Survey Report of Conditions at Anganwadis in Bangalore

Need Gap Analysis

inAnganwadis

Survey Report of Conditions at Anganwadis in Bangalore

(Study done by Student volunteers of Child Rights And You)
RESEARCH GROUP

Data Collection and Survey:

• Students from Mount CarmelCollege:

1. Mayuri M
2. Jennifer Shalini
3. Srishti Gupta
4. Poonam Sharma
5. AndriaMendez
6. Harshitha Raju
7. Shruti Pawar
8. Nikita suresh
9. Monica K.
10. Elizabeth Rebello
11. Deepika Chandran
12. Sushmita Sudharshan

• Students from St Josephs College,(Department of Social Work)

1. Gayly Lalrinmawii
2. Subhashree Panigrahi
3. Harshini Rebeca

• Report compilation by Blossom (XIME) and Sanjana Govil (NLS)
  TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Services provided by the AWC

Objectives of AWC Services

OBJECTIVE AND METHODOLOGY &Field Work andAnalysis

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ANNEXURE 1: Anganwadi Questionnaire

ANNEXURE 2: Community Questionnaire

INTRODUCTION

The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme is the world's largest early child development program(1). Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) is the only major national program that addresses the needs of children under the age of six years. Because the health and nutrition needs of a child cannot be addressed in isolation from those of his or her mother, the program also extends to adolescent girls, pregnant women and nursing mothers (2). It was initiated in 1975 as a small beginning in 33 blocks in the country. Universalization of the ICDS was originally contemplated to be achieved by the end of 1995-96, through the expansion of services all over the country(3).

ICDS services are provided through a vast network of ICDS centres, better known as “Anganwadis”. The term “Anganwadi'” developed from the idea that a good early child care and development centre could be run with low cost local materials even when located in an ‘angan’ or courtyard (4).The Anganwadi (AW), literally a courtyard play centre, is a childcare centre located within the village or the slum area itself. It is the focal point for the delivery of services at community levels to children below six years of age, pregnant women, nursing mothers and adolescent girls. Besides this, the AW is a meeting ground where women’s/mother’s groups can come together, with other frontline workers, to promote awareness and joint action for child development and women’s empowerment. All the ICDS services are provided through the AW in an integrated manner to enhance their impact on childcare. Each AW is run by an Anganwadi Worker (AWW) supported by a helper in integrated service delivery, and improved linkages with the health system - thus increasing the capacity of community and women - especially mothers - for childcare, survival and development(5).There are 8.3 lakh operational Anganwadis in India, as of31stMarch, 2007.

The Supreme Court judgment of 13th December, 2006 states that settlements with at least 40 children under six but no Anganwadi are entitled to an Anganwadi “on demand” within three months of thedate of demand(6)

Services provided by the AWC (7)

1. Supplementary Nutrition in the form of one cooked meal a day for at least 300 days in a year children between the ages of 6 months to 6 years, pregnant mothers, lactating mothers ad adolescent girls (between the ages of 15 and 18).
2. Immunization to children under the age of six and pregnant women.
3. Health check-up to children under the age of six and pregnant women.
4. Referral services to beneficiaries who are severely malnourished or suffer from any other ailment that requires medical attention.
5. Nutrition and Health Education to mothers and Adolescent Girls.
6. Non-formal pre-school education to 3 years – 6 years children.

Objectives of AWC Services(8)

• To improve the nutritional and health status of children of age group 0-6 years.
• To lay the foundation for proper Psychological, Physical and Social development of the child.
• To reduce the incidence of Mortality, Morbidity, Malnutrition and School dropouts.
• To achieve effective co-ordination of policy and implementation amongst the various departments to promote child development and

• To enhance the capacity of mother to look after normal health and nutritional needs of the child through proper nutrition and health education

(1), (3) last visited on feb7,2009

(2),(6)

(5), (7), (8) last visited on feb7, 2009

Objective and Methodology

Objective of the Study: Need gap analysis of ‘Right to Food’ in the anganwadis in Bangalore.

Methodology: A sample size of 50 Anganwadis was selected in North, South and central Bangalore. Two questionnaires, one for the anganwadi and another for the community in each area were administered. A face-to-face interview was done with the children, their parents, community members and teachers and helpers of the anganwadi.

