Panel recommends eligibility norms for anganwadi workers

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Empowerment of Women has suggested fixing class X and class VIII as minimum qualifications for the job of anganwadi workers and helpers respectively.

The government may get a study conducted on the educational profile of the anganwadi workers and helpers in the country and work out minimum educational qualification for rural, urban and tribal areas separately, committee suggested in its report to the Lok Sabha recently.

“No minimum educational qualifications have been prescribed by the government for anganwadi workers and helpers though they are expected to perform a wide range of functions,” the panel observed.

Pre-primary education, maintenance of records of compliance, and reports of various financial and feeding norms are among the varied responsibilities assigned to them.

“It is high time to prescribe a minimum educational qualification for anganwadi workers and helpers,” the committee noted. The panel observed that the Integrated Child Development Services scheme aims at universal coverage to all areas and habitations, including those of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and minority, at the earliest.

“In view of the expansion and inclusion of multifarious activities in the ambit of the scheme, it is high time to prescribe a minimum educational qualification for anganwadi workers and helpers,” it added.

The panel also pointed out ambiguity in the government’s guidelines on the selection process of anganwadi workers and helpers.

Some states have included members of the Legislative Assemblies in the selection committees as there is a provision for the inclusion of experts, non-governmental organisations, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and minority groups.

“The ambiguities in the guidelines have led to such misinterpretation and hence, these ambiguities should be removed forthwith to ensure proper compliance of the guidelines by the states concerned,” the panel suggested.