CM inaugurates workshop

Addressing the gathering, Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma, said that the Early Childhood Development program is a very critical program. “We start focussing on children only when they are fourteen or fifteen years of age but in fact the early phases of a child’s life are very critical and its impact can last a lifetime,” he said. He said that the mind-set of the community that focusses on child development later in life needs to be changed.  He added that the process of a baby’s development begins from conception and is influenced by a pregnant woman’s health, nutrition and environment and after birth the baby continues to develop rapidly, impacting his or her physical, intellectual and emotional well-being, learning potential and subsequently, earning capacity and success in adulthood.
The Chief Minister further said that the Early Childhood Development is an investment that will directly influence health, economic and social outcomes for individuals and society. He also mooted for 100 Days Mission Mode programs to make a difference at the grass root levels. “This program is very important as children who are nurtured and well cared for develop cognitive, language, emotional and social skills thus achieving a holistic development,” he added.
The Meghalaya Early Childhood Development Mission focuses on providing motor and cognitive development, socio-emotional development, health and nutrition, and early education development as key areas for the holistic development of children. The mission also aims to transform Anganwadi Centres to ECD centres. About 5000 AWCs will be upgraded and 10,000 ECD facilitators from the SHG cadre will support ECD centre activities. Around 5800 Anganwadi Workers will be upskilled to deliver early childhood education to children from 6 months to 6 years. The ECD facilitators along with VHCs will conduct meetings with parents to take the science of ECD to every household.
Egg Distribution under ICDS to complement the existing SNP, ECD Day and Parent Circles Meetings to train parents on the importance of early childhood period and ways to interact with the children, covering uncovered villages under ICDS and launch of ECD Helpline to call parents at least 21 times over the first 1000 days to give counselling on healthy practices and information on available services are some of the current progress of Meghalaya Early Childhood Development Mission.
Earlier, the Chief Minister also launched the logo of MECDM during the Inaugural Session. The One Day workshop was attended by officials from the districts and blocks of the State.