Jamie Saavedra (Global Education Director, World Bank Group) has called Covid-19 “the largest simultaneous shock to all education systems in our lifetimes”. Nothing can describe the situation at hand better than this statement. If we look at it, early child care and childhood education are most vulnerable to this situation.

These are the earliest and foundation stages of a child’s development and thus, very important to get right too. These are the times when a child learns to train and hone his/her senses, whether it’s foundational motor skills, hand to eye coordination, cognition, behavior etc. Thus, even in such testing times, it becomes important to secure these services.

What we need to do right now, is to list down all the possible ways with which we can overcome the Covid-induced obstacles and in turn ensure timely and effective early child care and childhood education in these times.

A NEW PLAN OF ACTION

A very famous work by Thomas and Rogers titled “Education, the science of Learning, and the Covid-19 crisis” has aptly summarized our situation right now. It says that as of now, we are “participants in the biggest unplanned experiment that education has ever seen in our lifetimes”.

Right now, there’s a need of a plan of action. Don’t expect the government to provide one as they’re clearly occupied with a lot; instead, schools and day care centers need to come out with plans of their own.

If schools open, then the first thing the plan needs to include is SAFETY. Mechanisms and protocols need to be in place that ensure that parents and children coming from outside don’t bring the virus with them. It’s also important to create a form bio-bubble around the perimeter. A very important part of early childhood care is outdoor sports and in some cases, even water activities, which train the motor skills of children along with their perception of threats and precautions. Thus, continuing these services is paramount and for that, the bio bubble approach is important.

CONTINUITY 

The disruption of education during these times is the most dangerous obstacle that has popped up. A break in existing learning can be harmful for the cognitive and motor development of children.

In such a case, it’s important to integrate curriculum with technology. Online learning and task assignments is the best way to go. As most early childhood care and education focusses on class activities, sports, games and group assignments, these can be provided online and the child can be helped by the parents or siblings or any guardian while the tasks are being performed.

What’s better than to learn basic life skills in the best environment possible? Your home that too connected to your school!

PERCEPTION

The Corona Pandemic has had 1 relatively positive result. Given us time to introspect. With parents working from home and child care and education also happening from home, it has brought parents and teachers closer than before, in taking care of the child.

This can be considered a beginning to a change of perception, which is what we need right now. The parents need to understand that especially in the early childhood years, they’re equally responsible in keeping track of their child’s development as much as the teacher. A new work-life balance is what they need to figure out.

As far as the children are concerned, their change of perception is basically realizing that this disruption shall not be considered a holiday. Instead, they must try to find on their own too, novel ways of interactions, learning and observation. They also need to adapt to the new form of learning i.e one that involves less in-house and face-to-face teaching and more self-awareness.

ACCESS

When thinking about child care and early childhood education amid Covid times, our focus shall also be on those families who’re having limited access to such services (let alone social services and support). Education suffers foremost in such cases.

Neither can their children go to school and daycare centers, nor do they have the perks of learning online. Believe it or not, special attention must be paid to such groups. Whether or not the government does anything, we as a society need to collectively ensure that every child gets the requisite care and education especially in the foundation stages.

These are testing times, something mankind was not prepared for. But if we do our best to handle this situation, we can make a better world for the next generation. This starts with making efficient early childhood care and education