The walls are adorned with colorful pictures. A rack in a corner is for tiffin boxes. Another corner has been set aside for books with interesting pictures. Some children are playing, some sleeping while some practice to write.[break]
This is the pleasant environment of Pouditari Child Development Centre (Early Childhood Development class) in Gwalichaur of Baglung District, which attracts many children to its surrounding. Anyone entering the classroom is greeted by small voices crying out ‘Namaste!’
Children painting and playing together. The colorful sorroundings attract the children and make their learning process an enjoyable one.
For children, aged three to five, who attend an ECD class before joining a school, it has become a centre of attraction. Not only at the Pouditari centre but the environment at Bhimgithe Siddha Child Development Centre is also very pleasant.
Established to provide education before children join schools, the EDC classes have won the hearts of the children. Though the children hesitate to leave their mothers, the decorated walls of the classroom don’t fail to attract them.
A facilitator at Gwalichaur, Khagi Shreesh, says that stubborn children also enjoy the learning process in such classes. “Initially, they come crying with their guardians but when they get to learn and play, they become happy,” says he. “They enjoy the environment of the classroom.”
In the classroom, the children can draw, play, sleep and talk according to their interest. Every activity and the learning process are practical. The small ones also don’t hesitate and act irritated when given a task.
In accordance with children’s psychology, the facilitators use the system where children can play and learn from 10 am till 2 pm. There are around 25 children in each centre.
Established to see to the development needed during early childhood, the centre focuses on developing creative and accommodative natures of the children.
Bina Karki, Executive Director of Seto Gurans Child Development Centre, states that apart from Gwalichaur, the 15 Village Development Committees like Jaljala, Bhimgithe, Rajkut, Hatiya, and Argal have 53 ECD centers.
“ECD classes have provided the required skills for early childhood,” adds Karki. Though the class doesn’t have a formal curriculum, subjects like family, village, festivals, environment, child rights, cleanliness, moral knowledge, plants and creativity are taught to the children.
Children who come from child development centers have enhanced skills, says Kalpana Kharel, Principal of Bhirakatera Taal Primary School at Gwalichaur. “Children who come from ECD classes will have learnt about moral and practical knowledge,” says Kharel. “It’s also very easy to teach them.”
Guardians are also very happy with the change that their children have undergone. A resident of Gwalichaur-4, Devi Thapa, is happy with her son’s transformation.
“I didn’t think that my son would learn anything,” she says. “I could see changes within a year of admitting him to the child development centre.”
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