Kothagudem identifies 289 Anganwadis for upgradation

The Anganwadis will be turned into primary schools during current academic year

​Kothagudem: Anganwadis, which have been providing nutritious food to children, expectant mothers and new mothers, are going to be turned into primary schools from the present academic year as part of the government decision to introduce free education from KG to PG.

Of the 2,060 Anganwadis in the district, 287 have been identified for the upgradation. Some more are likely to be selected as part of the ongoing on Badi Bata programme.

According to latest plans, pre-school assessment would be introduced in the Anganwadis which are already teaching languages, simple mathematics and others with the help of songs, games and toys.

As part of the new curriculum, the children would be taught words and sentence formation on the lines of English medium schools.

The students would be given stars depending on their performance in the classroom which would be noted in their notebooks for informing the parents.

For instance, three stars would be given to the best students, two stars for average students and single star for the ones below average level.

So far, the teaching in Anganwadis is limited to writing small words. Henceforth, the children would be promoted to nursery after they are three years old, LKG after they are four years old and UKG five years old.

They would be provided with progress reports and certificates. The government appears to feel that the parents would not send their wards to other schools if they are happy with the teaching in Anganwadi-turned-primary schools.

So far, the children in Anganwadis are given home work on experimental basis which would be extended to other Anganwadis soon.

Lack of supervisors
There needs to be a set of supervisors to continually monitor the working of these Anganwadis, who would be guided by the higher officials.

Already there are district welfare officers and project officers to monitor these Anganwadis. However, supervisors needed to be appointed for every 25 Anganwadis to monitor their work regularly.

However, the identification process of these Anganwadis is at a snail’s pace in Bhadradri –Kothagudem district though it has been already completed in the neighbouring districts.

The state government has been dilly-dallying over the appointment of teachers and caretakers in the vacancies and to provide vehicles to the officials for effective monitoring. According to the government rules, the officials should visit at least 20 centres every month.

District Women and Child Welfare officer B Jhansi Lakshmibai told The Hans India that so far 287 Anganwadis have been identified in the district for upgradation into primary schools. Priority was given to the Anganwadi centres which have pucca buildings, she added.