From the archive record
A mother prepares her daughter for pre-school in Manipur district. A play school is a place where around 10-20 children spend 1-2 hours each day under the supervision of a couple of teachers. Most parents give their children plenty of attention in terms of looking after their basic needs and showering them with toys to entertain them. In play schools, however, children are provided with the 'right' toys, i.e. those appropriate to their stage of development. Also, their play is guided so that it becomes a learning experience. The ideas is that children should transfer play behaviours such as feeding a doll, changing its clothes, etc. to themselves, and thus develop self-help skills. The thinking is that if a child can go through the motions of feeding a doll, it will soon learn to feed itse