Election model code of conduct takes a toll on anganwadis

Chennai: The May 16 polls and the model code of conduct have come as a cropper to state-run anganwadi centres (AWC) as the childcare centres are now facing shortage of staff with teachers attending basic computer classes required for poll duty.

Visit by Deccan Chronicle to three AWCs in Kancheepuram district revealed that the guidelines of Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) implemented to tap the creative and cognitive side of a child has been by and large ignored.
Except for the coloured charts hanging on the wall, the 150 square-feet asbestos-sheeted room with worn out floor in Adam Nagar Main Road, Pammal, looks more like a warehouse than an anganwadi. The tiny room has rice bags at one end and a gas stove at the other, acting as a makeshift kitchen and storeroom along with the classroom.

The glaring deficiencies include absence of a restroom and a small playground. “It has been two months since the teacher here passed away and no permanent teacher has been deputed yet. AWC teacher from Anakaputhur mans the centre for an hour on alternative days,” said a noon meal worker K. Meena who admitted that she is unable to handle the additional work.

In the marginalised areas of Thirukulakundram, the centres have adhered to the rules only on paper. The teacher at an AWC in Kilapakkam is an acting cook as the noon meal worker retired 10 months ago. The teacher closes the school at 1pm as she was asked to learn basic computer classes for election duty.

Talking to DC, a parent Sarala said, “Being MGNREGA workers, most of us were relieved to send our kids to the centres. But now, we had quit work to take care of our children in the afternoon.” A social worker, Megala Manickam’s efforts to systematise the centre were in vain as the ICDA authorities told her about the additional election work given to teachers.

In Tambaram and Chengalpet taluks, a teacher manages over three centres. Anganwadi dropouts have increased in the region, rued another social worker, Shilpa George.

Chinna Edayathur kids walk over two km to reach their Anganwadi, a tiresome and unwelcoming task for both parents and children. When DC contacted officials of the department of social welfare and nutritious meal programme, they revealed that the postings would resume in two months. “As a petition was filed by ICDS workers demanding increase in wages and promotion in the high court, recruitment was paused,” a highly-placed official said adding things will get back to normalcy after polls.

Explaining the malpractices in the system, advocate, N. Lalitha who has surveyed on the crux of ICDS said a child was allocated only 14 paise back in 2003. “No proper register on stock utilisation and day-to-day student enrollment is maintained.” From fetching firewood for cooking to cleaning the rooms, kids were made slaves with arduous tasks. There was swindling of grocery by workers”, she alleged.

“Apart from providing poor quality food, the centres don’t take up other works. With important duties like educating adolescent girls and expectant mothers put on hold, awareness has taken a backseat,” said social activist K. Shanmuga Velayutham.