ECE Seminar on Latest trends and Research in Early Childhood

Early Childhood Association launched its Delhi Chapter on 6th of October with a daylong seminar on "Trends and Research in Early Childhood Education" at India Habitat Center.

The seminar got the thought leaders and experts in the field of Early Childhood together for virtually the first time to share their thoughts, views and vision with educators, teachers from various schools.

The Delhi launch was a "realization" of the vision of Early Childhood association of bringing together the thought leaders of the country cutting across the barriers of their companies, private / state sectors to create a common vision for the future of our country. The seminar, a unique concept of ECA, saw schools and play schools from the private sector, state organizations like SCERT, DIET, various state and private teacher training institutes, free lance educators, mentors, Parent training institute, SOS mothers training center, education corporate like Educomp solutions, Kangaroo kids, Euro Kids, Podar Jumbo Kids coming together.

The Inauguration was done by; Mrs. A. Setia, Director SCERT; Dr. Venita Kaul, Director CECED; Mrs. Lata Vaidyanathan, Principal, Modern School; Mr. Sanjay Jain, CEO, Educomp Solutions, Dr. B. Arora, Chairperson, Shemrock group of Schools; Mrs. Swati Popat Vats, President, ECA; Mrs. Kamini Rege, Joint Secretary, ECA and Mr. Sushant kalra, Territory Head, ECA by lighting a lamp together. Following which Ms Setia and Mr. Sanjay Jain shared their perspectives and commitment with the gathering The speakers who shared the dais and enlightened the audience with their views and thoughts were :
Dr. Venita Kaul, Director CECED; stressed the need for educating parents as a critical cog in the wheel of early childhood education.
Mrs. Lata Vaidyanathan, Principal, Modern School shared the new philosophies in early childhood in her unique and subtle way through stories.
Ms. Sarita Chandra of Euro Kids spoke about building creative thinking skills in children.
Dr. Adarsh Sharma, provided her research on the subject of evidence based advocacy in ECCE field.
Mr. Sushant Kalra , Territory head, ECA Delhi and Director Parwarish Institute of Parenting, created the role of parents of "making children responsible for their life" as the way forward.
Dr. Asha Singh, brought in a great thought of bringing in India Pluralism into the classroom. A simple way of creating exposure, a novel way of bringing "unity in diversity" of our country to our children.
Dr. Kamini Rege, Jt Secy, ECA, shared how biblo-therapy is an effective to alter behavior in children.
Mrs. Swati Popat Vats, President, ECA in her entertaining and yet hard hitting way highlighted the importance of studying Brain science. She urged the audience to look at the "why" and not just the "how" of education in early childhood.
Jo Chopra, Head of Latika Roy Foundation talked about the need for Inclusive education and shared her expertise and ideas on making inclusive education simpler than everyone thinks.
Ms. Suman Bhatia, shared with the audience the impact of "non-inclusion" of EWS children in the educational setup on them and urged the teachers present to look at them as children after taking off their lenses of "affordability".

The seminarians were given a unique opportunity to indulge in some "parachute play" by Ms. Bhavna of Podar Jumbo Kids, Mumbai. This was a hands-on experience on an interesting way to improve handwriting skills in children. The seminar also gave an opportunity to all the participants to share their best practices in the "HIGH FIVE" Competition, which saw schools and play schools coming forward to create the environment of sharing in the group.

The panel discussion on "Is competition necessary in Early Childhood" had the panel share their views and also very deftly address the various questions thrown in by the very eager and exited audience. The panel constituted Dr. Adarsh Sharma, Dr. B. Arora, Dr. Sunita Kaul (Head Mothers Training Institute SOS villages), Ms. Sarita Chandra, Dr. Kamini Rege and Mrs. Swati Popat Vats.

A seminar with a vision to unite all the stakeholders in early childhood of India culminated with Prof. Kiran Walia, Honorary Minister of Education, Women & Child Development, Social Welfare and languages blessing the occasion, sharing her views and commitment to the cause. The audience was floored by her candid heart touching sharing and her humility. She also gave away the trophies to the winners of the "High Five" competition.

Everyone present left the venue satisfied, enriched and with a commitment to make a difference with the future of our country. Several participants gave their nominations of joining in ECA as officer bearers of the Delhi Chapter.

Early Childhood Association with its Delhi Chapter launch is committed not only to create such events of bringing all the stake holders together regularly but also create advocacy for the various issues like child safety, improving parental involvement in the early childhood arena, helping teachers understand brain science as 98% of the child's brain develops in the first 6 years, advocating for reducing academic stress in early childhood plaguing our county in the field of early childhood.

The next seminar of ECA is in Chennai on 27th October 2012. For details contact ecaorg@yahoo.com or visit www.eca-india.org