Anganwadi nutrition and edu in a shambles: Report

Bengaluru: A study of anganwadis in five districts of Karnataka has shown a complete disarray of supplementary nutrition for children aged up to five years and an unsatisfactory state of affairs of preschool education. The report titled, ‘Study of Anganwadis in 5 Districts of Karnataka, India: Infrastructure Facilities and Schemes Through the Anganwadis’ was published by Ensuring Social Protection, a collective of NGOs and activists in June 2024 after a study was held in 315 anganwadis in Bengaluru Urban, Haveri, Raichur, Uttara Kannada and Vijayapura.

There are 65,911 anganwadis in the state. As per the survey, only 25% of the centres provided children with milk five days a week. Milk supply was completely stopped in Raichur and Vijayapura districts and only half of the centres in Mundgod taluk of Uttara Kannada district provided milk. Over 70% of anganwadis did not use any vegetables in sambar. Some of them had stopped adding vegetables for over four years.Eggs in midday meals are supposed to be twice a week for children, and five times a week for malnourished kids. Some districts were giving more eggs than the norm to preschool children by diverting those that had to be given to malnourished children as the workers said it was difficult to feed malnourished kids by excluding others.The study pointed out that 37.8% of anganwadis were giving ‘Pushti’ nutritional food to preschool children, although it was meant for those aged below three years. “This is a clear indication that the menu was not being followed for preschool children. One anganwadi in Uttara Kannada district reported giving Parle G biscuits sponsored by a donor,” the study said.It may be recalled that the midday meals in anganwadis had come under criticism for introducing processed rice-khichdi. The study said despite orders to roll it back, it continued in 131 centres. The study also called out the sad state of affairs of preschool education. As per the survey, close to half of anganwadi workers completed their matriculation, 31% studied up to PU and 22% were undergraduates. The findings come at a time when the state govt announced that selected anganwadis will be upgraded to provide preschool education.Ten per cent of the workers were in the age group of 20-30 years and 39% in the 31-40 years bracket, while 32.7% were 41-50 years old and 18.1% were aged 51-60 years.All anganwadis under study carried out preschool education for children aged 3-6 years. But while 70% centres said preschool working hours were 9.30am-4pm, around 25% worked only till noon. As many as 145 used floor mats for children and 117 had chairs. Some 18% had benches and 2% had chairs. While 90% had adequate play materials, only 53% had adequate outdoor space. 91% of the anganwadi workers said that they had textbooks and curriculum for preschool education. But only half of them knew they had to teach six textbooks a year. Only 75% of students got worksheets.