For early construction of Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) for kids, the State Government has decided to construct AWC building, as far as possible, inside the premises of Government primary schools.
Women and Child Development Principal Secretary Anu Garg and School and Mass Education Department Principal Secretary Satyabrata Sahu have jointly written a letter to all Collectors in this regard on Thursday.
Presently, a large number of AWCs are still functioning in rented houses or community halls. So in order to maintain functional linkage of Anganwadi Centres and primary school, construction of AWC building of a village will be done, as far as possible, inside of the premises of Government primary school of the said village.
As per the latest reports, some bottlenecks have arisen in the functioning of AWCs 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 letter said.
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 the 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 inadequate number of children. Where the school buildings are in good condition with the provision of drinking water, toilets, and kitchen sheds, they will be used as AWCs on a priority basis.
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 decide modalities to use 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 till the construction of its own building. But no AWCs should function on the veranda of the school premises under any circumstances.
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.
The Collectors have been urged to instruct the district / block-level authorities to take effective measures in this regard.
