Anganwari workers launch hunger strike

Nikhila Pant Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, November 22

Anganwari workers and helpers began their hunger strike outside the office of Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal located near Multipurpose Sports Stadium here today.

The protesters announced that they would observe the strike from 9 am to 5 pm till November 30.

The protest was in unison with the state-wide call given by the Anganwari Workers Union to stage protests outside the residences and offices of all cabinet ministers and Congress leaders.

Raising slogans against the state government and the Finance Minister, the anganwari workers claimed that during a brief meeting a few days ago, the Finance Minister had expressed the state government’s helplessness in recruiting anganwari workers and helpers as staff for pre-primary classes in government schools stating that the workers were not qualified enough for the posts.

“All these decades, when we taught children in the age-group of 3 to 6 years at anganwari centres, the government didn’t bother to check our educational background or out eligibility criteria. We prepared children hailing from economically weaker background for admission to mainstream schools,” said union leader Prakash Kaur.

“Now when the same children are to be taught on the premises of the government elementary schools, the state government has made an excuse of our lack of qualifications. We want the government to make public the criteria for teaching pre-primary students and give us time to clear the eligibility criteria and recruit us as staff for these classes,” Charanjit Kaur said.

The protesters accused the government of taking a hasty decision and rendering more than 54,000 anganwari workers and helpers unemployed.

They alleged that the government was less concerned about the standard of education for these children and more concerned about saving money by shutting down anganwari centres.

Elaborating on their demands, the protesters said either the government should recruit them as staff for the pre-primary classes or revive the anganwari centres and release funds for these.

They also demanded that the anganwari workers be covered under the recommendations of the Labour Board and be given EPF and other benefits.

They threatened that in case the government continued to ignore their demands, they would intensify their stir.