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Improving Services of

Anganwadi Centres &

Increasing its Reach

Jovie Katticaran

PGDM, IIM Kozhikode

Submitted on 31st March, 2012

Improving Services of Anganwadi Centres & Increasing its Reach Page | 2

Jovie Katticaran, PGDM IIM Kozhikode [email protected] Page 2

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Dr Ruby Singh, the CDPO of the Fulvarishariff Project, for taking the time to

answer all my questions, taking me around the Anganwadi centres, showing me the required

documents and making my life a whole lot easier. I’m also in debt to the supervisors Anju and

Kanchan whom I accompanied on surprise visits and who showed me the activities happening at the

centres.

I would like to thank the Director of ICDS Bihar, Mr Praveen Kishore and Ms Abha Prasad, Monitoring

Officer who gave me this opportunity to work with ICDS Bihar.

Last but not the least, my gratitude to all the kids who patiently tolerated me while I took my snaps

and questioned them on what they had studied.

Jovie Katticaran



Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................... 2

Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 4

Improving Service Delivery ................................................................................................................ 4

Problem of Monitoring .................................................................................................................. 5

Implementing a Monitoring System ........................................................................................... 7

Adequate Number of Supervisors for Inspections ...................................................................... 8

Improving the Reporting System ................................................................................................ 8

Community Participation ........................................................................................................... 9

Surprise Checks & Punitive Actions against Defaulters ............................................................... 9

Creating an Environment of Learning ............................................................................................. 9

Improving Housing Facilities & Renting Premises Away From Residences of Sevikas................. 10

Toilets & Other Facilities .......................................................................................................... 12

Selection & Training of Anganwadi workers ................................................................................. 13

Selection from examination ..................................................................................................... 14

Regular tests and continuing education ................................................................................... 16

Selection of Eligible Students ....................................................................................................... 16

Criteria to be Maintained while Selecting Students .................................................................. 17

Universalising the Program .............................................................................................................. 18

Advantages & Disadvantages of Having a Ceiling on Number of Students ................................ 18

Maintaining Teacher-Student Ratio.......................................................................................... 18

Housing needs ......................................................................................................................... 19

Phased Approach to Universalisation ........................................................................................... 19

Conclusions ..................................................................................................................................... 20



Introduction The Integrated Child Development Services Scheme (ICDS) was launched on 2nd Oct, 1975. It is the

world’s largest programme for early childhood development. The ICDS has 5 objectives which are

1. To improve the nutritional health status of children in the age group of 0-6 years

2. To lay the foundation for proper psychological, physical and social development of the child

3. To reduce the incidence of morbidity, mortality, malnutrition and school dropout

4. To achieve effective coordination of policy and implementation amongst various

departments to promote child development

5. To enhance the capability of the mother to look after the normal health and nutritional

needs of the child through proper nutrition and health education.

The above objectives are achieved through the following services

1. Supplementary nutrition

2. Immunization

3. Health check-up

4. Referral services

5. Pre-school non-formal education

6. Nutrition & health education

This report deals with improving the pre-school, non-formal education currently being provided to

students in the age group of 3-6 years. The pre-school centres are called Anganwadi centres and are

run by an Anganwadi worker called the Sevika and her helper called the Sahayika.

Each district in Bihar is divided into smaller administrative units called Projects. The Anganwadi

centres in a project are looked after by a Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) assisted by a

number of supervisors. My work revolves around the 192 Anganwadi centres in the Fulvarishariff

Project under the administration of Dr Ruby Singh, the CDPO of the area.

Improving Service Delivery The Anganwadi centres are run for 4 hours from 8AM -12PM. Each centre has 40 students who are

taught to recite rhymes, count and learn the alphabets. The Sevika and Sahayika provide snacks in

the morning and a nutritious meal every day.

Apart from teaching, these centres also seek to improve the nutrition levels of children. Children

with malnutrition are given special care. Children who are in Grade 3 & Grade 4 levels of

malnutrition are sent to clinics where they are looked after for a month along with their mother.

These pre-school centres also place emphasis on hygiene and sanitation. The centres encourage

students to enrol in a primary school after their pre-school education and maintain records of

students who have later enrolled in schools and those who have sadly dropped out.

However, many centres do not function properly and are a far cry from a model pre-school. This

report looks at improving the services offered by the Anganwadi centres.



