Anganwadis to serve as pre-primary schools

Sunit Dhawan
Tribune News Service
Rohtak, February 15

Anganwadi centres being run from government schools across the state will now be developed as pre-primary wings in order to ensure the holistic growth of children in the 0-6 age group.

Government schoolteachers from all 22 districts of the state are currently undergoing training in early childhood care and education at two five-day workshops, one of which is being conducted here.

These teachers, who are being groomed as master-trainers by medical specialists, psychologists and other experts, will then train anganwadi workers in their respective districts. The trained workers will then take care of the specific learning needs, health and other concerns of the small children.

“The underlying idea behind the exercise is to develop the anganwadi centres being run from government schools across the state as pre-primary wings and train workers to focus on the holistic growth of the children in the 0-6 age group as per the Early Childhood Care and Education programme of the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development,” said Rajnish Sharma, project coordinator.

The government schoolteachers are being educated about various aspects of children’s growth, including brain development, learning process, school readiness, interpersonal communication and conversation and so on.

They are also being educated about assessing the physical and mental well-being of the children so that any disorders therein can be detected and treated at an early stage.

Aspects like telling the children about good touch, bad touch and other sensitive points are also being covered. The children will be told about such things through story-telling to convey these in an effective manner.

Training for teachers

Government schoolteachers from all 22 districts of the state are currently undergoing training in early childhood care and education.