Role of anganwadi worker Vis-a-Vis new education policy

There is a Sanskrit saying: Among all the things that an individual possesses, education is supreme because education cannot be lost to anyone, no price can be put on it and it can never be destroyed. National Education Policy will transform the country’s academic scenario from all the way from a toddler to the level of research scholar. A panel was formed in which over 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats, 6680 Blocks, 6000 Urban Local Bodies and 676 Districts across the country participated in the panel. Studies tracking student learning outcomes clearly demonstrate that children who start out behind, tend to stay behind throughout their school years, there is severe learning crisis, where children are enrolled in Primary Schools but are failing to attain even basic skills such as numeracy. Apart from the problems of access, quality related deficiencies such as inappropriate curriculum, lack of trained educators have compounded the problem Constitutional (86th Amendment) Act 2002 inserted Article 21-A to make free and compulsory education for all children in the age group of six to 14 years as a fundamental right on basis of which the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 came into force in April 2010. The government has rolled out early childhood care and Education Programme in all Anganwari Centres in Phase manner.
In year 2021 the Parliamentary Standing Committee has recommended that a blue print in Coordination with ministry of Education should be chalked out to modernize Anganwadi’s and strengthen them as early childhood education institutions in line with the overarching goal of ensuring universal access to early childhood and education. It was also recommended that suitable training to Anganwadi workers for this increased responsibility needs to be imparted in a time bound manner Women and Children Development Ministry have developed year wise activity books for children between 3-6 years of age group. Early childhood education and care is essential for a human being for the mental and emotional growth. In this context an Anganwadi worker plays the most important role in it. In year 1975, our country launched the integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) for the service of mothers and their children after birth. These services are offered through Anganwadi Centres across the country. The resopnsibilities are health, physical, emotional and Social development of a child and counseling, guidance , immunization , data collection. In Jammu & Kashmir the Anganwadi Workers in the centres ensure seamless delivery of services to every mother and child but they are facing issues with basic infrastructural facilities like unavailability of proper building drinking water and sanitation. Due to inadequate supervision, a lack of knowledge about health and education facilities also exists. It is also important that focus must be given to provide Pre School Education by Anganwadi Workers and up skill their Circle and training, so that they can connect to the community and children in a better way. Anganwadi workers need to be trained through a systematic effort in accordance with the Curricular/Pedagogical framework developed by NCERT. Few Reasons why upskilling the training will bear fruits:
a) It will help to reach out to communities more effectively.
b) A.W.W will get more opportunities to engage the child in school and give tasks for home.
c) New teaching methods will not only empower the workers but will also help to build a report with the people.
d) Use of digital technology will help to increase awareness.
Anaganwadi Centres face a lot of challenges but with financial support, up skilling Programs they can break the cycle of under education.
(The author is incharge District Record Room DC Office Anantnag
(Author is Incharge District Record Room at DC Office Anantnag. The views, opinions, facts, assumptions, presumptions and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the author but aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”.)
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