Problem of Monitoring

The Anganwadis are located at varying distances from the CDPO office. At Fulvarishariff, there are

192 centres being monitored by 1 CDPO officer and 6 supervisors. Monitoring 192 centres is no easy

task as many of these are located in areas which are not easily accessible and have no tarred roads

leading to them. These centres are also devoid of IT systems and surveillance technology. It is

therefore impossible for the CDPO officer to monitor the working of the centre everyday and to

ensure its regular functioning.

The problems that ensue from lack of monitoring are rampant across the centres. A round of

surprise visits threw up a host of irregularities – absenteeism of the Anganwadi workers and their

helpers, high absenteeism of children, insufficient and in one instance no food being prepared for

the afternoon meal, fudging of attendance registers, take-home rations not being distributed etc.

Photo 1: Surprise Visit to Centre Photo 2: Children being seated in order

Photos 3 & 4: Insufficient food made for the children. Sadly too less for the 20 students present



Photos 5&6: Attendance registers being fudged. The Sevika uses a ‘.’ to mark absent students which she later changes to a ‘I’ to claim that students were present. She then claims finances for feeding more students than she actually has.



The following measures have been proposed to improve the monitoring system currently present.

Implementing a Monitoring System

Seva Mandir, an NGO in Rajasthan, along with J-PAL has come up with a very interesting approach to

monitor primary school teachers to ensure that they come to class. Primary school teachers have

been provided with digital cameras with which they take a photograph of themselves along with

their students twice a day with a gap of 5 hours between the 2 photos. The photographs, which have

the date and time stamp, are checked at the end of the month. The date and time functions of the

camera are sealed and are tamper proof. If at the end of the month, the teachers show 2 photos for

every working day, they earn a financial incentive. It is therefore, in the interest of the primary

school teacher to ensure that she comes to class regularly to earn this financial incentive. This

approach only encourages the teacher to come to class. It does not help monitor the quality of the

learning experience being provided by the teacher in the classroom.

The camera approach to monitoring can be applied to Anganwadi centres as well. Each worker can

be given a camera and taught how to use it. A seal should make the date and time functions of the

camera tamper proof. The workers could then be instructed to take a picture of themselves along

with the children every day. The photograph could even show the worker and helper serving the

afternoon meal to the students. Once a month, when the supervisors visit the centres to collect the

Monthly Progress Report which is currently being done, they could check the camera for a

photograph with a date corresponding to each day of the working of the Anganwadi. The payment of

a component of the workers’ salary could depend on showing the required set of photographs with

the corresponding dates.

Finances Required

The finances are calculated for a centre like Fulvarishariff which has about 200 centres under its

jurisdiction. The digital cameras can be combined with online technology that helps the district

office view the photographs as soon as they are clicked. The calculations beneath are done for a

basic monitoring model in which the supervisors check the camera once a month.

Initial investment Cost in Rs

200 Nos Basic model digital camera @ Rs 5000 each

1000000

Yearly investment Maintenance cost of 10% of camera price per camera per year

100000

The initial capital expenditure would be around 1 million INR. These cameras from reputed brands

like Sony, Kodak would normally come along with a warranty of 3 years. However, we take a



conservative approach and estimate an annual maintenance cost of Rs 500 per camera every year.

Therefore, the yearly investments would be INR 0.1 million a year.

Adequate Number of Supervisors for Inspections

The number of supervisors could be increased to ensure that every centre is visited twice a month.

Calculation Quantity

No of centres 1 supervisor can visit a day 3 3 No of centre visits carried out by 1 supervisor in a month with 25 working days. We assume she has to remain in the office for 8 days out of the 25 days to complete office/paper work

=3*17 54

No of centres to be covered 200 No of visits required to cover each centre twice a month =200*2 400 No of supervisors required =400/54 =

7.4 8

Thus, a district like Fulvarishariff would require the services of 8 supervisors. It currently has 6

supervisors and does not seem to face a deficit of manpower. However, only recently was the

district assigned 6 supervisors and a few months before this report was made, the district used to

function with only 1 supervisor.

Thus, a district with around 200 centres would need 8 supervisors working in the area. A supervisor

can barely visit 3 centres a day as the centres are open only for 4 hours ( from 8-12 AM ) and has to

cover the distances between centres.

