Social Welfare Minister Paul Lyngdoh on Tuesday informed that the government has decided to create another 3,000 Anganwadi centres for implementation of the Meghalaya Childhood Early Development Mission (MCEDM) across the State.
The minister was attending the Play to Learn Summit organized by the Meghalaya Early Childhood Development Mission Society (MECDMS) at Windermere, Umpling here.
Speaking to media persons, Lyngdoh said that over 60,000 children in the various anganwadi centres have been covered under the mission. The aim of the mission is to develop a curriculum so that the anganwadi centres also become centres of learning and not just for nutrition alone.
The mission targets to reach out all the centres.
“In the first slot, we will be creating another 3,000 more centres in order to facilitate the mission to be introduced in those centres. At the end of five years, we target to cover every village in the State,” he said.
Lyngdoh said that the State government will be partnering with the Asian Development Bank (for implementation of the mission).
“Our conversation with them (ADB) have been very positive so far and we are sure that they will chip in and we can then share the details once we have signed an MoU with them,” he added.
In a first of its kind in the country, the state of Meghalaya is carrying out an Early Childhood Development Mission (MECOM), which is the first of its kind initiative in the country. This is done in Mission mode and initially it is covered in the Anganwadi centres of four districts.
He also said the number of girls attending various schools outnumbered boys in several schools which is unique in the country. Lyngdoh said Shillong is the learning hub of the country. The inventor of ATM machine John Shepherd-Barron and Author Arundhati Roy were also Shillong born.
Stating that the MCEDM launched last year is a first of its kind in the country, the minister said, “It was the initiative of our chief minister Conrad K Sangma, who had taken the vision to the Prime Minister of the country and had a very fruitful discussion with him and essentially the essence of the mission is that we encourage the early growth of children with special focus on their mental and physical being as the focal point of the mission.”
“It has been proven scientifically that the first 8 years of a child are the most important formative years including their capacity to think, their capacity to emphatize, so it helps children develop at their earliest stage and these critical formative years is what the mission is trying to capture and pay special attention to and not just on the nutritional aspects but also on their physical and mental well being,” he added.
Sanjay Prakash, Managing Director and CEO SBI Foundation said the program will initially cover 3200 Anganwadi workers in four districts. The first ‘Play to Learn’ Summit was successfully organized in Shillong today, highlighting the crucial role of play in young children’s overall development. The Summit was presented 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.
The main goal of the mission is to maximize 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.
Additionally, there is 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.
As part of this initiative, Sesame Workshop India, with support from the MHSSP, is providing technical and implementation support to the ECD Mission designing and developing an integrated ECD model to improve outcomes as envisaged in the state’s ECD mission. Sesame Workshop India is a global leader and innovator in play based pedagogy as an effective approach to teaching and learning, with a strong track-record of impact for caregivers and children in India and all over the world