Udaipur Municipal Corporation organises workshop on Pre-school Education under Parents+ programme

Udaipur : As part of the Urban95 initiative, the Udaipur Municipal Corporation(UMC)conducteda one-day workshop in the city recently in collaboration with the Integrated Child Development Services(ICDS) department, supported by theBernard van Leer Foundation (BvLF), and with the technical support of JatanSansthan. The training on pre-school education (PSE) Kit development and dissemination was organised with the goal of enablingAnganwadi workers (AWWs) tocreate prototypes of kits that can be developed using low-cost material and to help AWW in coaching parents for creating home-based early learning resources through interactive session and training.

Young children learn through play and by interacting with their immediate environmentand we can make their environment stimulating by providing a range of developmentally appropriate play and learning materials to encourage inquisitiveness and imagination and to also promote a sound foundation for learning.

Five participants received training at the workshop held at the Nemachkheda AWC. The workshop focused on training AWWs on the use of the PSE kits, which will later be supported by community mobilisers during home visits and parents’ meetings. Trained Anganwadi Workers will train the parents/caregivers on making toys using indigenous material available at home. The procurement of raw materials for developing the kits will be done by JatanSansthan. Informative and engaging audio-video material will also be developed, which the AWW can download on her mobile for children coming to the centre.

Post the workshop, in order to ensure that toy making becomesa regular practice, the community mobiliser will offer handholding support in the beginning.

Glimpses of the training workshop are accessible onthe UMCwebsite.

During the workshop, Mrs. Nidhi Rani Joshi-CDPO, ICDS said, “Pre-school education is important in children’s overall development and is very essential. AWWs can play an important role in helping parents understand about early childhood education. She said she is very thankful to UMC for providing PSE kIt and training to AWWs.

“Ms. Rushda Majeed, India Representative, BvLF, said: “This is an excellent initiative being undertaken by UMC to train AWW workers in creating low-cost kits. The Urban95 Programme emphasises on the importance of coaching parents and caregivers since they play a key role in shaping the early years of toddlers and infants. We are confident that this training will help parents/ caregivers to make toys using basic local materials available at home and help in shaping the holistic development of their children.”