Thaindian News

New Delhi, May 15 (IANS) Armed with mobile phones and projectors, teachers in 150 anganwadis in Gujarat are all set to impart health and hygiene education to hundreds of kids while improving their teaching skills, activists said Tuesday.

NGO Sesame Workshop India and Metlife Foundation have come together for the initiative, and for the first time, would be using technology in the pilot project with an eye on spreading it across the country.

“The programme will enable 150 government-run pre-school centres or anganwadis in Surendranagar, Gujarat to improve teacher quality and enhance the classroom experience,” Sashwati Banerjee of Sesame told IANS.

“Supervisors will be enabled with mobile phones and projectors, which will be utilized to project multimedia content to children in the classroom… each of them will go through a refresher course every three months,” she added.

While all the 150 teachers would be getting a phone, the projectors have been limited to one per five anganwadis and would come loaded with interactive audio and video content.

A “Galli Galli Sim Sim Kit” named after a popular kids show, focusing on health, hygiene and nutrition will also be distributed.

“During early childhood, children form habits and tastes that last a lifetime providing a window of opportunity to promote positive behaviours that could last well into adulthood, such as eating healthy foods,washing hands with soap, and choosing healthy snacks,” said Banerjee.