With a clear social purpose of contributing towards a just, equitable, humane and sustainable society, Azim Premji University aspires to build programmes, processes and professionals that will facilitate a systemic change in education and the allied development areas. 

ECCE is a critical area within the broader education domain, necessitating multi-pronged support and intervention. With the National Education Policy, 2020 (NEP, 2020) and National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage, 2022 (NCF-FS, 2022) by NCERT, learning in the foundational stage has received a much-needed impetus and vision. The discourse has shifted towards understanding teaching and learning on a continuum.

ECCE practitioners have consistently been engaged in innovative and enabling practices that have been built over years in the history of ECCE in the Indian context. Despite ongoing discussions on learning levels, access to resources and assessment in the public discourse for some time now, there has been a lack of dedicated forums for ECCE practitioners to discuss and deliberate on their experiences of teaching and learning or implementing programmes within diverse settings. Often these practices remain undocumented and not theorized to build a critical knowledge base.

In response to this gap, we are pleased to share with you that Azim Premji University is organising a symposium on Education for the Foundational Stage on 9 and 10 Feb 2024 at our Bengaluru campus. 

The objective of the symposium is to dialogue and deliberate on the range of practices being followed in schools and organisations working with this age group and document the same. It specifically focuses on processes of teaching and learning on a continuum in early years and early primary grades.

The broad themes of the symposium include: 

• Play in the early years
• Foundational literacy and numeracy
• Critical thinking
• Learning environment in the early years
• Quality interventions in Anganwadis
• Assessment in the early years

Book Launch

As part of the symposium, we also invite you to the book launch of Teaching the Young: The Early Childhood Development Profession in India. The book is edited by Kinnari Pandya, Jigisha Shastri and Vrinda Datta and published by Orient BlackSwan.

Where should I go within Azim Premji University, once I reach?

Our symposium is accessible to everyone, regardless of physical abilities. The campus is wheelchair friendly and with clear wayfinding instructions.