Bodh places considerable stress on the preschool
component in its program. It is seen simultaneously as a means of
ensuring proper child development, initiating children to the world of
learning and a means of freeing the older sibling caregivers to enable
them to go to school. It has been running preschools in its schools
since 1993 and the program currently caters to needs of 845 children
in rural and 375 in urban areas, aged 3-5 years. There are preschool
sections in 25 Bodh schools (Bodhshalas) in rural and seven in urban
areas. An additional 25 schools (with preschools) would be opened this
year in the urban program. 34 mother teachers in the rural region
conduct activities with preschool children. Some schools also have
preschool teachers. In urban Bodhshalas, mother teachers and
pre-school teachers work jointly.
Children from the
Shala Poorv and Shala Aarambh Groups fall in the age category
equivalent to the age group of Early Childhood Education. The
transition is smooth with teachers of both groups working together.
There is an effort to ensure transition in terms of curriculum as
well. A well defined curriculum has been evolved that is grounded in
traditional wisdom and knowledge, 'oral literature', cultural values
and the worldview of community, comparative study to examine and cross
check the validity of the approach comparing with and drawing upon the
best practices in the field, constant review of contents by 'teacher
collective' in weekly, monthly and annual workshops resulting in the
constant, refinement of activities and is grounded in the Bodh
philosophy and pedagogy with conscious effort to relate theory to
practice.
Every preschool has a wide variety of colorful
and child friendly teaching aids and materials. The child is given a
free hand to handle them according to her preference. It is the belief
that children learn from the natural environment. Bodh has also
developed and adopted aids for the use of preschool children.
All teachers undergo intensive pre-induction,
annual and monthly refresher courses. Teacher circles formed. The
aspects covered in the pre-induction course include- orientation on
the philosophy of education, theory of preschool play activities,
health and education, understanding of child psychology, teaching
methods and pedagogy and development of handicrafts and teaching
material.
Bodh's own work in the Preschool program has
lead to work being undertaken for training of grassroots level workers
on the ECCD component of 14 organizations in the North zone of CCF
India. Bodh has in the past worked with Bernard van Leer Foundation,
Aga Khan Foundation, European Commission, UNICEF on ECCD related
issues. The possibilities of a tie up with ICICI SIG on issues
pertaining to early childhood education are being looked into.
