Aangun Early Childhood Education Pre-school is helping underprivileged, working-class children to bridge the development gap that they have to endure due to an impoverished learning environment. These objectives are achieved through a highly interactive activity-based and child-centred curriculum and pedagogy grounded in the local culture, supplemented with the training of teachers and parents and community engagement.
The affluent neighbourhood of Model Town, Lahore, has many working class members (women domestic workers, sweepers, etc.) whose children do not attend preschool., or attend very low-quality schools. While 85% of brain development takes place in the first 5 years, most of these kids loose out on the opportunity for appropriate cognitive development. Eventually many go through poor education in schools ending up in low paying jobs, perpetuating a vicious cycle of poverty.
Aangun is a community-based preschool for underprivileged children aged 3-5 years. It offers immersive learning experiences to children to prepare them for life. Project-based learning ensures the sensory, cognitive, linguistic, emotional and social development of children. It also strengthens the community through inter and intra-community links with the training of families, professional development opportunities for women from the community, and volunteer engagement.
Aangun will help working-class children to catch up on their skills so that they can be at par with affluent children of their own age. Once Aangun starts demonstrating its impact on children, we will invite heads/teachers of quality schools in the vicinity to assess the children's development and enrol them with other children. Aangun will ensure that these graduates have the required knowledge, skills and attitudes to enter grade 1 in any of these schools offering quality education.
