Page 158 - EW December 2023

cover Story ew india PreScHool rankingS 2023-24

top-ranked anganwadis in 3 metros

Since 2018 EW has
been ranking the
best government-run
anganwadis in Mumbai,
Delhi and Bengaluru with
the objective of their serving
as role models for the
country’s neglected 1.34
million anganwadis

he challenge in Indian edu-
cation is to radically im-
prove teaching-learning not
tonly for middle class chil-
dren in fees-levying private schools,
but also for children in neglected
free-of-charge government schools Anganwadi Kendra, Hosur Road, Koramangala children: Bangalore Top 3
which grudgingly host 52 percent of
the country’s 260 million in-school database of 469 sample respondents inadequate to provide nutrition, let
children. In 2018, in the cause of comprising anganwadi teachers and alone professionally administered
supporting the Central government’s SEC (socio-economic category) ‘C’, ECCE.
ICDS (Integrated Child Development ‘D’ and ‘E’ parents in Delhi, Mumbai Ab initio, EducationWorld has
Services) programme (estb. 1975), and Bengaluru. been demanding and has also repeat-
EducationWorld introduced the first- “Sample respondents were asked to edly published a detailed roadmap
ever ranking of government angan- rate anganwadis that they were aware coterminously with presentation of
wadis — essentially nutrition centres of under six parameters on a ten-point the Union Budget for mobilizing an
for lactating mothers and children in scale. These parameters were compe- additional Rs.110,000 crore for the
the age group 0-5 years from poorest tence of teachers, infrastructure, in- ICDS programme (see https://www.
households, which are also mandated dividual attention to children, nutri- educationworld.in/union-budget-
to provide early childhood education tion/child care, safety and hygiene, 2023-24-260-million-children-short-
— in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore to and leadership quality. Preschools changed-again/), to little avail. But
serve as models for the country’s 1.34 assessed by less than 25 persons were with the National Education Policy
million anganwadis. eliminated from the rankings exercise. 2020 having mandated compulsory
However in 2020, because of the All the parameters are given equal professionally provided ECCE for all
pandemic lockdown of all education weightage except competence of fac- children in the age group 3-5, there
institutions including anganwadis, ulty which is given double weightage,” is widespread expectation that the
the rankings were discontinued for says Premchand Palety, chief ex- Union Budget 2024-25 will make
two years — 2020-21 and 2021-22. ecutive of C fore explaining the rank- larger provisioning for early childhood
With resumption of in-person learn- ings methodology especially devised education.
ing across the education spectrum, for government anganwadis. Meanwhile, in the pages following,
anganwadi rankings in these met- In the Union Budget 2023-4, we present league tables ranking the
ros was resumed in 2022-23 and is the Central government allocated top anganwadis in Mumbai, Delhi and
continued in 2023-24. To rate and Rs.20,554 crore for the ICDS pro- Bengaluru. The objective of this limit-
rank the best in these three metros, gramme — a mere Rs.2,569 per child ed exercise is to acknowledge the good
field researchers of the Delhi-based per year for the estimated 80 mil- work being done by these role mod-
market research company Centre for lion infants enrolled in the country’s els with the hope that the budgetary
Forecasting and Research (C fore) 1.34 million anganwadis. This sum of allocation for India’s short-changed
interviewed a specially constituted Rs.214 per month per child is clearly anganwadis will be increased.

158 educationworld december 2023