greatly benefit by considering a shift of emphasis to making the “schools ready for a child”. A. Government Policy: Suggestions 1) The 25% quota of admissions u/s 12(1)(c) of RTE Act should be made applicable beginning from the lowest section of preschool i.e. from nursery onwards instead of from class as is presently being done. For a disadvantaged child to enter schooling from class 1 without a preschool education is as risky as attempting to board a speeding bus - it’s a surefire recipe for FAILURE! 2) Need for a robust monitoring and evaluation system to handhold disadvantaged children who are admitted to an English-medium school to ensure that such children don’t get disillusioned and ultimately drop-out. 3) Need for a “One-Nation-OnePolicy” for ECCE: This involves:-Fixation of common “Age-atEntry” norms and a common “cutoff ” date * (PG @ 2+, Nur @ 3+, Jr.KG @ 4+, Sr.KG @ 5+ & Std-1 @ 6+) * With the academic year commencing in June, cut-off date should be May 31. Designing of a developmentally appropriate ECCE and Elementary School Curriculum that is in alignment with the learning milestones to ensure a smooth transition sans any overlaps.

Defining minimum infrastructure specifications for preschools Defining child safety norms, etc. Defining the maximum number of children per class Scientifically designed progress reports of children that are focused on capturing the achievement of learning milestones Leveraging technology to ensure full compliance under RTE and ensure that no child is left behind Ensuring timely re-imbursement of fees of admissions done under RTE 4) Bearing in mind the recent instances of assault and abuse of preschoolers, it would be in the best interest of children for the government to consider drafting of a policy which makes it mandatory to run a preschool from an exclusive premise rather than from within the premises of a primary/ secondary school. 5) Priority should be given by “neighbourhood” elementary schools while granting admission in class 1 to children enrolled in neighbourhood preschools.

6) To uphold the Right to Equality (guaranteed under the Constitution of India) of all children to secure admission in class 1 regardless of whether they are doing their preschooling in a standalone preschool or a preschool run by a recognised school, the government MUST ensure that admission is granted on either first-come-first-served basis or on draw of lots (as is already approved by the Education dept.). 7) Pressing need for building an evaluation model that promotes children based on achievement of learning outcomes rather than on an examination-based model which encourages rote learning. 8) Isn’t “nation building” everyone’s responsibility?: There is no logical reason why provisions of RTE Act should not be applicable to Minority Institutions for admitting disadvantaged children under the 25% quota. If they believe in the Indian Constitution which confers upon them special rights and privileges, I fail to understand why they are unwilling to shoulder the responsibility of admitting disadvantaged children under RTE and contributing towards nation building.

9) Caught between a rock and a hard place: Rather than accepting their complete failure in discharging their constitutional responsibility of providing quality public education to its citizens and taking concrete steps to improving the quality of public education in government schools, the government is introducing laws to impose restrictions on what fees private schools can charge on one hand and forcing them to admit disadvantaged children to the extent of 25% on the other. If the government is genuinely interested in bringing quality private school education at affordable rates, they should consider giving land for free and loans for school infrastructure at special rates with long moratoriums and/or allow private enterprise to manage the existing government schools and fix a value to their services which is based on the attainment of learning outcomes in children. B. Preschools and primary schools The ground realities have been beautifully captured in the introductory paragraphs in chapter 1 of the Report of the Committee on Pre-Primary and

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OP-ED Pre-School Education in Delhi dated 3103-2007 reproduced below: 1.1 Early Childhood Care and Education has globally been recognised as critical for human resource development. The first 8 years of a child’s life are the most crucial years because during this period of early childhood the pace of development is extremely rapid, determining the cognitive and physical growth and laying the foundation for shaping the social and personal habits and values. There is a growing body of research evidence to prove that the synoptic connections in the brain that are critical for the full development of the brain’s potential take place during the early phase of childhood. 1.2 Early Childhood Development includes two main aspects, i.e., care and education. Care is a comprehensive term that includes proper nutrition, medical attention particularly in regard to immunisation, security and safety and emotional support. The ‘education’ component includes pre-school education programmes aimed at 3-6 year-olds and extends to class 1 and 2 to cover children up to the age of 8 under the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). However, it is to be clearly understood that ECCE is an integrated programme that takes into account the synergistic and interdependent relationship between health, nutrition, intellectual, social and emotional development and education, addressing the imperative of holistic and all-round development of the child. Thus, it can be seen that any discussion on pre-primary education cannot exclude other aspects of early childhood development. On the contrary an examination of issues relating to pre-primary education should necessarily focus on the developmental paradigm so that the cognitive, affective and psychomotor issues are comprehensively addressed in the context of education. 1.3 Changing socio-economic conditions have also thrown up new challenges. The changes in family structure brought about by transition from joint families to nuclear families coupled with the increasing propensity of both parents going to jobs have put greater pressure on Early Childhood Education especially in urban and semi-urban areas. As parents face the compul-

