0000-0001-6821-7212 About
Prof. Geeta Chopra works as Professor in Human Development & Childhood Studies, University of Delhi, Institute of Home Economics. Over the past almost four decades of work, she has contributed actively in her field by virtue of being an educator, a prolific writer, a researcher, an activist, as member expert groups and as consultant to international bodies, non-profits, Indian States and Central Government, all through mentoring her students.
KEY AREAS OF WORK
EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE EDUCATION & DEVELOPMENT
A winner of World Bank’s South Asia Region – Development Market Place Award for project 'Reducing maternal stressors and improving nutrition practices during pregnancy to enhance birth weight and infant survival: Designing an Innovative Intervention Package'. This bid had 1000+ bidders from South Asian countries, award given to 21 bids.
She was the overall editor and writer of National Institute of Public Cooperation &Child Development (NIPCCD)-UNESCO collaborative Module on Early Childhood Care &Education for caregivers for four countries i.e. Bhutan, Maldives, India &Sri Lanka. She has been reviewing and writing training manuals on ECCE and Disability for organisations like Plan India-Ambedkar University, Delhi.
CHILDHOOD DISABILITY
Prof. Chopra pioneered the development and validation of one of its kind Training Module on Early Detection of disabilities and Inclusion of Children with Disabilities, The DIA (Detection-Inclusion-Ability) Training Module. It is the outcome of an effort which spanned more than 2 decades. The DIA Module consists of three guide books written in simple communicative style for semi-literate workers, attempting to demystify disability; Disability Screening Schedule which is a short 2 page cross-disability schedule which screens 0-6 year old children for disabilities, which has very high sensitivity and specificity; 8 posters on Early Signs of disability & strategies to manage a child with disability amongst others. The Module has been used to train more than 120 workers, reaching out more than 100,000 population, screening 13,000 children (0- 6 yrs) (www.earlydetectiondisabilities.com). DIA is the ray of guiding light which shows the way on how the Right to survival, development, education and participation of children with disabilities can be met.
The Govt of India’s flagship Integrated Child Development Scheme targeting children under 6, while making structural changes in the training protocol in close consultation with UNICEF, has revised training package on ‘Early Childhood Care Education’ (September, 2017). It now includes sessions on children with disabilities drawn from the DIA Module. Govt of Jammu & Kashmir also included components of Dr.Chopra’s DIA Module in their State Government ICDS programme.
DIA training module has been extensively and continuously used for training ICDS workers by NIPCCD. Currently, she is Member, Committee for the designing of Early Identification of Disabilities in Children Framework by Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) (2022). She is also writing sessions on Early Detection of Disabilities and Inclusion for crèche workers for Plan International and Mobile Creches.
CHILD RIGHTS
To keep knowledge updated and to evaluate where she stood in understanding and teaching of Child Rights at her university, she completed a Certificate course Child Protection: Children's Rights in Theory and Practice an online initiative of Harvard University (May, 2020).
Her book "Child Rights in India- Challenges and Social Action" (Springer, 2015) is on the compulsory reading list for students of Delhi University. It has become an important resource on Child Rights courses being offered by universities across India. Another chapter ‘Child Rights in India: From Silos to systems’ has been published by Nova Publications (2021), and finds its place as a WHO Scopus resource.
She founded a non-profit Manzil in 1996 in Delhi which has reached out to thousands of underprivileged children, youth and women, supporting them to reach their developmental, creative and intellectual potential.
She is advisor to an NGO Social Axiom Foundation, which has launched project CACA (Children Against Child Abuse) and developed safety workbooks on child protection/rights for children from Class KG to Class XI. These workbooks have reached 230+ schools in 110+ districts in 24 States.
OTHERS
Published 8 books, more than 25 research papers, contributed chapters in books, edited manuals, has had 50+ papers presented/accepted and positions held at Conferences, awarded 3 research projects, supervised 9 Ph.D. students, 70+ Conferences & Workshops, done capacity building of officers/key workers across verticals.
She regularly guides doctoral research work. She is on the Board of Research Studies, and on courses review panels, and Ph.D research examiner of several universities and government bodies in India. She is a Reviewer on Children First- Journal of DCPCR.
Employment
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University of Delhi Professor1986 - Present
Education
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University of Delhi B.Sc1981 - 1984
Projects & Funding
Projects & funding information is unavailable.
Publications (15)
- Storytelling” a Pedagogy for Engaging with Concepts and Early Learning Save
- Child protection in india: From silos to systems Save
- Evolution from negative identity to affirmation of ‘disability identity’: Life story of a woman with Spina bifida in India Save
- Covid-19 Disrupts India’s March towards Making Her Children Thrive and Transform Save
- COVID Has Undone Child Rights Progress Save
- Exploring the Lived Experiences of Adults with Physical Disability: Experiences of a Researcher Save
- I am like everyone else…Voices of Children with Disabilities in school settings Save
- Notions of mothers-in-law in poor resource settings on factors affecting pregnancy outcomes Save
- Maternal Mortality in India Save
- Child rights in India: Challenges and social action Save