It is necessary to understand and manage emotions of students as it help students acquire knowledge at better and apply it effectively to set and achieve positive goals, writes Preeti Kwatra, Chairperson, Petals Group of Schools, for Elets News Network (ENN).

One sunny morning bell rings, children with happy faces, with full of joy, trust on teachers, care givers and aunties, with lot of thoughts, hope, and expectations are running towards their classroom. Competing with their friends who will reach first, they heard one conversation, you stupid, naughty why you were not standing properly in assembly? Why you always want talking, talking and talking? You cannot stand straight, where is your I-card? I will speak to your parents that they should teach you some manners; I will take you to the principal that we cannot bear anymore nuisance in the class because of you.

Every day you make me angry, you spoil my day. Then a student in a very slow voice said but Ma’am he was troubling me. Shut up, you listen to me and don’t talk. God knows! When will you become a good boy? Come on every one open your textbook.

Boy who was running got stuck. All feelings of joy and individualism converted into fear, anxiety, shame and disapproval. Children come to school looking for persons who have faith on their strengths, their uniqueness and on their capabilities. They look for an environment where they can engage themselves, explore and learn joyfully with someone who can help them to reach next level of learning. They need a person who tell them please try, I am there for you in case of any help.

Environment and people at Petals Group of Schools help students to reach their potential. An environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s learning. Enriching environment if planned carefully along with appropriate study materials, it may be the best way to boost children’s learning.

It creates an environment where teachers encourage children to engage, learn, play and feel secure. When children feel emotionally secure, they explore and learn more. Such enriching environment created with the support of teachers takes learning to a new level making it a life-time experience for students.

Each positive or negative word creates a person’s image in children’s mind. By acknowledging efforts of a child, teachers can help him/her improving their learning or refining their skills. Scolding is not always necessary to make students realize their mistake but a strict yet calm explanation of the difference between good and bad gains respect for teachers. It also helps them to control students’ undesirable behaviour easily.

When a child is not listening remember that hitting them is not at all acceptable rather than teacher should take this as an opportunity and understand why they are showing such behaviour. After finding out the real cause of student’s such beaviour, teacher must rectify that reason and mould students’ towards the right path. Such practices make even undisciplined students think that “I can also do it”.

An enriching environment with wellplanned developmentally appropriate activities, encouraging coach and last with motivating words can do miracles for our children. Children have unlimited potential and we need an attitude to see that.

Metacognition is important to learning and knowledge transfer and also preparing students to be lifelong learners. The engagement of young students in metacognitive thinking is considered necessary, writes Amita Bhardwaj, Director – Curriculum, Footprints Childcare, for Elets News Network (ENN).

Metacognitive knowledge signifies what each person knows about themselves. This knowledge helps them learn better, solve problems, make decisions and much more.

Metacognitive strategies points to the ways and methods used to aid students understand the way they learn; in other words, it means procedures designed for students to improve their learning processes.

John H Flavell (1979) an American development psychologist further divides metacognitive knowledge into three categories: •

Person variables: What one comprehends about his or her own strengths and weaknesses

Task variables: What one knows or can figure out about the nature of a task and the processes required to complete a task

Strategy variables: The strategies a person has “at the ready” to apply in a flexible way to successfully accomplish a task

Implying this to early childhood education may sound to be a very tactful task but it is indeed very beneficial. Most of us do metacognition everyday but we just don’t coin the term for it. Children not just produce good performance results, but by using these strategies they turn out as satisfied, able and happy human beings. With the use of metacognition in their day to day lives the risks of mental setbacks, depression, anxiety and challenges in decision making are drastically reduced.

“Metacognition ensures a shift in the mind-set of a child starting from their early education years. Children instead of finding excuses or ways to avoid the task which is challenging, engage in the process to resolve it. One of the most powerful by-products of metacognitive thinking is increased self-regulation,” says Marc Gladstone, Former Director-Learning support, Trinity School and Berkeley Carroll School.

A child who is regularly told how talented he/she is and is used to being complimented for his/her performances is likely to get frustrated and overwhelmed at the sheer thought of performing badly or not meeting expectations. But if we talk about a child high on metacognitive skills, who is complimented for his/her ability to work hard and persevere when faced with a challenge, can use the skills to figure out a way of rehearsing that works better for him/her.

