Balwadis
(Pre-School Centres)
Environmental
Education in Schools
Gram
Pustakalaya (Village Libraries)
Sandhya
Kendra (Evening Centres)
Computer
Literacy
Kishori Shikshan
(Adolescent Education)
Women’s
literacy and education
Preventive Health Care and Education
Gram Shikshan Kendra (Community Learning Centres) |
Balwadis (Pre-School
Centres) |
Since
1988, we have supported Community Based
Organisations-CBOs, in villages spread over
all the mountain regions of Uttarakhand to
run over 350 balwadis. This support has
taken the form of on-the-spot guidance and
evaluation, teacher training and development
of learning materials using locally
available resources. Very young rural
children, the majority being girls, were
enrolled in the balwadis. Over the years,
more than 2000 balwadi teachers have been
trained. With the expansion of the similar
government run Integrated Child Development
Scheme-ICDS programme, this activity has
been curtailed.
The special features of the balwadis have
been:
• The village community manages the centre
and provides a room and land for it.
• Free mid-day meals were not provided in
the balwadis. Instead, parents were
requested to send tiffin (lunch) with their
children which was then shared at mealtime.
This was in keeping with our policy of
minimum money inputs and also to support
self-sufficiency in villages. Communities
were motivated to grow cereals, vegetables
and fruits locally and a support system was
provided for this to happen in the village.
• The teacher, usually a girl or young woman
of the village or of a nearby village, was
appointed by the CBO in consultation with
the village community.
• Laying foundation for environmental
awareness and sensitivity at this early
life-stage was an important part of the
programme.
• The annual calendar and the daily timings
of the balwadis were decided by the
community in accordance with the seasonal
workload and convenience of the residents.
• The teachers were mostly young and not
highly educated. Often they came out of
their villages for the first time to attend
a teacher-training course. By participating
in the programme, they gained confidence and
developed into environmentally-aware and
knowledgeable adults. They were motivated to
do socially-useful work and in many villages
they were instrumental in the formation of
women's groups.
BALWADI VIDEO LINK
A r t i c l e
"I have been in the field of early
childhood for more than 25 years,
but I have never seen such an
informative, well-integrated, and
joyful set of lessons. The teacher
created opportunities to learn
various concepts through exploring,
naming, and imagining that helped
the children bond with their
environment."
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