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sion of keeping their children in ‘safe custody’ when they are out on work, they invariably turn to crèches, kindergarten and play schools. Parents are taking their children out of the home environment much earlier than ever before. While sending children to crèches by parents who are both employed with no elders to take care of their children cannot be faulted, the growing tendency on the part of overenthusiastic parents to initiate their children into ‘education’ much before the children are ready for it is a cause of great concern. So, the first question that is to be answered is: What is the suitable age for a child to begin pre-schooling? The other important question is about what is going on in the name of pre-schooling in a majority of schools in Delhi. 1.4 The enormous demand for preschooling facilities has led to a mushrooming of play schools, nursery schools, kindergarten, preparatory schools etc. indicative of a veritable boom in the ‘Alphabet

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Industry’. A majority of ‘big schools’ (schools which have classes up to 12) run not only nursery and kindergarten or preparatory classes before class I, some of these schools also have pre-nursery. Thus, a child of 2-2½ years of age enters into a system which also has adolescents of 17-18 years of age. Parents’ wish is to put their children early on into such a system so that they need not worry about their children’s future schooling up to class 12. It defies all logic of ‘child-centric’ education. Instead, the prevalent system has become either ‘parent-centric’ or ‘schoolcentric’. It is seen that, barring a few exceptions, these schools are nothing more than mere downward extension of the formal and structured education at the level of class 1 and above. The unrealistic expectations of parents for early stimulation of their children and the inappropriate learning environment offered by schools staffed by either untrained or unsuitably trained teachers have resulted in a confus-

learn and grasp concepts ahead of their time (i.e. before they attain their mental and physical milestones). This completely defeats the purpose! And, as reiterated earlier, in order to better achieve the objective of “inclusion” under RTE for ensuring a smoother transition especially for children coming from disadvantaged families, India would greatly benefit by considering a shift of emphasis from preparing the “child to be ready for school” to making the “schools ready for a child”. And preparation of scientifically designed reports of each child would go a long way in building the bridge between the preschool and elementary school. Hence, to ensure a smooth transition, three critical issues need to be dealt with: Defining the suitable age for a child to begin pre-schooling. Designing of a developmentally appropriate ECCE and Elementary School Curriculum that is in alignment with the learning milestones to ensure a smooth transition sans any overlaps. Preparation of scientifically designed reports of each child that enable the elementary school teachers hand-hold the child on and from the milestones that he has achieved.

ing and often chaotic situation. To compound the matters further, preschooling by whatever name, does not come under any regulation. While the provisions of Article 21A and 45 of the Indian Constitution coupled with the provisions in Sec. 3 and 11 of the RTE Act, 2009 have correctly defined the “suitable age” as being 6+ for Class-1 and 3+ for beginning preschooling, despite a specific provision in law, the government is yet to come up with a developmentally appropriate preschool curriculum that doesn’t overlap with the elementary school curriculum! The high expectations of parents coupled with elementary schools interviewing children and rejecting them for failing to have mastered advanced numeracy and writing skills in their preschool years are the two key reasons that are primarily responsible for most preschools (barring a few), succumbing to the pressure and being reduced to nothing more than a mere downward extension of the formal and structured education at the level of class 1 and above and overburdening the child and forcing him to

curriculum but have to design it in a manner that meets with the expectations of the elementary schools. As a result, most preschools (barring a few), land up being nothing more than a mere downward extension of the formal and structured education at the level of class 1 and above that force children to learn a curriculum that is age inappropriate and ahead of their time. Hence, in conclusion, creating a supportive bridge between early years and primary school and beyond is critical to ensure a smooth transition to enable children to continue their progress and achievement uninterruptedly and excel in this journey called life. The process to ensure smooth transition from preschool to primary school especially to children coming from disadvantaged families admitted under u/s 12(1)(c) of RTE Act A class 1 primary school teacher who has worked as an ECE teacher is better equipped to bridge the learning experiences from ECE to primary school. A class 1 primary school teacher can find out about each child’s interests, strengths, culture and capabilities through: (a) talking with the child’s preschool teacher and parents,

C. Parents In my view, the parents cannot be faulted for having very high expectations from preschools because of the following reasons:

(b) referring to the child’s portfolio/journal,

a) Not being experts in early childhood education, parents are clueless about the learning milestones or the learning outcomes expected of a child in his preschool years. Their expectations are primarily built based on what their child is being taught in his preschool as compared to what another preschool is teaching their neighbour’s child. They are also distressed by the fact that if their child hasn’t mastered the advanced numeracy and writing skills as expected by the elementary schools, then their child would fail to secure admission in a reputed school.