Improving the Reporting System

In the system currently being followed, the supervisors give a report of their inspections at the end

of the month. Immediate action against Anganwadis that are flagrantly flouting rules are delayed as

a result of this procedure. Another problem that seems to arise is when Anganwadi workers who

were absent during the inspection, realise that an inspection had been carried out; they cajole the

supervisors into changing the report in their favour. To prevent this from happening, one suggestion

by Dr Ruby Singh, CDPO of Fulvarishariff, was to instantly report the status of centres during the

inspection in the form of an SMS. Thus, the CDPO can quickly scan through the SMS at the end of the

day and immediately take action against the Centres that are not performing up to expectations. The

SMS would also have to correlate with the report made by the Supervisors at the end of the month

and thus the Anganwadi workers would not be able to influence the report after the inspection has

taken place.

A messaging format would have to be made for the SMS reporting so that it is easy for the

supervisors to type out a simple text message that still clearly gives an overview of the status of the

Anganwadi centre. All supervisors currently have in possession a mobile phone and therefore, no

extra investment needs to be made for this instantaneous reporting.



Community Participation

A lot can be achieved if the community, the beneficiaries of the ICDS program, can be encouraged to

participate in the functioning of the Anganwadi centre. The Bachpan Devas celebrated every

Saturday where the parents of the students are invited to come to the Centre goes a long way in

getting the community involved. The social audit that has started being introduced is a prime

example of how the community can be vigilant and can ensure that the rations of rice and wheat

allotted to them aren’t being siphoned away.

As the community becomes aware of the benefits of the Anganwadis centres, they will also be

vigilant against malpractices that may be carried out by Sevikas and Sahayikas. This would ensure

that these centres follow fixed, regular routines, function for 4 hours and feed children their daily

meals.

Surprise Checks & Punitive Actions against Defaulters

Surprise checks must be carried out every month so that the Anganwadi centres realise that at any

point of time there might be an inspection. An analysis should be done on centres that are not faring

well to understand the reason for such dismal performance. When cases of siphoning of funds by

workers or Sevikas come up, punitive action should be swift so that they are made an example to the

rest of the Anganwadi personnel.

Creating an Environment of Learning

The Anganwadi centres are a precursor to primary schools and teach students in the age group of 3-

6 years rhymes, alphabets, numbers and offer them nutritious food. This is also the point of first

contact for students with formal teaching, activities in a classroom and learning along with their

peers. These centres should have an environment conducive to learning. A child that enjoys going to

these centres would also look forward to going to a primary school.



Improving Housing Facilities & Renting Premises Away From Residences of Sevikas

Housing facilities for most centres are currently inadequate. The most pressing problem seems to be

finding a classroom with sufficient space for 40 students. Many centres are cramped with 40

students expected to sit in a room meant for 20. Urban centres are paid Rs 750 a month and rural

centres Rs 200 a month towards rent for premises. The current amount of Rs 200 being paid to

Anganwadi workers who are not in urban areas is grossly insufficient. Semi-urban areas where the

rents are closer to those of urban areas , but are given only Rs 200 a month seem to face the brunt

of this situation.

Due to insufficient funds, many of the workers resort to holding the classes in their houses.

However, it becomes a Herculean task to monitor workers who work from their houses. These

workers spend a large portion of their work time doing household chores. It also becomes difficult

to monitor if the rations of rice and wheat are being given to the beneficiaries or are being

consumed by the Sevika household itself. Sevikas should therefore be encouraged to rent premises

at a distance of 1-2kms from their house. The rent allocated for premises should be increased in

semi-urban areas or steps should be taken by the CDPO or DPO office to find premises suitable to

house 40 students.

Photo 7: Centre in need of repair



Photos 8 & 9: Children being taught along with cattle in the cattle shed. Cattle were hastily removed when we arrived for the inspection



Is it possible to sublet premises during non-class hours?

One solution to the rents being insufficient to cover the cost of renting suitable premises would be

to sublet the premises in the evenings for other community activities. For instance, the classroom

can be rented out to conduct adult literacy programmes which usually take place in the evenings. In

this manner, by subletting premises for other community activities, rent being paid could be much

lower than the actual rent needed.

Toilets & Other Facilities

None of the centres visited had toilets. Children had to defecate in the open in nearby areas and this

created an unhygienic environment. The Anganwadis can be an excellent starting point for students

to be taught cleanliness, hygiene and basic sanitation.

In many cases, children had to sit through the searing heat with temperatures soaring up to 46

degrees Celsius in rooms that had no electricity and very little ventilation. During the summer

months can class timings be shifted to early mornings or evenings when the temperatures are not as

high?