In order to help children develop metacognitive skills, it is imperative they are given space to think. Let children reflect on what they think about themselves; reason it with them to understand where the thinking arises from. Ask them when display difficult behaviour, if they can think of an alternate better way of handling the situation. Encourage children to move their thinking in the direction to comprehend how they can use their understanding and interpretation skills to find better solutions to their problems.

‘’When you teach young children to think about their behaviour differently, they begin to behave differently,” says Tamara Rosier, a PhD in Leadership and Learning, and has successfully worked with organisations to develop stronger teams, healthier cultures, and more effective leaders.While a lot of hard-work and perseverance is expected from a child to go through this process to achieve metacognitive skills, the parents here need to display a lot of patience.

Watching one’s child going to preschool for the first time is an emotional experience for many parents. But many of us turn so overwhelmed at times that we tend to ignore many critical aspects related to the preschool – safety, security, and hygiene being some of them, Akash Tomer of Elets News Network (ENN) underlines all this and much more.

A preschool usually lays the foundation stone of child’s educational career. Learning how to ride a bicycle or tricycle or use roller skates or even participating in various day-to-day activities be a fun. But all of them need a constant attention. Such activities at preschools lead to laying of the foundation for kids’ holistic development. But, it is important to take care of kids’ safety during the activities so that their participation becomes a joyful learning experience. As preschools act as the foundation of a child’s education ahead, it is important that the safety, security and hygiene are among the key focus areas and not limited to activities.

3 key methods to evaluate a child’s safety and security at preschool:

Physical Safety: Is the preschool environment, its staff and infrastructure can protect its student from any physical harm within and outside the premises?

Emotional Safety: What kind of treatment are students getting? Do they feel empowered to express themselves?

Cognitive Safety: Is the teaching, pedagogy and curriculum are appropriate as per the kid’s age?

It can be observed that safety and security is a very broad term in respect of preschools. The age when kids enter a preschool is so tender that any mishappening with them may affect their life ahead. Not only parents or teachers but also the staff and administration has major role in ensuring the kids reach school safe, remain safe within the premises and reach their homes safe. It is important to understand the issues first and then possible solutions, to avoid any awkward situation.

Not only clean food or water but neat and clean premises results into healthy learning among students. Water clogging must be avoided within the premise as it causes many diseases.

Challenges of Physical Safety

Injuries: Young children do not understand the effects of playing rough which may accidentally cause injuries to them or their friends.

Fire Safety: It is important for every preschool to pay attention to fire safety guidelines as consequences of overlooking fire proofing and fire drills can be severe.

Transportation: Bus drivers and conductors and drivers may not always be able to take care of children. Roads are dangerous and guidelines for school buses may not be followed always.

Safety Measures

Preschool premises: The premises of the preschools should be well guarded, have walls and proper fencing wherever required. The entry and exit of the preschool must ensure security against those who may harm the children.

Staff: Every staff’s personal and professional background must be checked and police verification must be done. It helps in keeping people with criminal backgrounds away from school premises. Teaching and non-teaching staff must be trained to respond in case of any emergency.

Identification: Along with Identification cards to every student, authority cards must also be issued to every person including parents who will pick and drop students at the preschool.

Classrooms: It is necessary that electrical cords and switch boards are kept out of the students’ reach. Every electrical outlet should be covered with childproof materials. Cleaning supplies and medicines should be locked away.

Toys and furniture: All materials (toys, mats, furniture etc.) should meet regulatory standards. Suitable fall surfaces should be present around any play equipment and furniture to avoid any accident.

Observation: CCTV cameras should cover all classrooms and the complete premises.

Consistency: Daily safety checks should be carried out to ensure that maintenance is up to date. Mock drills must also be carried out on regular basis to make student and staff ready for any emergency.

Emotional safety: Major challenges

Corporal Punishment: In 2010, The Ministry of Women and Child Development issued a new set of guidelines to ban any kind of punishment, which includes beatings and even making children stand for hours. Preschools also ensure teachers not try to punish students in this manner.

