Activities galore, yet space constraints in many anganwadis

A jigsaw puzzle of human anatomy changes five children’s hands. The younger kids keep themselves engaged with rubber toys. It is slightly past 9.45 am at anganwadi number 1 at A-72, Nizamuddin Basti. One tubelight at the red-and-white-tiled room alienates the dimly-lit room from the bright morning outside.

Shabana, the anganwadi helper, shuttles between attending to kids and negotiating with parents in the locality to send their children to the centre.

The attendance at the anganwadi is higher than other days as some ‘guest’ children drop in for the day. These are kids who are in the locality to visit their relatives, says Gayatri when a DH team visited six of the seven anganwadis in Nizamuddin Basti last Thursday.

Activities on a typical day at an anganwadi include physical development, language development, and enhancing communication skills. The activities range from colouring, counting, rhymes, identifying body parts, fruits, vegetables and animals.

“Earlier, we had been asked to not teach them letters of the alphabet or counting but now we have revised the format,” adds Gayatri, who has been working at anganwadis for the last 16 years now.

The room rented out at a monthly rate of Rs 1,200 can accommodate few children. The biggest problem the anganwadi workers are fighting is the lack of space in congested areas like Nizamuddin Basti. “The space is little for children to engage in different activities. It is difficult to accommodate when there are more than eight children,” says the anganwadi worker. Four years back, the anganwadi was run out of a smaller accommodation.

Over the years, the number of anganwadis has grown in the capital. Several areas have new mini-anganwadis coming up so that children have access to this facility near their homes.  

“The government is aware that several anganwadis are not situated at the idea locations. Some of these centres have insanitary conditions around them. However, with the multiplication of anganwadis, it is difficult to monitor the locations,” says a senior official, Women and Child Development department.

Archana Kaushik, Child Development Project Officer (CDPO), Nizamuddin, says, “We are doing our best with the available resources.”

Space is not the only challenge that workers are fighting. They feel more creative activities should be planned so that children can utilise the scheme better. The activities are aimed at enhancing a child’s mental health and should be updated every few years.
“The pre-school component is weak and is far from what is stated in the ICDS scheme. This is due to lack of training among anganwadi workers. There is a scope for improvement with closer monitoring and supervision.

“The actual objective of the ICDS scheme is well laid out. However, most of the anganwadis currently serve as the feeding centres for children,” says Harshika Sahni Dewan, Early Childhood Care and Development coordinator, Aga Khan Foundation, which is closely working with the government in anganwadis in Nizamuddin Basti.

“To fill in the gaps, the Aga Khan Foundation has provided the anganwadis with community teachers for pre-school education and infrastructural support,” she adds.
The current focus of the scheme has reduced to food being served at these centres with most children or their mothers turning up only to collect meals after the day’s activities are over.

Parents’ cooperation
“The attendance is also dependent on the parents’ cooperation in the respective areas. Parents of children who come to the anganwadis are labourers, fruit or vegetable sellers. Several parents sleep late into the day and there is no motivation for the children to come to the anganwadis,” says Archana, the worker at anganwadi number 17, a small well-lit room with beautiful wall paintings.

Anganwadi workers across Nizamuddin Basti said it is a challenge to retain kids at the centre after meals are served. “Most children leave anganwadis at 11.30 am with their meals,” says Kaushik.

Providing nutrition to children is one of the important features of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) under the Delhi government’s Women and Child Development department.

“Providing nutrition is one of the elements. But in the majority of the cases, the objective of the anganwadis has reduced to meals. The other important features of anganwadis are pre-school education and primary health education,” says the senior official.
Even though the meal served may draw more children and their parents to the anganwadis, the menu is not what the kids look forward to.

The staff at anganwadis say kids find the menu monotonous.
At anganwadi number 20 at House No. 50 in Nizam Nagar, children sit with their plates of chana pulao almost uninterestedly as a swarm of flies settle on their plates.
The anganwadi, which runs out of a rain basera, does not have a dedicated anganwadi worker.

“The menu does not impress children as it has not been the same since 2006. Also, the beneficiaries are from needy families. So the food being served should give these kids supplementary nutrition. There have been several proposals in the past for revising the menu. Meals should include dry fruits, food having high protein value so that children look forward to these meals,” says Nilofer, supervisor, ICDS, Nizamuddin.

In 2008, there was a proposal of protein or vitamin candies which would attract children, she adds. But the plan never took off.

“The department is looking into areas in which there is scope for improvement. More options which are more acceptable to children and pregnant women will be introduced on the menu on a pilot phase,” says another department official.

What is the way forward?

The Women and Child Development department is now debating how the model of
anganwadis can be improved.

 “One of the ways forward is consolidation of anganwadis. If that is done, the department will be able to screen children’s activities better and also move them to better premises. More number of anganwadi workers and helpers can be assigned at these facilities. The other ways to bring improvement is to constantly monitor the anganwadi centres and improvise the existing system,” says the senior official.

There is, however, a flip side to consolidation of anganwadis, say other officials.
“Multiplication of anganwadis means taking children closer to this facility.  So if the centres are at a distance, the attendance may dip and parents will find it difficult to send the young children to the centres. The success of the model lies in the fact that more children in locality benefit from the scheme,” says another official.