Join us for a webinar on Pre-schooling in India: Policy, Progress, and Practice, organized by the Lakshmi Mittal & Family South Asia Institute at Harvard University and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health India Research Center
Date: Thursday, April 18, 2024
Time: 6:00 PM IST / 8:30 AM EST
An accumulation of research highlights the profound benefits of early childhood education (ECE) on children’s cognitive and social-emotional development, with potential to disrupt intergenerational poverty and enhance economic mobility. In India, recent studies underscore the role of ECE in tackling educational challenges, aligning with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020’s push for universal access to quality ECE by 2030. However, inequalities persist in rural areas, as evidenced by the Annual Status of Education Report (Rural) 2019. This webinar will feature experts from academia, practice, and policy and address key issues of inequalities in early childhood education (ECE) and learning outcomes, rural ECE provisions and progress, and policy discourse and implementation gaps.
Panelists:
• Dr. Rukmini Banerji, CEO, Pratham Education Foundation
Dr. Rukmini Banerji holds a PhD from the University of Chicago. She leads education programs in India, partnering with state governments to improve learning outcomes. A recipient of the Yidan Prize for Education Development, she writes frequently on education in both Hindi and English dailies in India and enjoys writing books and stories for children.
• Dr. Pradeep Choudhury, Assistant Professor of Economics at Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, Jawahar Lal Nehru University
Dr. Pradeep Chaudhary specializes in applied development economics, focusing on education and inequality in India. During his fellowship with the Mittal Institute, he examined the current trend and patterns in access to quality early childhood education (ECE) in India, mainly to understand the changing parental strategies and aspirations for early years of education. His forthcoming book explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education access and inclusion in India.
• Prof. Nirmala Rao, Serena H C Yang Professor in Early Childhood Development and Education, Chair Professor of Child Development and Education, and Director of the Consortium for Research on Early Childhood Development and Education (CORE), Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong
Prof. Nirmala Rao specializes in developmental psychology and early childhood education in Asian contexts. Her research focuses on measuring early childhood development, educational policy, and program evaluation. An award-winning researcher and educator with extensive administrative experience, she holds a Ph.D. from Tulane University.
Session Chair:
Prof. Aisha Yousafzai, Professor of Child Development and Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Dr. Yousafzai focuses on developing and evaluating early child development interventions, particularly in South Asia and East Africa. Notable studies by her include the Pakistan Early Child Development Scale-Up (PEDS) trial, examining the long-term effects of community-based interventions. Dr. Yousafzai has written extensively about early childhood interventions in low- and middle-income countries including recent articles in prestigious journals like Lancet and Pediatrics.
