Shimla: Education Secretary Rakesh Kanwar has held the first meeting with Women and Child Development Department Director Rupali Thakur on giving quota to Anganwadi workers in schools before pre-nursery teacher recruitment.
In this meeting held in the Secretariat on Thursday, many questions going on in both the departments were raised. In view of these questions, the Education Secretary has sought some more information regarding the educational qualification and honorarium of Anganwadi workers.
The Women and Child Development Department has been asked what is the educational qualification of the Anganwadi workers currently appointed in 18925 Anganwadi centers and how much are they being paid including incentives?
One of the main questions raised during this meeting is that after taking the Anganwadi worker to school for pre-nursery, what will happen to the other programs of the Government of India under the Anganwadi Centre?
Apart from pre-school education, many types of programs are also run in Anganwadi regarding registration, monitoring, nutrition of pregnant women and lactating women.
It was also discussed that if Anganwadi workers are to be taken to pre-nursery, they will have to undergo a six-month bridge course.
A feedback was also given from the Women and Child Development Department that like government schools, the number of children in Anganwadi is also decreasing. The biggest reason for this is the play schools opening in urban areas.
Instead of providing nutrition, parents are sending their children to play schools so that they learn something before going to school. The Education Secretary has also asked the Department of Overall Education and Women and Child Development to give some more points in this matter.
There was also discussion regarding co-location of Anganwadi and pre-school. In this meeting, it was said that it should be carried forward within the scope of the mandate given in the National Education Policy.
State government will fill more than 4500 posts of pre-nursery teachers
The state government is going to fill more than 4500 posts of pre-nursery teachers and budget is also available for this from the Government of India.
Since the NTT Diploma will have to be taken with the same NCTE conditions, Anganwadi was also being given a promotion quota for pre-nursery teaching. But no solution could be found in the first meeting.
The meeting will be held again under the chairmanship of the Education Secretary. Only after that the draft will be sent to the Education Minister. Education Minister Rohit Thakur has asked to finalize the draft before the next cabinet, which does not seem likely right now.
