Seminar programme
Master of the ceremony
Dean Anna-Maija Poikkeus, Faculty of Education & Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
12:00 Finnish time
14:30 Indian time
Opening
12:10 Finnish time
14:40 Indian time
Sunisha Ahuja, Education specialist, UNICEF India
12:30 Finnish time
15:00 Indian time
Dr. Kati Rintakorpi, Specialist in Social Services and Early Childhood Education and Care Laurea University of Applied Sciences, Finland
13:00 Finnish time
15:30 Indian time
Ms. Tuovi Wallén, University lecturer, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
13:20 Finnish time
15:50 Indian time
Samyukta Subramanian, Program lead, Pratham Education Foundation, India
13:50 Finnish time
16:20 Indian time
Closing
Sunisha Ahuja
Sunisha Ahuja, is an Education Specialist with UNICEF India. She currently leads UNICEF India’s work in the area of foundational learning including early childhood education, supporting national and state government in 14 states. In her role she provides technical support to the Ministry of Women and Child Development and Ministry of Education, Government of India.
Sunisha has been working in the education sector for three decades. During this time, she has worked with several national and international civil society organizations including working with Mobile Creches- an Indian non-profit supporting children of migrant construction workers; CARE India; she set up the India operations for Room to Read an international organization working in the field of early literacy development and reading promotion and supporting girl’s education.
She has also worked as a consultant to the Ministry of Education, Government of India focusing on out of school children especially child workers and urban deprived children and early language and literacy learning programs.
Kati Rintakorpi
Dr. Rintakorpi has worked in early childhood education for 30 years as a teacher, kindergarten entrepreneur, leader and educator. In recent years, she has been implementing the export of early childhood education, e.g. To Asia. Her dissertation dealt with the possibilities of pedagogical documentation in the development of early childhood education and cooperation with families. In her education, she combines her solid practical skills with a theoretical examination in a child-oriented way.
Tuovi Wallén
Tuovi Wallén is an expert in field of education, especially in early childhood education and learning. Tuovi currently works as an university teacher and educates future early childhood educators at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. She has worked in early childhood education for over ten years as a teacher and educator. She has gained a very strong international experience while working in Qatar, Nepal and Vietnam. Education export projects are familiar to her as well as teacher training and education in emergencies.
Samyukta Subramanian
Samyukta Subramanian serves as Program Lead, Early Years at Pratham Education Foundation (Pratham), one of India’s largest nonprofits focused on improving quality of education. She leads the Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Early Grades initiatives across many Indian states and has extensive experience working with government officials, private sector partners, and nonprofit leaders to develop and implement education initiatives. Her focus has been on India’s pre-primary education landscape and improving ECE outcomes at scale.
Recently, as an Echidna Global Scholar (2019) at the Brookings Institution, Washington, DC her paper focused on India’s policy on early childhood education: Lessons for a gender-transformative early childhood in India. This paper analyzed data on the ecosystem surrounding girls’ ECE in India, with a focus on government-run preschools.
Samyukta holds a bachelor’s degree in law and both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Psychology from the University of Delhi. She joined Pratham in 2008.