Field Work and Analysis

From a survey conducted of nearly 50 Anganwadis in Bangalore, it is noted that in 17 Anganwadis, only 2 slices of bread or 1 bun are given to each child every day. According to Supreme Court orders,a cooked meal should be provided to children between 6 months to 6 years, which contains a minimum of 300 calories. One slice of white bread contains only 60 calories (1), while one bun contains 175 calories (2).Hence, at these 17 Anganwadis children get at maximum only 180 calories instead of the 300 ordered by the Supreme Court. Also the 8-10 grams of protein to be provided in accordance with Supreme Court orders is not being provided at these 17 Anganwadis which is more than one third of the Anganwadis surveyed. Additionally, 2 slices of bread cost less than Rs.1.50 at retail price. Thus, the Government at these Anganwadis is not spending even the stipulated Rs.2 per child for meals to be provided at Anganwadis.

Forty one percent of children at 20 of 49 Anganwadis are devoid of the basic facility of drinking water. Also 25 out of 45 – or more than half – of Anganwadis do not have any toilet facility, which reflects even more on the pathetic condition of the Anganwadis. At 21 out of 48 Anganwadis (i.e., 44%) there is no provision of lights and at 39 out of 49 Anganwadis (i.e., 80%) there is no provision of fans though the Anganwadis stay open after noon when it can get hot especially in summer months. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has recommended that all Anganwadis should have at least toilet and water facilities (3). Seeing as the Budget 2008-2009 sanctioned enough money to the ICDS to construct 10.52 lakh Anganwadis, the resources to improve infrastructure are available (4).

At 11 out of 49 Anganwadis (i.e., more than one-fifth), study material is not being provided to children that can severely affect their learning. Also adding to this is the fact that at more than one fifth of the Anganwadis people complained that the teacher was not regular. At 15 out of 49 (i.e., 30%) of Anganwadis there are no blackboards and at 13 out of 49 (i.e., more than one-fourth) of Anganwadis there are no chalks provided.

Of the 149 families surveyed in 21 communities there are about 308 children of whom 228 are going either to School or to the Anganwadi.

At 28, 16, 2 out of 49 Anganwadis the medium of instruction is Kannada, Kannada & English, and Kannada & Tamil respectively. At 22 out of 49 of communities, people are not aware of the facilities that should be provided by an Anganwadi. So, where people do not have any complaints against the Anganwadi its more due to the lack of awareness about the facilities that the Anganwadis should be providing. People need to understand that ICDS is now an entitlement of all children under six, and that they can help in making this right a reality. They also need to know about the Supreme Court Orders.While it’s the responsibility of the government, at many Anganwadis, NGO’s are playing an important part by imparting education and also providing food to the children.

(1)

(2) Sourced from: Hindustan Lever Limited, ‘Modern’ Fruit Bun packaging.

(3)

(4)

CONCLUSION

While an important step towards providing children with their right to food was taken when the universalization of ICDS was included in the National Common Minimum Programme of the UPA government in May 2004 (1), there are numerous other problems which need to be solved before we can ensure that the future of India that lies with these children is secure and bright. From the field work conducted, it is abundantly clear that the original objectives of the scheme have not yet been met.

Appallingly, the quality of food provided at many Anganwadis is not enough to “improve the nutritional and health statusof children”, as the scheme envisioned. It is a known fact that 80% brain growth takes place in the first six years. The amount spent in many Anganwadis is much less than the stipulated amount of at least Rs.2 per child per day. There were 8.3 lakh operational Anganwadis, as on 31March 2007. Also, in December, 2007 about 5.5 crore children were covered under the “supplementary nutrition” component of the Anganwadi programme. This is barely one third of all children below the age of six years. The Supreme Court explicitlydirected the government to expand the number of Anganwadis to 14 lakhs, to ensure that everysettlement is covered by end of December 2008 which has not been fulfilled.(2)

“Proper Psychological, Physical and Social development of the child” is hardly possible without basic facilities like drinking water and toilets. The reason for this is reflected in low budgets for these schemes.Low commitment to children under six has led to lowallocation of funds for ICDS. The total allocation for ICDSby the Central Government in 2004-5 was a mere Rs1,600 crores – less than one tenth of one per cent ofIndia’s GDP. By contrast, in the same year, the CentralGovernment spent Rs.77,000 crores on Defence.Although the budget allocation for ICDS has increasedsteadily in recent years, and is now close to Rs 6300crores (4), this remains far from adequate to improve qualityand move rapidly towards universalization. Theexpenditure per child needs to be doubled, at the veryleast, to achieve minimum quality standards. And of coursethe budget needs to be doubled again, if not tripled, toachieve “universal coverage” of all children. Not only is the overall budget low, the item-wisebreakdown also shows glaring inadequacies and imbalances. Eventhe expenditure norm for “supplementary nutrition” wasas low as Re. 0.95 per child per day (to be contributedby the State Government) in 2004-5. The norm has sincebeen doubled by the Central Government, in response toSupreme Court orders.(5)

