What
is special about EMPOWER?
Internationally
proven ideas have shown that preschool education has gone far beyond
simple play and basic literacy/numeracy skills. Today preschool
starts a child on the path to:
learning
how to learn with pleasure,
live
with confidence,
conduct
oneself with poise, and
think
with critical independence.
At EMPOWER we
do all the above, in addition to developing literacy and numeracy skills, by
following a problem-based learning theory. Within such a theoretical frame,
learning activities do not merely try to develop a variety of common skills in
isolation but activities work together to connect learning, socializing,
experiencing and excelling. Such an inter-linked learning approach develops
the whole child.
The conceptually rich
activities in EMPOWER combine text based literacy and numerical logic with
music, poetry and art appreciation, basic introduction to computers, interview
preparation for primary school entrance as well as practical life skills that
aim at developing everyday awareness of health, safety, nutrition, independence,
and decision making
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Our initial market
research shows the following about the situation in Kolkata:
There are many good schools where
activity-based approaches are being introduced. Unfortunately we were
unable to find an educational philosophy guiding the offerings of some
highly successful schools.
Children are often not given sufficient positive reinforcement and tend to
feel somewhat overwhelmed by their learning experience.
Literacy is often taught at the micro level of letters and words rather
than texts in which the words naturally occur to make sense. However, many
schools do seem to have the good sense to follow the phonic principle,
although children seem to get confused as regular schools seem locked into
the approach of the 70s in developing literacy.
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