(d) formal and informal testing.

b) While on one hand, the government has failed to draft a standardised preschool curriculum, on the other, the elementary schools interview children and reject those who have failed to master advanced numeracy and writing skills! As a result, finding themselves between a rock and a hard place, most preschools not only have to design their own

Tweaking and tailoring aspects of the primary school curriculum based on the identification of the child’s interests, strengths, culture, capabilities, will greatly help in engaging, challenging and motivating the children. The needs and aspirations of a child with special needs would be better served if there was co-ordination between the preschool teacher and the primary school teacher. A deeper partnership between the primary teacher and the parents too, would be very supportive. Having a senior student as “buddy” for every child joining primary school also ensures a smooth transition through companionship in school. Holding “remedial” classes coupled with regular parent-teacher meetings. Having a “transitory” class is necessary to bring RTE children up to the mental level of the other children who have done preschool.

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TAKE 2 This March give your child a best friend, a book with engaging text and beautiful illustrations.

ANUSHKA YADAV suggests five books your preschooler would enjoy reading!

Everything You Need for a Treehouse by Carter Higgins with Emily Hughes Curated by the magical team of picture book creators Higgins and Hughes, this beautifully illustrated hardback is an ode to outdoor exploration that will make your child want to explore the natural kingdom. A beautiful and delightful bedtime treat, the book is almost like a poem as it journeys through the universal wonder of treehouses. Who wouldn’t want to live among the branches after reading this?

Boogie Bear by David Walliams with Tony Ross The tale of a brown bear and a polar bear, Boogie Bear is a gripping book that introduces the concept of interracial harmony in an unlikely but incredible way. The two bears end up realising that their differences are only fur-deep. David Walliams is a magician when it comes to cooking up a sweet and entertaining story and Tony Ross’ humorous illustrations deliver the messages with perfection. Pick your copy and enjoy this wonderful story with your preschooler!

Lots: The Diversity of Life on Earth by Nicola Davies with Emily Sutton Is your child a young nature lover? Lots: The Diversity of Life on Earth is the perfect book for your preschooler. A beautiful hardback book with almost old-fashioned yet lovely illustrations is guaranteed to become the young reader’s best friend. Illustrations by Emily Sutton will attract even the adults to pick up the book. Prepare your mini eco-warrior with some amazing facts about the diversity of the planet that your little one would love.

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Welcome to our World by Moira Butterfield with Harriet Lynas Subtitled “A celebration of children everywhere”, this delightful book is full of wonderful illustrations with interesting facts that inquisitive preschoolers adore. The book helps children to learn to say “My name is” in different languages. An interactive book that will leave children glued to their seats as they discover facts like Australian children get to eat sugar sprinkles on toast for breakfast. Preschoolers can wow grown-ups with sayings from around the world such as “Some days honey, some days onions” (you win some, you lose some).

Zog and the Flying Doctors by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler After the Gruffalo’s child, children’s book dream team Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler are back with another adventurous book for their young fans. Zog the dragon, Princess Pearl, and Sir Gadabout have taken their adventure to the skies! The flying doctors are on duty while Princess Pearl's uncle, the king, thinks princesses should stay in their towers and embroider cushions all day! Will the team be able to save the king from “orange fever” and his prejudices?

CORRIGENDUM

Oops, we’re sorry!

A few errors inadvertently crept into the February issue of ScooNews. We sincerely apologise for the same…

1. The last paragraph of Princess Diya Kumari’s article on page 14 went missing.

2. Pages 40, 41 and 44 were part of Asha Varma’s article; however, it was interrupted with Dr Reeta Sonawat’s article on page 42 and 43.

4. The image on page 120 was wrongly captioned as Santwana Basu – the photograph is of Tapati Gupta.

3. The educator’s name on page 152 should read as Nisha Jain Grover and her profile description should not include that of Mahesh Balakrishnan.

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TECH IT OUT ANUSHKA YADAV suggests four educational YouTube channels for kids

Cable TV offerings are limited these days but why limit yourself when you can provide your children with the best educational entertainment?

Sesame Street www.youtube.com/sesamestreet

If, by some chance, you were looking for Elmo, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Grover, Oscar, Bert & Ernie, Telly, Zoe, Rosita, Baby Bear and Snuffleupagus, you are in luck because they are on Sesame Street’s YouTube channel! Learning was never this exciting!

WordWorld PBS www.youtube.com/channel/UCIBca_ZD6_ dByDJeuNP5r1g

2 3

Looking for a highly reputable source for quality, kid-friendly content? WorldWorld PBS is the best answer! Watch your child enjoy and learn effectively as he/she watches “words come alive” on the WordWorldPBS channel. Their animated and animal-themed content is great for children, keeping them engaged while adding to their knowledge.

Baby Nursery Rhymes www.youtube.com/user/NurseryRhymeC orner "Baby Nursery Rhymes" is a Cartoon Funny Cartoon based entertainment channel for kids which helps them to learn all about good habits, the alphabet, numbers, good manners and so much more! Come and explore the world of Mega Gummy Bears Family with peppy rhymes!

Cocomelon - Nursery Rhymes www.youtube.com/user/checkgate/ featured

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