Molestation and Abuse: Kids in preschools are often at risk of assault from the staff responsible for their care, which can cause trauma and injury. Very few such cases come to light as young children hesitate to talk about the issue. This makes it more important to have preventive safeguards in place.

Learning/Emotional Problems: It is important to figure out different psychological issues among young children like problems at home, learning disabilities, social problems, and others. In case of these issues not addressed, they can hamper a child’s development.

Safety Measures

Individual Attention: It is one of the most important measures to ensure the emotional safety of all students. Not only teachers but parents as well has a very important role in it. Friendly communication with kids and monitoring change in their behaviour may help parents to find out the problems and help them in resolving it.

Cognitive safety: Major Challenges

Academic Pressure: Preschool isn’t meant for putting academic pressure on kids rather it is about nurturing them in a positive and amiable environment to handle pressures of future. Any kind of academic pressure from parents or teachers may not let them reach developmental milestones in time.

The premises of the preschools must be well guarded, have walls and proper fencing wherever required. The entry and exit of the preschool must ensure security against those who may wish to harm to the children.

Safety Measures:

Teaching materials: All teaching materials including toys should be age appropriate. They should be made of child safe material.

Syllabus: The syllabus should be structured in a manner that doesn’t stress out children.

Role of the teachers and staff : Teachers are kind of children’s second parents and have responsibilities that span physical, emotional and cognitive safety issues. They must take care of certain points so that the students don’t face a situation that may hamper their growth ahead.

Physical presence: Teachers should maintain attendance records and do regular head counts to ensure that none of the students is absent.

Supervision: Individual attention must be paid to every student all time monitoring their behaviour and activities.

Reporting: Teachers should maintain reports of accidents and incidents.

Illness prevention: Teachers should be trained to identify illnesses and take measures to contain infection.

Medical needs: Teachers should be aware of each child’s allergies and medical issues.

Emergency contact: The staff should have the contact information of the parents or other emergency contacts for the child

Hygiene: An important aspect of kids’ safety

We have often heard about the personal hygiene habits that every preschooler should maintain. These habits include washing hands, sneezing or coughing etiquettes, short nails and many others. But what if the students are cleaning their hands with contaminated water? What if a teacher or staff is not following the coughing or sneezing etiquettes taught to students? What if the toilets in preschools are not properly maintained?

If all these and other issues are not handled well in the preschools, there is no point how clean our students are. There are many chances of students falling ill if any of the aforementioned problem is there.

Certain points that every preschool must take care in terms of hygiene along with that of students:

Contaminated water: If kids spend four to five hours a day in preschools, any kind of bacteria in the water may infect students with diseases that will hamper their studies. It is necessary for school administration to get the water tanks clean on regular intervals. They must also be checked for any kind of infection time-to-time.

Contaminated food: Some of the preschools offer food to their students. Like water, it is important to ensure cleanliness while cooking or even purchasing the vegetables or food items. First of all, it must be ensured by the school administration that food items bought from the market must be of good quality. In addition to that, every vegetable must be washed and cleaned thoroughly. The serving dishes and utensils must also be thoroughly cleaned. Maintaining good quality standard of food will help the children to remain healthy.

Clean premises: Not only clean food or water but neat and clean premises results into healthy learning among students. Water clogging must be avoided within the premise as it causes many diseases. At the same time, the lavatories used by Kids must be cleaned exhaustively as dirty toilets may cause various types of health related troubles among the tiny tots. It must also be ensured that the kids’ toilets are not used by any of the staff members or teachers.

Hygenic Staff: Teachers and staff member come in direct contact of students. They must wear clean clothes. In case a teacher or staff member is infected with any kind of disease, they must avoid at all cost to be in contact with students.

In all, it is important that the students remain safe and secure within the preschool premises. Along with various other measures, hygiene is also an important issue that must be addressed by the preschools for healthy and holistic learning among the young children.

In brief, though a lot needs to be done to provide a safe, hygienic and secured environment, there is much that just needs parental and schools’ attention to ensure that the kids enjoy their stay at preschool and feel like being in a well secured and interesting environment for long hours.