The Union Women and Child Development Ministry on Tuesday launched a special protocol for Anganwadi workers which will help them track and help children with disabilities in the 0-6 years age group.
As part of the new protocol, Anganwadi workers will be provided with training that will help them spread awareness on the issue.
“If we look at it from a community perspective, it is a silent revolution in our community,” Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani said after the launch of the protocol.
The Minister said that grassroots-level data on children with disabilities will become available through Anganwadi workers, and the children can be further tracked through the Poshan tracker.
She said it would be for the first time that Anganwadi workers will spread awareness that disability is not a challenge for society but an opportunity for society to help a child. “The mindset needs to be changed,” Ms. Irani said.
Ms. Irani noted that the National Education Policy-2020 emphasises prioritising the integration of students with disabilities into mainstream schools. “We know 85% of a child’s mental development happens by the age of six. Today, our education system has new provisions for divyang (disabled) children,” she added.
According to a statement issued by the Women and Child Development Ministry, the National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage-2022 further recommends approaches to addressing developmental delays and disabilities in schools, including advice on signs and symptoms.
In pursuance of these approaches, the ‘Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi ‘ programme has adopted the national Early Child Care and Education (ECCE) Task Force recommendation for play-based and activity-based learning pedagogy, and strongly advocates special and timely support for divyang children, the statement said.
The Anganwadi eco-system reaches out to over eight crore children from birth to six years on a daily basis, and is a critical access point to them.
