Objective
We seek to develop leadership capacities among Department of Education staff at district, block, cluster and school levels across the Union Territory of DNH & DD so that the foundational stage in school (preschool and grade 1-2 as outlined in the New Education Policy, 2020) becomes a nurturing and thriving experience for young children in the UT.
The Intervention
The Leadership for Nurturing Care program operates across the UT of DNH & DD, in about 325 schools which reach approximately 30,000 children.
The Assistant Director- Education, 5 Block Resource Persons, 4 Block Resource Coordinators, an ECCE consultant and nineteen margdarshaks, about 325 head masters and about 1000 teachers of preschool, grade 1 and 2 participate in the program. The DoE has created a cadre of margdarshaks who function as trainer, monitors and mentors for preschool and grade 1-2 teachers.
At all levels the program seeks to develop a deeper understanding of how children learn and thrive, and how adults can create a nurturing atmosphere that is required for this. At all levels, the program also develops, among the participants, a deeper understanding of how to inspire and enable the people who report to them to create such an atmosphere in their classrooms, among parents and the community.
The Story So Far...
FCL and the Department of Education DNH & DD agreed to work together towards building capacities of officials in the area of Early Childhood care and Education in the schools of the UT beginning June 2023. The program began with a needs and context analysis and baseline assessment. This has been followed by three cycles of capacity building workshops at all levels and implementation of the content of the workshops at the preschool level.
In 2024, in pursuance of the foundational stage mandate of the National Education Policy, the program was expanded to grades 1 and 2. The first training of the margdarshaks for this purpose was undertaken in June 2024.
Program implementation has resulted in a visible and noteworthy change in the attitudes of many participants towards ECCE during the foundational stage and their roles as facilitators of its provision for the children of D&D DNH. This change in attitudes is evident in the quality of the preschool atmosphere and the ECCE activities that take place in them.
Monitoring & Impact assessment
We bring a systems thinking lens to monitoring i.e. each M&E process is not only about understanding whether change is happening, it is about understanding “how” system relationships, dynamics or conditions work, therefore what needs to change, and how is this intervention contributing to that change.
We review the reach of the program and process implementation on a monthly basis, reflecting on fostering and hindering factors and incorporating insights into ongoing planning and strategy. A baseline study measuring distal variables of quality of ECCE practices in the preschools and child development milestone assessment was conducted in 36 preschools (more than 10% of the 283 preschools) across all the districts of the UT. Since the program has expanded to grades 1 and 2 a baseline assessment of these classes is also being undertaken. During the currency of the programme, formative assessments will be carried out every two years. At the end of the programme, an end-line assessment will be undertaken.
We are in the process of developing measurement indicators and tools for change in organisational and pedagogical leadership.
OUR PARTNER
Senior UT level officials in the Department are committed to the conceptual foundations of the program.
The capacity building processes that we employ have resulted in visible commitment of BRCs and BRPs (Block level officials), Margdarshaks (sub-block officials) and teachers to the idea of transforming preschools and classes 1 and 2 into spaces where young children can thrive and learn.
