The Delhi government wants Anganwadi workers to dedicate their full-time to children instead of any work outside Anganwadi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday. As the government wants to turn Anganwadi into an early childhood education centre, it is not just a place to provide only midday meals, Kejriwal said.
Kejriwal Launched the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Khel PitaraKit on 20 July at Tyagraj Stadium. The ECCE Kid was developed by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT). These educational kits will work to make the learning of children coming to the Anganwadi centres more fun and interactive. The government had taken these steps to improve early education and childhood care for the children through Anganwadis.
The Delhi government will provide all Anganwadi centres with a 35-item learning kit that will make learning for children fun and interactive. Now, Anganwadi centres will make significant contributions in the direction of early childhood education for lakhs of children aged zero to six years. This kit has been designed after in-depth research and is based on the principles of how children adapt and learn. It includes interesting books, puzzles, games, paints, and toys to help children learn through fun activities.
The Delhi government ensured that teachers spent most of their time in classrooms. Now, the government wants the Anganwadi workers to dedicate their full time to children instead of any work outside Anganwadi.
At the launching event, CM Arvind Kejriwal said, «So far, Anganwadi is considered to be the centre for providing midday meals and nutrition to children, but now we want to change this concept.» He added, «Now children will soon be taught moral values, and their emotional and psychological needs will be fulfilled at Anganwadi centres.»
He further stated that the SCERT has prepared the «best» kit for the Anganwadi children. This kit will provide them with a proper early childhood programme. He added, «Every child in this country should get an equal education, whether they are from a rich or poor background. So far, the poor used to send their children to government schools and the rich to private schools, but when we came to power, we focused on developing the government schools in Delhi. Not only this, but our Anganwadi workers and supervisors will receive training from master trainers to ensure strong foundational abilities in every child coming to their centre.”
Delhi Women and Child Development (WCD) Minister Atishi Singh said, «I congratulate the Education and SCERT departments for creating such a wonderful Early Education Kit. The best toys and Good Puzzle Games will now be in all our Anganwadi centres.”
On the following day, the WCD minister interacted with 5000 Anganwadi workers from across Delhi and motivated them to spearhead the revolution in Anganwadi centres. Atishi said As promised by the CM, like Delhi government school teachers, now we will send our Anganwadi workers too for training in national and international institutions. Secondly, we will try our best to decrease the workload on Anganwadi workers by keeping them focused on work related to women and children only so that they can prioritise the children›s development, as the future of the country will be made by the children studying in those Anganwadis.
During interaction with Anganwadi workers, Atishi said, “It is such a pleasure to see a huge number of Anganwadi workers gathering together for the cause of education. It gives me hope that we will work together to give a brighter future to every child in Delhi. This educational kit is no less than a magician›s box, which has many play items and interesting books for the holistic development of children.”
Sonia, an Anganwadi worker at Nangloi Anganwadi Centre, said they got a ‹ Khel Pitara› kit from the government last week. She added that this helps them a lot to interact with kids, and kids were also excited to play and learn with this new kit. Jyoti, another Anganwadi worker, told The Sunday Guardian that this “Khel Pitara” kit is very helpful for them to educate these kids. She added that this kit consists of new-age toys, puzzles, and games that make children excited. “Not only kids, but we were also amazed to see the kit. Due to the kit, children have started coming to the Anganwadi Centre regularly,” she said.