Over 70,000 Students Benefit From BMC 'Magic Box' For Kindergarten

By Pratidnya Shete

Mumbai: The richest civic body in Asia, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corportaion (BMC) has undertaken many measures to improve the standards of education in their schools. In the latest step undertaken, more than 70,000 students from kindergarten to second grade have benefited from the Magic Box concept. This concept of teaching is being implemented in 11,500 BMC schools from 2020-21.

This box contains 28 educational items which includes lacing boards, fishing activities, touch cards, counting beads, colorful ice cream stick kits, figure puppets and other items. Teachers believe this will help the students increase their knowledge and they will be able to learn in a playful environment. The project cost is approximately Rs 2 crore.

"This box is currently being used by students of kindergarten, and grades 1 and 2. This box contains beads that help children read and write, as they are in the form of numbers and letters. There also are puzzles, books, triangle, square-shaped toys and other materials to help students understand mathematics," informed Nasir Khan, Deputy Education Officer of the Municipal Corporation.

It is an initiative by to help students to identify letters and numbers easily. All the necessary items for this are being provided to the municipal schools through a vendor. The Central Government had instructed all states to implement this concept in 2022. After the BMC drive magic Box is now being implemented in 1150 schools.

"Students studying municipal schools mostly come from poor families. We have seen, these students have low self-esteem. Our BMC Magic Box initiative has played a crucial role to help increase their self-confidence. After we saw this positive change, we have tried to effectively implement it in all our schools," Khan said.

The BMC took an initiative in 2007-08, to start its new methods of teaching for the kindagartern level as they learned the children enrolled found it challenging to read initially. With the help of educationists, they undertook programmes to help children recognise letters and numbers and help them study further from it. Later, in 2020-2021, the Union Education Ministry through National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), initiated Jaadui Pitara or the Magic Box form of education for children aged three to eight years, to help them in their foundational phase.

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