Notice regarding closing of EDA (Early Development Activity Center)
The closing of EDA's operations and its deadline of March 2006 have been decided at the Sony Foundation for Education special board meeting held on December 12, 2003.
In accordance with this decision, EDA will prepare to systematically close its operations.
We would like to thank everybody for their continued support and supervision throughout the years, and would like to apologize in advance for any inconveniences that we may cause in the process.
The Sony Foundation for Education's Early Development Activity Center (EDA) was initially established as the Early Development Association Foundation in 1969 by Mr. Masaru Ibuka.
EDA has been operating for 34 years with the belief that its mission is to spread the following messages throughout the world:
- The bond between mother and child is the first step in human relationships, beginning from the mother's womb;
- The mother has more influence on her child than anybody else; and
- The period before the baby learns to talk is one of the most critical times in life.
Throughout these years the neuroscience research has made great progress, and various researches and publications regarding the wonderful abilities of both the unborn and newborn babies have raised awareness in society. This is prominent in other countries as well as Japan; for example, in December 2000, Newsweek put together the featured stories of “Education from year 0” over a period of 4 weeks. UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children Report 2001 also appealed to the world the importance of the newborn’s mind up until the age of 3. Researches on the newborn’s development, by not only neuroscientists but also scientists in other fields, have also become widespread, as can be seen in the establishment of The Japanese Society of Baby Science (2001).
In this light, we believe that Ibuka’s notion of the importance of the formative "first three years of life" and the "the extent of mother’s influence" has penetrated through society, and that our mission to promote these ideas has been accomplished.
In an attempt to go one step further of the notion of “the importance of mothers”, we have recently been conducting Mother-Child classes to communicate the importance of "ties between mother and child". Again, we believe that we have been able to fulfill our goal for these activities.
The EDA will begin preparation for restructuring immediately, and finalize the process in March 2006 when the mother and children enrolled in our current Mother-Child class will have graduated.
For inquiries regarding this matter:
Sony Foundation for Education
Tel: 03-3442-1005
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