The Early Childhood Association, Kerala chapter, was flagged off on June 29, 2013, at The Gateway Hotel, Calicut, with a vision of changing the face of early childhood education in Kerala. By providing a common platform for early childhood facilitators and experts to share their views, ideas and knowledge, ECA Kerala Chapter aims to systematically develop and streamline early childhood education qualitatively.
It was initiated by K. E. Harish, CEO of Sadhbhavana Group and now the territory head of the Kerala chapter of ECA. Along with him, to both share and bring to fruition ECA’s vision were Prema Muralidhar, vice president, ECA Kerala chapter and principal of Sadhbhavana World School, Asha Thomas Fenn, secretary, ECA Kerala chapter and a corporate consultant and Joseph David, treasurer, ECA Kerala Chapter and principal of Aura Edify Global School.
Swati Popat Vats, national president of ECA, broached the event with the inaugural address. Vats explained the current situation of Early Childhood Education in India and the spirit behind the ECA initiative. She emphasized the need for educating different stakeholders of Early Childhood Education so as to bring more resources, expertise and quality interventions. She requested all participants to spread the message of ECA so that the next generation will be brought up in a better way. This was followed by a presentation by Kamini Rege, joint secretary of ECA, on innovative teaching strategies using low cost teaching materials.
Vats then enlightened the audience with her talk on the A-Z of Behavior Management and also took the participants through a journey on reinventing the Montessori system in preschool. Dr. Reeta Sonawat, professor and head, Department of Human Development, SNDT Women’s University, presented the role of multiple intelligences in early childhood and also about how to identify intelligences and use activities to cater to those intelligences. The conference also witnessed a panel discussion on two aspects – “Is there a need for compulsory course in parenting?” and “Who should regulate Early Childhood Education?” This was followed by a group discussion by the participants on the topic, “Are early childhood educators given their due?”
Ably supported by the Early Childhood Association, India, the Kerala chapter aims to extend and improvise the vision of ECA. On the road ahead, they aspire to honor and enhance diversity and collaboration in the Early Childhood community in Kerala.
Early Childhood Association is a national organization that was initiated with the vision to bring about a common platform for sharing best practices and also organizing a collective qualitative change in this sector of education which to this day stands unregulated. ECA has been successful in spreading its message and bringing about noticeable changes in different areas of Early Childhood education across the nation.