On the top of its list of priorities, the association put development of principles, guidelines and curriculum for Early Childhood Education (ECE). These declarations was made at the concluding session of its three-day conference organised in association with SNDT Women's University on Wednesday. It will also draft guidelines for training personnel for ECE programmes.

IAPE also committed itself to facilitate the use of the child's mother tongue as a medium of communication in the ECE programmes and to promote multiple approaches (?) in ensuring quality at ECE centres and teacher-training programmes. It would also play a constructive role in promoting the concepts of the common neighbourhood school by supporting common pre-school centres.

IAPE would also enhance gender sensitivity in ECE and teacher-trainingprogrammes and play a more active role in advocating action in favour of early childhood - be it through media, workshops and seminars to promote direct contact with policy makers. It also focussed on the important role of the parents in their children's education and resolved to support partnership between parents and teachers in ECE.

The conference felt that the state must play an active and constructive role in supporting the care, education and development of the child from birth till going to schools to fulfill its commitment to the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child.

The recommendations passed today included the need for legislation and regulatory actions necessary to monitor the quality of pre-school and teacher-training programmes; use of insights by Indian educationists and thinkers such as Gyubhai Badheka and Tarabai Modak in teacher's training and educational practices; discouraging any attempt to promote `ideal' models of ECE and promotion of due respect to India's culturaldiversity.