Early Childhood Care and Education Day celebrates in Anganwadi Centres of State

Chandigarh: Under the guidelines of Social Security, Women and Child Development Minister Dr. Baljit Kaur, the Department of Social Security, Women and Child Development celebrated Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Day with the aim of creating awareness about the importance of early childhood care and education for children in Anganwadi Centres of the state.

Divulging in this regard, Cabinet Minister Dr. Baljit Kaur said that the main purpose of this day is to inform their parents about the pre-school education activities being conducted for children in Anganwadi centres.

The Minister added that with the New Education Policy (2020), National Curricular Framework for Foundational Learning (2022) and under the guideline of Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 guidelines, the importance of high-quality ECCE has time and again been highlighted and reinforced. She said that early childhood care and education has a significant impact on children’s cognitive, social and emotional development.

Dr. Baljit Kaur stated that the first 6 years of a child are very important for its development. While imparting pre-school education in Anganwadi centres, activities are conducted keeping in mind the holistic development of the child i.e. intellectual development, language development, physical development, creative development, social and emotional development. In this, the child is made to practice pre-reading and pre-writing so that the child can be ready to read in school. Apart from this, parents were also informed about growth monitoring of child to monitor the health of children. On this occasion, parents participated in large numbers.

The Cabinet Minister lauded the department supervisors, Anganwadi workers, Anganwadi helpers, parents and organization Meraki Foundation for their efforts in providing safe and nurturing environment for the young children.

Director of Social Security, Women and Child Development Smt. Madhavi Kataria reiterated the government’s commitment to increasing access to early childhood and education in the state and promoting a learning environment.