Annual Report 2006 - Partnership for Children

our work
asia
Director Chris Bale and
Prof Lorna Chan of the
Hong Kong Institute
of Education present
a first Chinese set of
Zippy’s Friends teaching
materials to Prof Zhu Jia
Xiong of Shanghai’s East
China Normal University.
A Zippy’s Friends class
at Anganwadi 34 in
Candolim, Goa
In China, there was again very strong
growth in Hong Kong, with the number
of children enrolled rising by 73 per
cent. A Chinese-language website was
set up to promote the programme and
to strengthen communication between
teachers. The Hong Kong Institute
of Education, which manages Zippy’s
Friends, also teamed up with the East
China Normal University to launch the
programme in Shanghai. In both
places, HSBC provided very generous
sponsorship. About 1,000 children were
enrolled for the first year in Shanghai,
and in a city of more than 20 million
people there is enormous scope for
expansion.
In India, we work in Goa with Sangath
Society for Child Development and
Family Guidance, which first ran Zippy’s
Friends in English-speaking schools and
then moved into schools teaching in
Konkani. The Indian education system
has a strong focus on academic results,
and it is not easy to persuade schools
of the need to promote children’s
mental and emotional health. Sangath
has been looking at alternative settings
for Zippy’s Friends, and in 2006 began
classes in community pre-schools, or
anganwadis.
Partnership for Children Annual Report 2006 Partnership for Children Annual Report 2006