Punjab government plans to expand early learning programme for kids

The Government of Punjab, in collaboration with the Punjab Development Commission and State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT), plans to launch a project to synchronise early childhood learning with state curriculum, focused on developing cognitive and applied skills through activity-based education.

The project, conceptualised by social organisation ‘Rocket Learning’ was first launched in Ludhiana as an experiment and is now being proposed for expansion throughout the state, including Amritsar. The curriculum through this project includes more than 150 play-based activities that focus on cognitive, pre-literacy, pre-numeracy, social-emotional and motor skills development, which will be taught in all pre-schools and Anganwadis of the district.

DEO (Elementary) Kanwaljit Singh said that under the project, holistic development of young children will be undertaken by engaging parents and caregivers in simple play-based learning activities. The activities will be aligned with the National Education Policy-2020 and the state’s curriculum framework, recognising the critical importance of early childhood education in brain development and cognitive growth. It will also create digitally inclusive and literate community of teachers, students and parents.

Incidentally, the project was launched in Ludhiana earlier this year under Sakshi Sawhney, who was the Deputy Commissioner there and is now serving in the same capacity at Amritsar.