NEW DELHI: Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday said that it was the government’s priority to strengthen the Anganwadi centres instead of expanding nurseries in schools to provide early childhood care centres in an environment of care for children up to the age of four.
Sisodia, who holds the education portfolio, convened a combined meeting of the senior officials of the Directorate of Education (DoE), the Department of Woman and Child Development and North, East and South municipal corporations to discuss the strategy of strengthening early childhood education.
At present, the DoE enrols about 28,000 children while the three municipal corporations of the city enrol about 51,000 children in pre-primary classes, according to a statement released by Sisodia’s office. At the same time, nearly 1.7 lakh children in the age group of 3-6 are enrolled at Anganwadis also.
“This leads to duplication and also dilution in the quality as none of these agencies focuses on early childhood care and education as one of its top priorities,” it said.
“Therefore, a coordinated strategy is required to provide early childhood care centres in an environment of care to children up to four years in age. Hence, instead of expanding nurseries in the government or municipal schools, the priority of the government would be to strengthen Anganwadis,” the government added.