The most important reason for the gap between promiseand reality is that the rights and wellbeing of children undersix are not a political priority. This is partly because children are not voters. Additionally there is poor understanding about early childhood acrossthe country and in all strata of society. Not many arefamiliar with scientific facts about the critical importance ofearly childhood in the development of a human being. Thishas led to indifference and rampant neglect on the part of thegovernment, and also at the level of community involvement.(6)

The awareness levels in communities about all the services that should be provided by Anganwadis are less. Community participation is an important element in the design of ICDS. It can do a lot to help theeffective functioning of Anganwadis. The Supreme Court has directed the states that "Contractors shall not be used for supply of nutrition in Anganwadis and preferably ICDS funds shall be spent by making use of village communities, self-help groups and Mahila Mandals for buying of grains and preparation of meals". But in 17 Anganwadis we found that Bread is provided by a Private Company. Instead, the community members orother groups in these communities can be mobilized and trained to run the supplementary nutrition program and also monitor the anganwadis. Painting a list of the services that are supposed to be provided under ICDS on the walls of the Anganwadi is also a useful way of making sure that people are aware of their entitlements (3)

Making people aware of their rights, empowering them and helping them to fight for their rights is the only way to ensure that Government continues to perform its duties effectively and efficiently. (7) We have a long way to go before we can provide every child in India even the fundamental rights he has. We have taken a step in this direction, now we need to get our actions more focused and concentrated to achieve our goals.

(1), (2), (3), (5), (6), (7)

(4) (

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Hindustan Lever Limited, ‘Modern’ Fruit Bun packaging
• last visited on feb7, 2009
• last visited on feb7,2009

ANNEXURE 1

ANGANWADI QUESTIONNAIRE

Name of the Area : ______

Ward No. : ______

Name of the Slum : ______

Q1. Number of people working in the Anganwadi ______

Q2. Number of students who have registered with Anganwadi _____

Q3. What is the regularity of children coming to Anganwadi?

______

Q4. What is being taught to the children at Anganwadi?

______

Q5. Basic Amenities

Q6. Timings of the Anganwadi ______

Q7. Is food being provided to the children? ______

Q8. What is the medium of instruction? ______

Q9. Is there any NGO Involved with the Anganwadi? If so, which one and what does

it do?

______

______

Q10. Building Details of the Anganwadi

______

Q 11. Officials Involved and how frequently they visit the anganwadi

1. CDPO Officer ______
2. Health Officer ______
3. Supervisor ______
4. Supplier ______

Q. Is the teacher maintaining punctuality and regularity in coming to the Anganwadi?

Reason:______

______

Q. Is the teacher supported by the Government or any other NGO’s?

______

______

Q. Your Observations:

______

______

______

ANNEXURE 2

COMMUNITY QUESTIONNAIRE

Name of the Area:

Ward No:______Name of the Corporator (ex): ______

Name of the slum:

How old is the slum?:

Population of the Community : ______

Religion of the Community : Dominant: ______Others:______

Language spoken by the Community : Dominant: ______Others:______Occupation of the community people : Dominant:______Others:______

Name of the Community Leaders : ______

Q 1. Is any NGO involved with the community?

Q 2. If yes, what work does the NGO do?

______

Q3. What is the average earning of a family in the community?

______

Q4. What is the total number of children in the community? ______

Q5. Basic Amenities in the community

Water supply: Common Tap: ______Individual Tap:

Drinking water:

Drainage:

Road:

Street Light:

Toilet Facility: Common:______Individual house:

Q6. Do the community people are aware of the services that should be provided by the Anganwadi?
______

______

Q5. Do you (each household) have ration cards?

Below Poverty Line card:

Above Poverty Line card:

Q 6.Complaints and Comments for the Anganwadi operating

______

______

______

Q7. Household Survey

General problems faced by the community people

______

Experience and Suggestions by the community

______

Observations:

______

1