By Our Reporter
Shillong, Sep 5: With an aim to the lifelong potential of children by providing the key development support required in the critical early years, the first ‘Play to Learn’ summit was successfully organised at Windermere, here on Tuesday.
In a first of its kind innitiative, the summit highlighted the crucial role of play in young children’s overall development.
Meghalaya is carrying out an Early Childhood Development Mission (MECDM), with its main goal being maximising the lifelong potential of children by providing the key development support required in the critical “early years”: from conception to eight years of age.
The expected beneficiaries of the mission are caregivers, children between the ages of 0-8 years (including those with disabilities), pregnant women and lactating mothers.
The mission will convert all Anganwadi Centers into ECD Centers to provide comprehensive support to children, including nutrition, cognitive development, socio-emotional learning, and the foundational development they will need to succeed later in school and in life.
There is also a significant focus on community based and home-based ECD activities. For instance, women’s self-help groups and father’s circles will receive training so that they can act as support groups to caregivers and can coach caregivers on simple activities they can do at home to promote the cognitive development and overall well-being of their children.
Social Welfare Minister Paul Lyngdoh who attended the summit informed that 60,000 children from across the state have been registered under the Meghalaya Early Childhood Development Mission (MECDM).
“The focus is not only on the nutritional aspects but also to check on their physical and mental well-being. The family, anganwadi and the community are important focal point of this mission,” Lyngdoh said.
He outlined the importance of play for young minds. He said, “Play is meaningful; it’s a pathway to nurturing young minds and building a brighter future for Meghalaya.”
“Our kids today face a unique set of challenges that are different from the ones that the kids in the previous generation faced. It is our endeavor to be able to take initiatives aimed at optimizing the potential of our children. For this, we need to keep re-envisioning where we want to see Meghalaya in the next 50 years”, Lyngdoh added.
“This mission will first focus on the anganwadi centres. Right now we’ve covered about 60,000 children and our aim is to also develop a curriculum of our own so that the anganwadi centres also become a centre of learning and not just for nutrition alone,” Lyngdoh sad .
Concerning the expenses, the government is partnering with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and that the conversation with ADB has been very positive. The minister added that they will share the details once they sign the MoU.
“We are targeting to reach out to all the centres and we are also creating another 3,000 centres in order to facilitate the mission to be introduced in those centres,” added the social welfare minister.
In a video message, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma highlighting the importance of play in early childhood education said, “The Meghalaya Early Childhood Development Mission is dedicated to nurturing a child’s holistic growth during their formative years. He further emphasised the incorporation of evidence-based methods such as positive parenting and joyful learning, complemented by enhanced nutrition and cognitive stimulation.
Sangma further voiced his aim of propelling Meghalaya to the ranks of the country’s top 10 states, whilst highlighting the synergy of government initiatives.
The summit also had in attendance the Sampath Kumar, Principal Secretary, Government of
Meghalaya who shed light on the government’s commitment in endorsing initiatives that contribute to realizing our vision of delivering quality early childhood education.
He further emphasized that ECD Mission is a social movement that requires all departments and stakeholders, including citizen groups and faith organizations, to work together with a sense of purpose to help every child achieve their full potential and generate more happiness for the residents of Meghalaya.
The summit also had in attendance Sanjay Prakash, Managing Director, SBI Foundation, Tusharendra Barpanda, Head- Professional Development Centre, Eastern Zone, Indian Institute of Banking & Finance and Sonali Khan, Managing Trustee, Sesame Workshop India Trust.
The Summit was hosted by Government of Meghalaya, Meghalaya Early Childhood Development Mission (MECDM) and Meghalaya Health Systems Strengthening Project (MHSSP) in collaboration with Sesame Workshop India Trust with funding support from SBI Foundation and the Indian Institute of Banking & Finance.