Photo 10: Child defecating outside the centre for lack of toilets



Photo 11: Dark room with barely any light for the students to learn and play in this Anganwadi Centre

Selection & Training of Anganwadi workers

On my visits to Anganwadi centres, I was surprised by the marked difference in the abilities and

enthusiasm levels of Sevikas. The centres that were progressing well had very dedicated Sevikas who

were capable of handling and teaching children. The students at these centres were also more

confident, responded to questions, were eager to recite rhymes and the absenteeism levels were

remarkably low. The students at these centres were also taught about hygiene and came to classes

in uniforms that were clean and washed. Rampant absenteeism marked the centres were Sevikas

were negligent of duties. The students were also unenthusiastic and did not respond to questions.



The hygiene levels at these centres were dismal with students appearing to be wearing unwashed

uniforms and at worst, no uniforms at all.

It would have been an interesting experiment to compare the primary school enrolment

percentages from a well run centre with those of an also ran to see how far a well run centre

encouraged children to go to school. However, due to lack of time, I was not able to carry out this

analysis.

It is therefore essential to have a very capable and educated Sevika who is aware of basic nutrition

and health issues to ensure that the ICDS programme achieves its objectives.

Selection from examination

Currently the Sevikas are selected on the basis of the marks obtained from their 10th grade

examinations with further points being awarded to other criteria - clearing the 12th grade exams,

completing an undergraduate or diploma course. There is also attention being paid to the social

hierarchy the Sevika comes from. The Sevika of a centre in a community is currently selected from

the majority caste dominant in the area.

The current selection procedure ignores the capabilities of Sevikas and pays no attention to their

awareness of nutrition and health based issues. Therefore, an examination could be conducted for

Sevikas where they are tested on basic knowledge levels. This would ensure that the selected

Sevikas have the required knowledge levels to take care of the children.



Photos 12, 13 & 14 A Pilot Anganwadi Selection Test being conducted at Fulvarishariff

Conducting the Anganwadi Examination

The basic criteria for writing the exam would be having cleared the 10th grade exam. There would

therefore be a wide pool of applicants vying to be selected. (For instance, there were 2.6 million

applicants for the Bihar teacher Eligibility Tests through which primary and middle school teachers

are selected for government run schools. )The planning and logistics involved would be a very

expensive affair and would require the involvement of a large number of personnel. Suitable

examination centres would also have to be located and advertisements in the local papers to inform

the population of the examination would also have to be published.

One solution to minimize expenditure on such a large scale would be to conduct the examination for

Anganwadi workers along with the examination for selection of Primary & Secondary School



teachers to the government schools which are currently being conducted in the State (Bihar Teacher

Eligibility Test). There would be a separate page or section within the current examination which the

applicants desirous of Anganwadi posts would have to fill in. The applicants who cleared this exam

would form a pool of meritorious candidates from which Sevikas would be selected with attention

being paid to the distance between the Sevika residence and the Anganwadi centre.

Regular tests and continuing education

To ensure that the Sevikas remain committed to the task at hand and to improve their knowledge

levels, regular tests and training should be conducted for the Sevikas. The results of these tests could

be a clear indictor of the areas in which the knowledge levels are currently lacking and further

training could be given in these areas. Such tests would also ensure that the Sevikas pay attention

during the training modules being given.

Selection of Eligible Students

In the current scheme of the programme, the selection of the 40 students at the Anganwadi centre

is left to the discretion of the Sevika. However, in certain areas, children who reside very close to the

centre and who are from an economically weak background are excluded from the program while

marginally better off students who reside at a distance are selected for the programme. Therefore,

students who are much more in need of the ICDS programme and who are more at risk from low

nutrition levels are sometimes excluded from the programme. The CDPO office should give clear

guidelines on the children to be selected so that the Anganwadi worker does not end up choosing a

skewed sample of students.



Criteria to be Maintained while Selecting Students

While selecting students 2 main criteria should be kept in mind

Risk of Low Nutrition Levels in Child

Distance of residence from Anganwadi centre



First priority should be given to children from families who are very weak economically and are at

very high risk of low levels of nutrition. The Anganwadi worker should select students from the

lowest socio-economic quintile in the community as these children are at higher risk to malnutrition

and deficiency related diseases.

If the ceiling of 40 cannot be completed even after selecting students from this background,

Anganwadi workers should start selecting students from the next lowest socio-economic quintile

and work their way upwards. However, as she works up the list, she should start paying heed to the

distance of student residences from the Anganwadi centre. For instance, if she has to choose

between 2 students , both of the same socio-economic background, higher preference should be

given to the student whose residence is closer to the Anganwadi centre.

