Education

Over 80% of a child’s cumulative brain development occurs before age 6, indicating the critical importance of appropriate care and stimulation of the brain in the early years to ensure healthy brain development and growth. Strong investment in ECCE has the potential to give all young children such access, enabling them to participate and flourish in the educational system throughout their lives. MTUK through its programmatic interventions is closely working with MMMCT to support early learning of children.

The ability to read and write, and perform basic operations with numbers, is a necessary foundation and an indispensable prerequisite for all future schooling and lifelong learning. However, our internal surveys indicate that in our community and specially in interior part of villages and city mohallah areas, we are currently in a learning crisis: a large proportion of children are enrolled in primary grades, and attaining foundational literacy and numeracy for all children is an urgent mission. MTUK & MMMCT is providing the great platform for 3 – 8 age group wherein in Balwadi Centres / Kindergarten, Pre-Primary Schools and Primary Schools, we support children to transition to the primary level with school readiness skills and for the 6 – 8 age groups we work with schools to further strengthen foundational literacy and numeracy skill of children.

Education is the single greatest tool for achieving social justice and equality. Inclusive and equitable education – an essential goal in its own right – is also critical to achieving an inclusive and equitable society. While the Indian education system and successive government policies have made steady progress towards bridging gender and social category gaps in all levels of school education, significant disparities remain – especially at the elementary level. At MTUK we support MMMCT for programmatic interventions to provide an inclusive and equitable environment in which every child thrives and no child loses any opportunity to learn.

As per the National Education Policy 2020, the curricular and pedagogical structure of school education will be reconfigured to make it responsive and relevant to the developmental needs and interests of learners at different stages of their development, corresponding to the age ranges of 3-8, 8-11, 11-14, and 14-18 years, respectively. Working on the same, MTUK & MMMCT is working with children, teachers and the government so that education will not only mean cognitive development, but also building character and creating holistic and well-rounded individuals equipped with the key 21st century skills.

The pandemic led to 92 percent children losing at least one specific language ability compared to their previous class. These abilities assist them in describing a picture or their experiences orally, reading familiar words, reading with comprehension and writing simple sentences. Similarly, 82 percent of children, on average, have lost at least one specific mathematical ability from the previous year (As per report of Azim Premji Foundation Study, 2022). MTUK & MMMCT equips schools with supplementary teaching learning material, creates resource rich environment and supports children through various soft skills and extra educational hours to attain grade appropriate language and mathematics skills. The pandemic has been challenging for children, teachers and caregivers alike making it imperative to focus on socioemotional learning of both adults (teachers and caregiver) and children. Recognizing the intrinsic link between learning and well-being MTUK & MMMCT supports children and teachers safe and sustained return to schools. We support adults and children to establish and maintain supportive relationships, feel and show empathy for others, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals.