new delhi the early years of childhood are the most formative time for growth and development by age three 80 of synaptic connections are already made between the brain and the body early childhood development ecd is a discipline which integrates health nutrition cognitive and psychosocial development of children lately there has been more awareness about ecd in academia and state policies jamia millia islamia university in collaboration with save the children an ngo has established an early childhood development centre which offers a postgraduate degree programme in ecd the centre works in bridging the gaps between theory research policy and practice through research advocacy and capacity building rekha sharma sen chair professor child development says the field of child development was neglected in our country for long but internationally the concept was strong with the government recently framing policies on integrated child development we thought of having a dedicated masters programme on the subject the course is open to all with a bachelors degree in child development home science psychology with 50 marks or a bachelors degree in any other stream with an aggregate of 55 the student intake is 20 says sen unlike other child development programmes we have research and training as two major components of the course we offer handson training to students to carry out ecd activities and understand children in their sociocultural context we are looking at the child from all perspectives including community society and the nationstate it is important to have trained professionals to develop curriculum for children below the primary level the career opportunities after the course are varied and mostly linked to developmental organisations and research as after the launch of child development schemes there is an urgent need for ecdtrained professionals in the government ngos and private sector students can opt for research supervision of ecd programmes managing projects at various levels turn entrepreneurs by setting up their own ecd programmes and even write for child right issues or join disability and inclusive education organisations however sen believes there is a need for more men to join the field and as the programme is open to both men and women it will bring a change in how people look at child development as for the future it is still in a nascent stage and the placements have to be worked upon also a lot of things depend on students response we are planning to go in for distance mode and even blended learning soon besides we may begin a phd course in the next academic session as well concludes sen