Universalising the Program Currently, each centre caters to the needs of forty children in the age group of 3-6 years. This ceiling

excludes a number of eligible children in areas with a dense population. However, a number of

hurdles would have to be overcome to include more students in the ICDS programme

Advantages & Disadvantages of Having a Ceiling on Number of Students

Advantages Disadvantages

Helps ensure a minimum level of quality o A satisfactory teacher-student

ratio in classroom is maintained o 2 workers can look after a fixed

number of students rather than having, for instance 100 students, being neglected by the 2 workers

In areas with a very dense population, many students are left out of this programme

Monitoring becomes easier o The headquarters knows that

every centre has only 40 students

o Every month, it is easy to allocate the same finances for every centre

It would be difficult for the ICDS programme to show any results if it caters only to a very narrow percentage of the population

If Sevikas are allowed to choose all students who are eligible, she might end up fudging accounts and showing children on rolls that are not actually present. An officer would have to go to each centre to verify if all the students on the rolls are actually present

May antagonise community members whose children have not been selected by the ICDS programme

Maintaining Teacher-Student Ratio

The current teacher – student ratio is 1:40. Increasing the number of students in a classroom woud

see a decline in the quality of the teaching since the teacher would have less time to spend on each



student. Thus, in areas where there are another 40 eligible students, a new centre would have to be

setup and staffed with a Sevika and Sahayika. Thus, more Sevikas and Sahayikas would have to be

recruited.

However, it would be inefficient if a new centre had to be opened up in a community where 10-20

eligible students are excluded from the program. The extra 10-20 students could be enrolled in the

existing Anganwadi centre. Such centres with a student- teacher ratio of more than 40:1 should be

assigned 2 Sahayika instead of 1. This would ensure that the Sahayikas can help out and look after

the kids while the Sevika concentrates on teaching.

Housing needs

The ICDS programme faces difficulty in finding premises to run the Anganwadi centres with a sum of

Rs 200 per month (for non-urban areas) spent on renting premises. It might prove to be difficult to

find centres in areas where there already exists an Anganwadi centre. The ideal centre is a

government owned building and in many areas the sole government owned building might have

been rented out for the ICDS programme already. Special attention must be taken to find suitable

premises for both centres.

Phased Approach to Universalisation

To bring more children under the umbrella of the ICDS programme, a phased approach must be

taken

Pick out areas of high density in population and grade them into 4 categories

o Area 1: communities where number of children left out of the programme is close to

20-40 students and where these excluded students do not prefer going to a

privately run nursery school

o Area 2: communities where number of children left out of the programme is close to

40 students and where these excluded students prefer going to a privately run

nursery school

o Area 3: Communities where the number of children excluded from the ICDS

programme is less than 20 and these students do not prefer going to a privately run

nursery school

o Area 4: Communities where the number of children excluded from the ICDS

programme is less than 20 and these students prefer going to a privately run nursery

school

The preference order for universalisation would be in the following order



New centres would be opened up in communities which are earmarked as Area1. New

premises would have to be selected, preferably at a distance from the existing one. A Sevika

and Sahayika would also have to be recruited to run the new centre

In communities earmarked as Area 3, the 10-20 students would be added to the existing

Anganwadi centre and the ceiling would be raised to 60 students. These centres would be

provided an extra Sahayika.

In communities earmarked as Areas 2& 4, even if new centres are opened up, the excluded

students may not join it as they prefer the privately run nursery schools. So unless they show

a willingness to join the ICDS programme, new centres should not be opened up and neither

should the existing ceiling be increased.

Conclusions Anganwadi centres play an important role in the development of a child and are also a precursor to

formal education. More importantly, it fosters a learning environment and encourages children to

enrol in primary schools. The importance of primary education cannot be over-emphasized. Once a

child opts out of primary school, later reintegration into the education system is very difficult in the

country. It also becomes difficult to improve the socio-economic status of the child.

The centres also monitor the nutrition levels of the children. Their mothers are taught the

importance of feeding children nutritious food. The children and their mothers are also given

nutrition supplements like vitamins, iron and folic acid. The cases of severe malnutrition levels

(Grade III and grade IV) have decreased in communities where Anganwadi centres have been

functioning.

However, many centres are a far cry from a model pre-school education. Their services need to be

properly monitored and improved. Rampant siphoning of funds and irregular functioning of the

centres dissuade children from regularly attending the programme. Currently, the reach of the

Anganwadis is also limited and efforts are on to universalise the programme and bring more children

into its fold.

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