Do you know that 1st March is celebrated globally as the Zero Discrimination Day so that everyone lives life with dignity regardless of their age, ethnicity, skin color, height, weight, etc? A butterfly is the emblem of Zero Discrimination Day.

How young children experience their early school years may determine their academic future and negatively affect their emotional, social, and mental development. Any experience of discrimination at this vulnerable age can disturb their healthy development and academic trajectories and limit the emotional benefits of early childhood education. In Preschool Pomona CA, children should not face unfair interactions and discrimination due to who they are as this is the time when they participate in different activities with others and develop various life skills.

What is Discrimination?

Discrimination is different and unfair treatment. Anyone can be discriminated against because of just about anything from the color of their hair to the clothes they wear. Education providers, such as schools, should not treat their students unfairly due to their age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage, and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

What is the impact of discrimination in education?

If anyone experience discrimination in education, the impact can be devastating. It can lead to:

• Poor attendance in school
• Terrible academic achievement
• Children and young people not able to achieve their goal
• Children and young people feeling isolated

How Mental Health gets affected by Discrimination?

Discrimination can prove to be a risk factor for healthy mental development. In Pomona, CA Montessori centers, teachers make sure all their students are treated equally and receive the same love and care irrespective of their caste, color, and gender. Children who experience discrimination will be affected and may react in different ways. This often depends on the following:

• How confident the child is to ask for help
• The level of support a child receives
• The number of other risk factors the child encounters
• How resilient the child is

Children who experience discrimination may:

• Feel different from other children in some way and can also impact their feeling of belonging or how they see their identity
• Have lower self-belief or self-worth
• Suffers from lower confidence level and easily gets frustrated
• May demonstrate no/fewer aspirations
• Struggle to reach their full potential
• May be at risk of being bullied

What can Day-cares or schools do to give a safe and secure learning atmosphere to their students?

Children need to learn in a safe, caring, and respectful environment that embraces and conveys positive messages about their identity, diversity, and faith.

This feeling of belonging is important to their well-being and their academic achievements. Schools can plan different cross-curricular activities and start developing the skill of tolerance early in all children. These activities will help children to learn about diversity and cultures and develop healthy relationships with others. They will also realize the importance of respecting others and accepting the way they are.