Staff shortage hits Anganwadi services

NEW DELHI Anganwadi services, which cater to the early childhood needs of nearly 100 million children across the country, are confronting a severe staff crunch. Data with the union women and child development (WCD) ministry, accessed by HT, show widespread vacancies in Anganwadis across states, with a quarter of supervisory roles in as many as 18 states lying vacant.

A state-wise assessment by the ministry shows that in some states, the proportion of vacancies is more than 80%; 11.45% of anganwadi centres are still functioning from kutcha or mudbrick, buildings, and in at least five states, more than 15% of schools run by anganwadis don’t have a toilet.

Findings of the WCD ministry were discussed with state representatives at a day-long meeting of several schemes in the capital on November 14. Currently, while the Centre has sanctioned 1.4 million anganwadis, 1.377 million are operational. From these buildings, anganwadis workers try to meet the early childhood care, health and educational needs of three categories of children -- children between the ages of six months and three years, children between three and six years and children receiving preschool education.

Apart from that, anganwadi centres also provide care to pregnant women and lactating mothers. Around the country, 38.2 million children below three years and older than six months avail of the anganwadi services in addition to 29.3 million children in the age group of three to six years. Apart from that, 30.5 million children receive preschool education avail the services. And 16 million pregnant women and lactating mothers also avail of anganwadi services.

In the 2019-20 budget, a sum of ~19,927 crore was set aside for the services. Of this amount, WCD officials said, ~14,003 crore have already been released.

In 18 states and Union Territories, a quarter of the positions of Child Development Project Officers (CDPOs) remain vacant. These include Rajasthan (64%), Manipur (56%), Dadra and Nagar Haveli (50%), Daman and Diu (50%), Uttar Pradesh (49%), Maharashtra (48%), Karnataka (48%), Delhi (47%), Jharkhand (43%) and West Bengal (39%).

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