TRANSFORMING VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES THROUGH QUALITY EDUCATION & SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
Ek Tara is a registered Trust, working with marginalised and impoverished urban slum communities in Kolkata, to break cycles of patriarchy, make informed choices and live dignified lives.
What Ek Tara do
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Holistic development: The curricula covered at Ek Tara is not restricted to just academics. There are a wide range of Co-Curricular Activities for children to support their overall growth.
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Employment opportunities for mothers: To combat poverty and have a voice in the family - 60% of our staff are community members who have joined us as supervisors, project assistants, attendants, cooks and cleaners.
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Facilitate school completion: Those who have dropped out of school or are at risk of doing so, are encouraged and given support to return to their studies, complete school and further their education. Every child in the system is motivated to finish college.
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Empower women and children: All beneficiaries of Ek Tara are engaged and empowered by access to quality learning, information and opportunities and experiences.
Ek Tara have created an impressive portfolio of projects, but there is one in particular, which is in urgent need of support: The Early Childhood Learning Centre which is crucial to children like Aleena Parveen.
Aleena Parveen
Aleena is 5. She lives in a slum in Kolkata with her parents, and her two siblings. Her mother is a maid who has to work long hours, and is often away from home. When their mother is working Aleena cares for her younger siblings. Aleena’s father does not contribute to the family's income.
Every day, Aleena gets up at 6 a.m. to help her mother with household chores. She cooks and cleans before walking 20 minutes to fetch water for her family. The family cannot afford breakfast, so Aleena relies on the mid-morning snack that she gets at Ek Tara.
Aleena’s mother takes her to school each morning at 9:15 am. Aleena will stay at EkTara's Early Childhood Learning Centre until 1:30pm. She enjoys her time here very much. She loves her friends and her favourite activities are storytelling and numeracy.
For Aleena's family, the most challenging time of year is the rainy season. Their house gets waterlogged, and it becomes a breeding ground for mosquitoes. The streets often flood which makes it difficult to get around. Aleena's family has one umbrella, which they share when they go out. It is difficult for Aleena to get to school, during the rainy season and she often arrives at Ek Tara, wet and cold.
One day, her teacher saw that Aleena was struggling to get to school in the rain. Ek Tara responded by providing Aleena and her friends with umbrellas. Aleena was over the moon! Her new umbrella meant that her difficulties getting to school during the monsoon were over.
Despite the challenges she faces, Aleena is a bright and cheerful girl. She is a responsible and caring child who takes her role as a caregiver seriously and does her best to take care of her family.
She dreams of a better life for herself and her family, and she is determined to make a difference in the world. She has the potential to achieve great things. Ek Tara are determined to help her to do that.
The Ek Tara Early Childhood Learning Centre (ECLC):
The center reaches out to over 240 children aged three to six years. Its aim is to develop a strong foundation in literacy, numeracy and other development indices for young girls – supporting the overall development of the child so they are ready for primary school. The learning space is open to the children from Monday to Friday and one Saturday a month for special activities and events.
Their Curriculum is age-appropriate, open-minded, theme based units of exploration. We spaces and interactions in which our children feel loved, supported and safe. Our curriculum is an intuitive and child-centered approach to teaching and learning at the preschool level.
Teaching Methodologies
Ek Tara use a blend of both Montessori Method and PlayWay Method teaching methodologies.
Montessori Method - this method was developed by Maria Montessori who was physician and was one of the first pioneers of modern education. She believed that, it is easy to mold a student’s mind when they are still young and this teaching focuses on the cumulative development of the child, mainly following five principles that are formulated to enhance the cognitive and social skills of the students. This teaching method revolves around respecting children, helping them learn from their surroundings and giving them time for self-study.
Playway Method - as the name suggests, children are happiest when they are playing, and playing not only makes a child happy it also teaches them important lessons, developing their motor skills and enhancing their mental and cognitive abilities. If a teacher is innovative, they can invent games that can help children in learning various things like colours, alphabets etc.
Their Curriculum is divided into 4 learning stations
Literacy - literacy development is a vital part of a child’s overall development. It’s the foundation for doing well at school, socialising with others, problem-solving, making decisions, developing independence, managing money and working.
Some topics covered in this learning station are as follows:
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Pictures and objects
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Letters, phonics and words – how they look and sound, and what they’re called
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Sounds – how words can rhyme, begin and end with the same letters, be broken up into parts like syllables, be formed by blending different sounds and so on.
We help children in all these areas by:
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Communicating with them.
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Reading together.
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Playing with rhyme and other sounds.
Numeracy - is the ability to recognise and apply maths concepts in all areas of life. Numeracy skills involve understanding numbers, counting, solving number problems, measuring, estimating, sorting, noticing patterns, adding and subtracting numbers, and so on.
Children need numeracy and maths skills to do everyday things like:
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Solve problems – for example, have I got time to walk to school?
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Analyse and make sense of information – for example, how many wins does my team need to get to the top of the competition?
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Understand patterns – for example, what number would the next house in this street be?
Objectives of ECLC
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Ensure each child is valued, respected, feels safe and secure and develops a positive self-concept.
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Enable a sound foundation for physical and motor development of each child - as per each child’s potential.
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Imbibe good nutrition routines, health habits, hygiene practices and self-help skills.
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Enable children for effective communication and foster both receptive and expressive language.
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Promote development and integration of the senses.
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Stimulate intellectual curiosity and develop conceptual understanding of the world around by providing opportunities to explore, investigate and experiment.
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Enhance development of pro-social skills, social competence and emotional well being.
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Develop sense of aesthetic appreciation and stimulate creative learning processes.
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Imbibe culturally and developmentally appropriate behaviour and core human values of respect and love for fellow human beings.
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Enable a smooth transition from home to ECLC to formal schooling.
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Enhance scope for overall personality development.