Anganwadis asked to enroll more kids
The Social Justice Department has directed the 32,000-odd anganwadis in the state.
Thiruvananthapuram: The Social Justice Department has directed the 32,000-odd anganwadis in the state to increase their intake of children from the next academic year.
The directive has been issued in the wake of the latest Local Fund Audit report that revealed that the number of children in anganwadis had been dropping dramatically over the years. In the last academic year alone, the number of children in the state’s anganwadis had fallen by a whopping 40,000.
The department has now asked each of the anganwadis to enroll at least two more children than their last year’s intake. Poor infrastructure in anganwadis has been identified as the reason behind the “considerable fall” in the enrollment of children in anganwadis.
The department has now asked anganwadis to “utilize to the maximum” the panchayat non-road maintenance fund for improving the infrastructure.
The Audit report, which came out in October this year, had found that the infrastructure facilities in anganwadis had not improved even 15 years after the local bodies were asked to take on the responsibility of running them.
The audit was carried out in 5,072 anganwadis in 81 local bodies in the state. Of this, 2,245 anganwadis or 44 per cent were functioning out of rented houses. “Only buildings that have toilets and drinking water supply should be taken on rent. But the audit found that the majority of rented buildings lacked basic facilities,” the report said.
Only 31 per cent of the audited anganwadis had drinking water facilities and only 58 per cent of them had power. In 83 per cent of anganwadis, it was found that there were no baby-friendly toilets.
There are a number of anganwadis where the children share toilets with the building owner’s family. The pathetic conditions prevailing in anganwadis have prompted parents to stop sending children to these creche, the report says.
Anganwadis are being run under the Integrated Child Development Scheme, a programme focused on children below the age of 6. They are meant for children below the age of 6, teenage girls and lactating mothers.