-Aartie Rau (Mumbai)

Rajpal: committed ECCE professional

Dr. Amrita Rajpal is founder of Edu Learrn Grow (ELG, estb.2019), a Mumbai-based education consultancy which provides well-researched curriculums, teacher development programmes, schools promotion and franchising solutions for the early childhood care and education (ECCE) sector. She is also co-founder of The ABCD Show, an online platform where experts share best ECCE practices, and Territory Head (Mumbai) of the Early Childhood Association of India. Over the past 25 years, this committed ECCE professional has enabled the promotion of over 200 preschools countrywide.

Newspeg. In April, Rajpal led a successful workshop on ‘Conducting observations and assessments for the early years’ for teachers of the Children’s Academy Group of three schools in Mumbai, followed by workshops for the Pawar and Symbiosis groups of schools in May-June.

History. Married young at 19, Rajpal became a mother at 21 years. A graduate of Mumbai University, her foray into education started with a part-time job at a local preschool. “While working there, my interest in child development grew to the extent that I was motivated to start studying again and I enrolled in a course in early childhood education,” recalls Rajpal, who began her career with Kangaroo Kids Education.

Driven by “a strong desire to continuously learn and upskill,” Rajpal completed a post-graduate diploma in early childhood education from the New Zealand Tertiary College and certificate courses from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Earlier this year in March, she was awarded a doctorate in early childhood education by the Theophany University, Haiti.

Direct talk. “After a successful 12-year stint with Kangaroo Kids, I knew the time was right to start my own enterprise and share my expertise with the larger community of ECCE educators, in particular, edupreneurs who wanted to venture into this sector. Since then, ELG has enabled establishment of over 200 preschools countrywide, providing them aid, advice and well-researched ECCE curriculums and innovative pedagogies to create engaging learning environments for youngest children. In 2020, I also co-founded the online ABCD Show to share best ECCE practices. A greater part of my career as an educationist has been spent in disseminating best practices to develop children’s thinking and inquiry skills from youngest age,” she says.

Future plans. Rajpal has recently signed up as consultant with Taabur, a startup. “I plan to share my learning to make Taabur the go-to online platform for parents to access meaningful early development activities for children as well as provide parenting sessions. I have a busy calendar in the new academic year for conducting professional development workshops for teachers,” says Rajpal, who is also half-way through writing a book for educators which she hopes to publish by year-end.

Wind in your sails!