Centre Issues Guidelines to Co-locate 11 Lakh Anganwadis with Primary Schools
The Union government has issued new guidelines to co-locate approximately 11 lakh anganwadi centres on the premises of the nearest primary schools. The move, jointly announced by the ministries of Education and Women and Child Development, aims to ensure a smooth transition for children into formal schooling. The guidelines also push for data integration between the government's Poshan Tracker and the UDISE+ school database to better track children's educational journeys from early childhood, potentially using a single lifelong ID.
Unpacked:
Anganwadi centres are government-run facilities under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme. They provide early childhood education, nutrition, health check-ups, and supplementary food for children under six, as well as support for pregnant and lactating women. Their primary goal is to promote child development, reduce malnutrition, and improve maternal health.
Co-location can ease children's transition into formal schooling by offering a familiar environment, facilitating continuity in learning, and fostering collaboration between preschool and primary teachers. It may also improve resource sharing and allow for more effective monitoring of children's development and readiness for school.
The Poshan Tracker is a digital tool for monitoring nutrition and health services at anganwadi centres, providing real-time data on children's growth and service delivery. Integrating it with UDISE+ (the education database) can create a unified, lifelong record for each child, supporting better tracking of educational and nutritional outcomes and enabling targeted interventions.
Potential challenges include ensuring data privacy and security, integrating disparate data systems, and maintaining accurate, up-to-date records as children move or change schools. There are also concerns about digital access and the ability of all regions to implement such systems effectively, especially in rural or under-resourced areas.