First ECA annual conference

The Mumbai-based Early Childhood Association (ECA, estb. 2010) organised its first annual national conference on the theme ‘ECE — 21st Century, Transformations and Challenges, What we Know, What we Show and How we Grow’, at the Sea Princess Hotel, Mumbai on February 25-26. Over 150 delegates from across the country attended the sessions, panel meets and workshops of the conference to refine the goals and set the agenda of the association for the new academic year.   The highlights of the conference were the launch of a quality indicators booklet and checklist, Quality Indicators to Assess and Evaluate Early Childhood Programs for early childhood educators; two panel discussions — on child protection and quality in teacher training in early childhood education; a round table discussion titled High Five! during which all delegates were free to present their ideas and learn from each other; and conferment of the ECA awards.   The awardees were Dr. Mithu Alur (individual most committed to inclusive education); education NGO of the year (Pratham and Farida Lambay); most committed journalist/media focusing on ECE (Dipti Khera for her essay entitled ‘good touch bad touch’) and Kranti Vibhute for ‘changing traditional rhymes’.   The conference ended with all members resolving to encourage promotion of early childhood centres; promote teacher education programmes; and set up ECA focus groups for teacher education, nutrition, child protection, inclusion, curriculum development, nature education, family involvement and role of male parents.   For membership and other enquiries contact [email protected] or visit www.eca-india.org.   Tripartite English learning venture   Linguaphone Group, the global UK-based language training provider, has announced a joint English language training partnership for India with Birla Shloka Edutech Ltd and the Melewar Group, Malaysia.   The tripartite agreement was inked by Yash Birla, chairman of Birla Shloka Edutech, Tunku Iskandar, group managing director of the Melewar Group and Derek Price, chief executive of the Linguaphone Group, in Mumbai on May 2. Under the terms of the agreement as master licensee for India, Linguaphone will provide the group’s Direct English language training programme across the country.   Birla Shloka Edutech is a diversified education solutions provider currently reaching over 800 schools and 6,500 teachers across India, and is a promoter of progressive preschools, K-12 schools, teacher training/resource centres, super speciality colleges and undertakes whole/ partial school transformation projects across the country. The Melewar Group is a Malaysian business conglomerate, founded in 1963 with a strong commitment to training and education. Working together, they will promote the Direct English programme in corporate and retail markets in India.   “English has been a major contributing factor in the growth of the Indian economy. There is a significant need for all cross- sections of society to be well versed in the language. We were looking for a product that addresses this fast growing requirement of a diverse nation. The Direct English programme, with its ‘whenever and wherever’ approach, uniquely meets this requirement — hence the tie-up,” said Yash Birla, speaking on the occasion.   Added Tunku Iskandar of…