‘Pre-primary teaching is quite a tasking job’

With increasing number of students being admitted to pre-schools across the city, parents are duped into paying high fees while the students are taught by unqualified teachers.

In an effort to increase awareness about issues affecting early childhood education, SNDT university’s Department of Human Development is organising a two-day seminar jointly with Association of Early Childhood Education and Development on the theme  ‘In the best interest of children - Early Childhood Care programme’.

Sponsored by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (Tiss), the event will have experts discuss the challenges of early childhood education, methods and modes of teaching, common practices, government regulation of the sector etc.

The two-day programme, starting on Friday, will also feature researches presented by experts on early childhood education.

“There are important issues such as dearth of training centers for teachers, rigid method of teaching, introduction of exams in pre-schools etc,” said Reeta Sonawat, head of the Human Development department.

The department which has just launched its first-of-a-kind two years’ masters programme in Early Child Care Education (ECCE), is hoping that the seminar will generate more researches and increase awareness.

“There are a lot of misconceptions among teachers of pre-primary schools. The programme will have poster presentations on perceptions of professionals on child-friendly practices,” said Sonawat. She added that unqualified teachers may introduce activities such as writing, examinations, learning English etc before the child is prepared.
The event will be hosted by SNDT University at its Juhu campus.