Bhubaneswar: For early construction of Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) for kids, the State Government has decided to construct AWCs building, as far as possible, inside of the premises of Government Primary School.
Women & Child Development, Principal Secretary, Anu Garg and Principal Secretary, School and Mass Education Department, Satyabrata Sahu have jointly written a letter to all Collectors on this issue on Thursday.
It is observed that a large number of Anganwadi Centres are still functioning in rented houses or community halls. So, it is once again reiterated that due to functional linkage of Anganwadi Centres and primary school, construction of AWCs building of a village will be done, as far as possible, inside of the premises of Govt. Primary School of the said village.
As per the latest reports, some bottlenecks have arisen in the functioning of Anganwadi Centres within the school premises. Hence, the two Principal Secretaries have issued detailed instructions for the purpose.
It is a Government policy that AWCs should be co-located in the Government schools as far as possible. Therefore, no NOC should be insisted upon from DEO/ BED/ SMC/ HM or any other authorities.
The concerned BDO must encourage the construction of buildings in school premises and take construction on priority. The decision of the site selection committee under the Chairpersonship of BDO for the construction of AWCs will be final and conclusive, where BED/ his/ her representative should be present, read the letter.
Similarly, a large number of primary schools are closed down due to mergers owing to the inadequate number of children and as these school buildings are in good condition with the provision of drinking water, toilets, and kitchen sheds, which may be used as AWCs on a priority basis.
Hence, the Government has instructed to constitute a committee under the chairpersonship of Sub-Collector with BDO, Tahasildar, CDPO, BEO, and Executive Officer/ AEO of the concerned NAC/ Municipality as members and to decide modalities to use these types of primary school as AWCs.
Where Anganwadi Centre of a village is functioning in a rented house and, on the other hand, the Primary School of the said village has extra classroom/ space; the AWC shall be permitted to function in the available extra classroom/ space of the Primary School till the construction of its own building.
No Anganwadi Centre should function on the veranda of the school premises, and under any circumstances, warned the Principal Secretaries.
However, the timings can be adjusted locally in view of the prevailing COVID-19 situation. The toilets of school buildings shall be opened and made available for use by the children of the AWC also, they said.
The vegetables available in the kitchen garden of the school should also be provided to the AWCs for provisioning of the same in the hot cooked meal for pre-school children in the case of co-located AWCs in the primary schools.
In the above context, the Collectors were requested to instruct the district / block-level authorities to take effective measures for the construction and smooth functioning of AWCs within the school premises immediately.
