Poshan Bhi, Padhai Bhi scheme

General Studies Paper 2

Context: In May 2023, the Union Ministry for Women and Child Development launched the Centre’s flagship programme ‘Poshan Bhi, Padhai Bhi’.

About

• Objective: The programme will focus on Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) at anganwadis across the country. The aim is to make anganwadi centres as nutrition hubs as well as education-imparting centres.
• Funding: The ministry has allocated Rs 600 crore for the training of anganwadi workers to implement the ECCE.
• Governance:The National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD) will provide training of Anganwadi workers. NIPCCD is an autonomous organization under the Union Ministry for Women and Child Development.

Strategy 

• Anganwadi Centres will be strengthened with high-quality infrastructure, play equipment, and well-trained Anganwadi workers/teachers
• Every child (till the age of 6-years) would be provided with at least two hours of high-quality pre-school instruction in the mother tongue on a daily basis, as per the New Education Policy.
• Target is to ensure that the ECCE material, which was prepared based on the New Education Policy, percolates to every anganwadi in the country through new training methodologies (such as visual aids, audio aids, audio-visual and bodily-kinesthetic aids).
• Government will target children’s development in every domain mentioned in the National Curriculum Framework, , physical and motor development, cognitive development, socio-emotional-ethical development, cultural/artistic development, and the development of communication and early language, literacy, and numeracy.

Significance of ECCE via Anganwadi centres

• Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) is an important component of Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 (Mission Poshan 2.0) and the National Education Policy.
• Close to 13.9 lakh operational Anganwadi centres across the country are providing supplementary nutrition and early care and education to around 8 crore beneficiary children under the age of 6 years.
• Considering global evidence on 85% of brain development being achieved by the age of 6 years, the Anganwadi eco-system becomes a critical access point for building the children’s base.