Article Source: Times of India

Date of Issue: July 16, 2007

Author: Pushpa Narayan

Title: Anganwadis in bad shape

Children At All The Five Centres In Yeshwantpur Get Just Two Slices of Bread Every Day

At a dingy 6ft x 10 ft room rented for an anganwadi centre in Kanteerava Colony, 42 children walk in, braving the open sump at the door step and stay there all day. What do they get? Two slices of bread.

Since the anganwadi finds it too much to enrol all adolescent girls in the area at the same time, they adopt two for six months so they can benefit from the "nutritious" meal. What to they get? Two slices of bread.

Seven pregnant women, part of the anganwadi scheme, also visit the centre. What do they get? Three slices of bread.

This is the condition of not one but all five anganwadi centres in Kanteerava Colony, Yeshwantpur. Three anganwadi centres in the area function in similar space at the attender's houses for rent between Rs 300 to Rs 500.

Each centre has over 40 children under six years attending "classes" hoping to get better health, nutrition and pre-school education. "I come here as both my parents go to work. I am scared to be home alone," says three-year-old Archana.

The anganwadi centres in the areas, run under the Integrated Child Development Scheme, also come under the Directorate of Women and Child Welfare. "It's a mockery of the whole project. These children come to the centre because they think it's better than home. Sadly, it's not," says Isan, manager, development support team, Child Rights and You, who works with anganwadis in the area.

The teachers and the attenders, who complain of not having received salaries for the past four months, throw their hands up in despair. "There is no space for us to cook. The government too decided the easier option was to give them bread," says Muthyalamma, an anganwadi teacher.

What would they do if the children complain of hunger? "It doesn't happen. How can they eat two slices of bread with nothing in it? Even if they do, we are helpless. Our directive is to give them only two slices," says Hanumanthamma, an attendant.

None of the anganwadi centres provide for basic facilities, including safe drinking water. "We give them water from the taps," says Mehboob, an attender whose house has been rented for an anganwadi centre. That explains why many children often absent themselves from school due to infections such as cold, fever and diarrhoea. "There is nothing much we can do," says Sashi, another teacher. "We function at the attender's house. It's a small place. How can they serve water for so many children? Moreover, if they drink too much water they would want to use the toilets. If this attender takes children to the toilets, who will attend to the rest?" she asks. When children want to attend to Nature's call, they are sent home.

What do they learn in these centres? The play toys and learning material is dumped at the attendant's house. "There is no place for the children to move. How do we keep those play kits here?" asks Sulochana, a teacher.

Child welfare activists argue that every child has a right of nutrition and health and it's the state government's responsibility to ensure that children get it.

Says, activist Mahadevi of Paraspara, "Our survey showed that this area alone has more than 114 children and it requires at least three more anganwadis. The Malleswaram zone, which includes Yeshwantpur, requires 114 anganwadis but we have just 24. Of these five of them don't even have a building," she said.

What is an anganwadi?

Anganwadi centres are state-run centres that cater to the nutritional needs of lactating mothers, pregnant women, adolescent girls and children below the age of six. They seek to provide nutrition, besides helping the child gain adequate pre-school knowledge.