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Box 12: Glimpses of the ICDS programme in Karnataka
� The centre is open for about 3 hours, typically it starts off with 5 or 6 children and the
number goes up to 25 or 35 by noon.
� AWW are regular, unless they live outside the village.
� The helper is invariably from the village/slum and the usual practice is for her to go around
collecting the children.
� The main activity is feeding. In Urban 1, it is known as ‘uppitu shale’ (nutrition school).
� The major nutrition supplement consists of what is called energy food (fortified rava i.e.
flour); uppitu; sprouted green gram; chitranna (coloured rice); payasam (rice, dal,
jaggery), etc. The quantity served is adequate and the taste not at all bad
� Cleanliness is poor; the food is kept uncovered and exposed to flies.
� Pre-school education does not seem to happen consistently.
- In Urban 2, alphabets and numbers are taught in the usual routine way.
- Village 2 was an exception. The AWW there was introducing the concept of height,
weight and measurement along with interesting conversation. Children were
responding well. The pre-school curriculum is interesting but elaborate – there is a
manual incorporating activities and methodology too. If used well, it provides a good
base. But there aren’t enough teaching-learning materials. (TLM). Play materials too
are inadequate. Generally speaking, even the available material is not used properly.
The community, on its side, expects the children to acquire competencies related to
literacy.
� The growth charts are kept in the AWC, but not used for nutrition education of mothers.
� Children are not given food according to their level of malnutrition – the parents object if
some children get more food.
� There were several Stree Shakthi Groups (SHG) in our study area, in both Village 1 and
Village 2. Both the AWWs have organized 3 to 4 SHGs, which meet every week. The
AWWs have good communication with women of these groups and discuss immunisation,
breast-feeding and family planning. Some families maintained immunisation cards.
� Yet, caste related conflicts were evident – some women in village 1 complained that the
AWW was misusing the food items.
� AWWs have their own problems too, in village 2 the AWWs have not been paid a part of
their honorarium.
Source: Karnataka Report
Monitoring and supervision of Aanganwadi Centres
Monitoring is based on a perusal of documentation and reports maintained by the AWC. In
Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka while the CDPO appears to be regular in her visit to the AWC,
her monitoring seems to be confined to ensuring that the data has been properly filled in the
appropriate documents. The quality of record keeping in the two states was quite exceptional;
however, close observation of the functioning of the centre revealed a not so perfect picture. This
is a grey area and there was little feedback from the community on this issue.
In Uttar Pradesh the AWC centre is supposed to be visited by the block supervisor at least once a
month to guide and help the AWW to improve her work, check on her records and meet the
Educational Resource Unit Page 52 April 2003