Essar Foundation recently held its sixth ‘Employee Volunteering’ initiative
at Jamnagar on December 16. An unusual activity, it involved 22volunteers in a
creative exercise that enchanted the children and workers at two anganwadi (childcare)
centers in Singach Village of Jamnagar District in Gujarat.
The Essar volunteers brightened the anganwadis with cheerful murals, painting emerald parrots against azure blue skies, children playing in sunny parks and gleaming fishes cutting through blue waters. Expert resource persons Katta Babu, and Taramati Padwal, who specialize in early childhood education, were there to guide the volunteers on what visual would help not only to make the anganwadi environment more attractive but also inspire curiosity in the children and serve as learning tools.
Essar Foundation lays strong thrust on education and, especially, on Early Childhood Education (ECE), an area of education that has received special attention since the times of Maria Montessori in the last decade of the 19th century. The Foundation believes that care and attention in early childhood is crucial to holistic growth and development and, hence, it focuses on working with anganwadis and the Integrated Childhood Development Services of the Government of India, especially in enhancing ECCE (Early Childhood Care and Education).
The Foundation realizes that space plays a very important role in exciting
the child to learn and hence one of its initiaves is space design and enhancement,
enabling children to enter a world full of colors and imagination, thereby creating
a fertile ground for his or her creative growth.
For many of the volunteers who participated in the December 16 exercise, this was a first time experience in mural painting. Experiencing the village environment was another first for many. It was an experience that the volunteers will cherish for a lifetime.
