Uttarakhand, 26th August 2024:  Dost Education has embarked on a significant partnership with Uttarakhand Government’s Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) department to revolutionize Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) in the state. This landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by Aronee Ghosh, Director of Operations and M&E at Dost Education, and Prashant Arya, Director of ICDS, Uttarakhand Government.

The new collaboration will focus on strengthening the role of Anganwadi workers, who are central to ECCE in rural India. Dost Education will provide these vital workers with extensive training and resources to implement Dost’s effective pre-literacy programs, aiming to enhance play-based learning for children aged 3-6 years. This initiative seeks to lay a robust foundation for early literacy, crucial for making children school-ready before enrolling into the mainstream education system.

A distinctive feature of the partnership is its blend of digital and in-person support. The Dost on-field representative will work alongside Uttarakhand’s 19,583 Anganwadi workers to support parental engagement initiatives in the community. The latter will be oriented on Dost Education’s flagship IVR-based program, “Program Parvarish” to help them effectively reach the program to the caregivers in the communities. This mobile-based IVR program supports both children and their families, offering 60 to 90-second pre-recorded phone calls four times a week to reinforce early learning at home. The families can join the program by giving missed-calls at the toll-free number.

Dost Education’s approach underscores the importance of ECCE (Early Childhood Education) in fostering cognitive, social, and emotional development in children. The MoU with ICDS Uttarakhand represents a pivotal move toward ensuring that every child in the state benefits from high-quality early childhood programs.