The Meghalaya government and Sesame Workshop India have announced their partnership for an early childhood development (ECD) project in the state.
The objective of this partnership, announced through a press release today, is to provide technical and implementation support to the Meghalaya Health Systems Strengthening Project (MHSSP) to develop, design, and implement an integrated ECD model to improve outcomes as envisaged in the state’s ECD mission.
Sampath Kumar, Principal Secretary Health & Family Welfare, commented on the partnership, explaining that the state is carrying out an ECD Mission, which is the first of its kind. The main goal of the mission is to maximise the potential of children from conception to eight years of age.
The initiative is a collaborative effort with Sesame Workshop India and various government departments, including Education, Woman and Child Development, and Social Welfare. The aim is to convert all Anganwadi centres into ECD centres to provide comprehensive support to children. Additionally, there is a significant focus on community-based ECD interventions. The plan is to engage women’s self-help groups formed under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission to promote positive parenting within the community.
Ramkumar S, Secretary to Health & Family Welfare and Project Director of Meghalaya Health Systems Strengthening Project, said about this partnership, “The state of Meghalaya faces a unique challenge due to its very young population and high total fertility rate, requiring a focus on young parents and children for their overall development.”
The expected beneficiaries of partnership are caregivers, children between the ages of 0-8 years (including those with disabilities), pregnant women and lactating mothers and Village Health Councils.
This is not the first time Sesame Workshop India has worked in Meghalaya. In 2020, it partnered with SBI Foundation to launch “Learn Play Grow” in four districts, benefitting 90,000 children in 3,000 Anganwadi centres, the press release stated.
The programme continues to enhance the quality of ECD by training Anganwadi workers to provide child-centered, play/activity-based curricula, pedagogical processes and effective techniques that can be further developed to support the ECD Project in Meghalaya.
The partnership is aimed to build on the community-based pilot undertaken in the Garo Hills region with the support of the World Bank. The specific objectives of the assignment include developing and rolling out a comprehensive integrated ECD content (audio, video, print material and other child manipulatives) and training curriculum (including relevant materials, both face-to-face and virtual mode of delivery) tailored to Meghalaya’s needs.
This initiative will adopt the ‘Whole Child’ approach to develop play, activity and experiential learning based ECD curriculum keeping in mind the possible health, nutrition and learning loss due to Covid-19. The training curriculum for target groups of 0-3 years, 3-6 years and 6-8 years children and their parents/caregivers will also be aligned with the learning philosophy and outcomes of National ECCE Policy (2013), National Education Policy (2020), National Education Framework (2022) and NIPUN Bharat Guidelines (2021).
