“Without children, what are Anganwadi workers supposed to do?”

I am based in Himachal Pradesh’s Solan district and have been an Anganwadi worker for the past seven years. Earlier, my Anganwadi centre, which also has a provision for a helper, used to attend to children from ages zero to six. After this, the children would be enrolled in school. This meant that I was responsible for approximately 25–30 children. But the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has changed this.

Since 2022, the new policy has stipulated that every child will move to a ‘preparatory class’ before the age of five. This means that children are required to study with an ECCE-qualified teacher prior to entering class 1. As a result, parents have started enrolling their children in either private schools or pre-primary government schools at the age of three itself.

This has affected the enrolment rate at Anganwadi centres, including mine—the number of children has reduced to seven or eight. Some of them are at the age where they need to be enrolled in a preparatory class. There are only two to three children in other centres in the area. We’re facing a crisis: if children don’t come to the Anganwadi, what are we supposed to do?

Teachers who usually handle classes 1–5 are being asked to give their time to the preparatory classes. They are being burdened with additional work. They must see to the midday meal and health check-ups besides conducting growth monitoring activities, already a component of the Anganwadi system. We are trained to evaluate a child’s learning ability, height, weight, etc. We even plan their meals according to their developmental stage. The helper and I serve them breakfast as well as freshly prepared lunch.

Will pre-primary schools focus on children’s nutrition the way we’ve been doing for years?

If the government includes Anganwadi workers in the education department and appoints us for pre-primary classes, then not only will the government gain trained workers but the crisis affecting our future will also be resolved.

Kavita has seven years of experience as an Anganwadi worker.

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Know more: Learn why Anganwadi workers are asked to track nutrition but not paid enough for it.