Lucknow, Jan 7 (IANS): The Uttar Pradesh government, in line with National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, is set to launch a pilot project in 18 districts to prepare Anganwadi Centres to serve as space for pre-school learning and holistic development, with special focus on children aged 3 to 6, to make them school ready for Grade 1.

The three-month project beginning January 18 will focus on eliminating ‘learning crisis’ by helping Anganwadi kids attain foundational literacy and numeracy and will cover close to 12,000 AWCs in 18 districts including Ayodhya, Rae Bareli, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Kanpur Nagar, Kaushambhi, Basti, Aligarh, Firozabad, Baghpat, Jalaun, Balrampur, Mahoba, Mau, Pilibhit, Bhadohi, Bijnor and Shamli.

The play-based ‘school readiness’ module would prepare children from diverse backgrounds with age and developmentally appropriate learning experiences in a joyful and stimulating environment leading to holistic development, officials said.

The readiness module will also prepare children with the cognitive and linguistic competencies, which are pre-requisite for learning to read, write and develop number sense through a play-based approach. The readiness project consists of exemplified activities and worksheets to be introduced in initial three months or 12 weeks of Grade-I.

“Activities are designed to help children develop different competencies like helping, sharing, getting along with other children, learning to adjust to a new environment and concentrating on an activity,” said an official.