Early Childhood Development | Articles on Education of Bangladesh | Articles on Education of Bangladesh

RADIA TAMIM and SAMEEO SHEESH

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The prenatal stage or the stage of life growing in a mother’s womb is very vital or crucial for the physical, mental, emotional development of a personality. A number of studies have discovered that growth as well as function of different organs start in the prenatal stage and it develops gradually in course of pregnancy period. Needless to say that it is very important to have knowledge on the physical growth of a child in the prenatal stage. So, the authors have the inquisitiveness to know what is the state of knowledge of young people on the physical growth of a life or a child during the prenatal stage.

Research Question
What is the state of knowledge of the young people in Dhaka about the physical growth of a child during the prenatal stage? To query this question, the study formulate four hypotheses:

H1: The young people have correct knowledge on the growth of a child during the prenatal stage.
H2: The young people have partial correct knowledge on the growth of a child during the prenatal stage.
H3: The young people have wrong knowledge on the growth of a child during the prenatal stage.
H4: The young people admit that they have no knowledge on the growth of a child during the prenatal stage.

Methodology
Random sampling and survey questionnaire were used to do the study.

Formulation of Survey Question
All the questions focus on the different growth of a child on different trimesters. Each question has four options, out of them
(a)    One option/answer is correct
(b)    One option/answer is  partial correct
(c)    One option/answer is wrong
(d)    One option/answer is to admit that the respondent has no idea.

Moreover, there was another open-ended option to express that if they have any different ideas.

SAIFUZZAMAN RANA

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The Kajoli Early Childhood Learning Model is a pre-school model innovated through action research. One of the earliest decisions of RIB was to support an action research project on educational needs of the economically under privileged community. The action research began on 1 January 2003 in Kajoli, a village located in the Sreepur thana of Magura district in the south west of Bangladesh. The main objective of the project was to develop an early childhood learning model specifically for children from the under privileged communities in Bangladesh.  By April 2008 this model has been adopted in 135 centers (villages) in 26 districts in Bangladesh. This was possible because RIB solicited interest from individual volunteers to actively involve the community in setting up a learning centre and sustaining it. The volunteer was to be seen as an Agroni or champion. An advertisement in the media has led to numerous applications. RIB is still being inundated by applications from prospective Agronis to help give necessary technical assistance like training, advice and logistic support to help open more centers in disadvantaged communities all over the country.

There are two key words in the title. One is ‘empowering’ and the other is ‘marginalized’. What do these terms mean in practice.? Empowering implies agency. For example A is a boy. He does not know how to read and write. When someone teaches him how to read and write, he feels empowered. One can be empowered in different ways. The other word in our discussion is ‘marginalized’. ‘Marginalized’ refers to a group of people who are deprived of opportunities and have no share in the advantages enjoyed by others. Basically it means being in a disadvantaged situation. When we use the term ‘marginalized’ some questions arise. How does a person become marginalized? What factors contribute to marginalization ? I think there can be many reasons for a person’s marginalization. For example an ethnic or religious minority group can be marginalized because they do not have the same opportunities as others, or are excluded from participation on account of their differences. People who have no money, no influence can be marginalized for economic or political reasons. In this regard, we can say a rich man or a person of the mainstream can become marginalized. The sense of marginalization is multi-dimensional and refers to people who are deprived or disadvantaged both socially and economically, in different cases and situations.

Over the past decade there has been renewed interest in facilitating Brain development and Education. Brain development emphasizes the importance of early experiences on children’s physical, psychological, cognitive, and social development. Considerable progress is being made in charting developmental changes in the brain and its connections to children’s education. Brain changes with children’s age and growth.  So, this is a new era in the field of education– a time to bring together Brain and Education.

Due to innovative cognitive neuroscientific research, our knowledge about “learning” has recently increased. An important domain of this increasing knowledge involves the period of adolescence. We know that there is significant variability among adolescents with respect to their cognitive development and that this cognitive development is linked to individual patterns in brain development. Furthermore, we know that the development of the brain continues beyond the age of 20.

The number and size of the brain’s nerve endings continue to grow at least until adolescence. Some of the brain’s increase in size also is due to myelination. Myelination a process in which many cells of the brain and nervous system are covered with an insulating layer of fat cells. This increases the speed at which information travels through the nervous system. Myelination in the areas of the brain related to hand-eye coordination is not complete until about four years of age. Myelination in brain areas that are important in focusing attention is not complete until the end of the elementary school years. The implication for teaching are that children will have more difficulty focusing their attention and maintaining it for very long in early childhood but their attention will improve as they move through the elementary school years. Even in elementary school and later, many educators believe occasional short breaks sustain energy and motivation to learn.