BACKGROUND

The Centre for Learning Resources (CLR) was established in Pune in 1984. It is a unit of The Society for Educational Improvement and Innovation (SEII), a non-profit institution registered under the Societies Registration Act of 1860, the Bombay Public Trust Act of 1950 and the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act of 1976. The organization has been working in the domains of Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD), Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Elementary Education since 1984 in several states in India. It has supported a wide range of government organizations and NGOs across the country including Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan. Offshore engagements have included Indonesia and Nepal. 

GOALS

The expansion of elementary education and early childhood education in India has often not been matched by a similar concern for the quality of teaching and learning. This adversely impacts the largest sections of the underprivileged communities and results in millions of very young children being deprived of care and education, school dropouts and dismal learning levels in school going children. Our primary goal is to support government (and non-government) organizations working in rural and urban areas on large scale in early childhood care, development and education (ECCDE) and elementary education (EE) to achieve sustainable improvement in teaching and learning. Towards this, we aim to enhance the capacity-building skills within the government systems in areas of pedagogy, programme strategy and critical management and leadership skills. Our core approach involves a decentralized, multi-layer, multi-cycle capacity-building process that seeks to achieve greater performance at each level of the system's cascade in areas of teaching, training, supportive supervision and coaching, planning, reflection and problem-solving.

MAIN ACTIVITIES

Our key activities include:

1. Systemic capacity-building aimed at improving quality of early childhood education in Anganwadi Centres
2. Systemic capacity-building aimed at improving quality of English language learning in elementary schools
3. Systemic capacity-building aimed at improving quality of home and centre-based caregiving practises for children under 6 years
4. Ongoing research to support systematic iterative improvements in programs and build an evidence base for advocacy efforts
5. Consultancy in curriculum development, educational project design, academic and other research inputs to schools, NGO's and government agencies, funding organizations, and international bodies

Donations to the SEII from Indian organisations and citizens are tax-exempt under Section 80-G of the Income Tax Act.

As an organization, the CLR has vast experience and expertise in employing a variety of approaches to working with government systems (ICDS and Health Departments) to further the agenda of ECCE and Elementary Education. Key features of the CLR philosophy and approach include:

·         Development of products and strategies for sustainability and adaptability at medium or large scale

·         Working through partnerships to ensure active and constructive role of government departments

·         Model and judicious use of low cost technology to suit the needs of government systems

·         Embedding of research in ongoing programs

• Structuring of capacity-building programmes in an iterative, feedback-sensitive, implementation-focussed approach rather than a one-time training approach
• Data-based project strategies (taking into account contextual needs), and processes validated through assessment of  outcomes.