Odisha

The Anganwadi Centres were closed down during lockdowns. To reduce the suffering by children during the pandemic, the Department of Women & Child Development launched the home-based, parent-led learning continuity through Ghare Ghare Arunima. The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) curriculum were transformed into a daily basis pictorial fun-filled activities for preschool children of 3 to 6 years. Through this learning, a loss could be managed and it was joyful for parents, grandparents and even siblings. Supplementary nutrition was also delivered to their doorsteps. The programme covered  16,13,775 children across 72,587 Anganwadis.

To remove child marriages in the state, the department launched Nirvaya Kadhi. The project aims to create a child marriage-free village to cover 3,970 villages. Since its launch in 2020 in the Ganjam district, nearly 2,500 child marriages have been prevented. Already, 1,83,933 adolescent girls have been sensitised across 3,259 villages. The first village to become child marriage-free was Rugudipali Village in Subarnapur District. Nirvaya Kadhi has increased the willingness of girls toward higher education.

“Vatsalya” is a parent-led, home-based early stimulation programme for children under 3 years for early stimulation for brain development. It targets all parents, grandparents and caregivers of children. The state has 72,587 AWCs that cater to over 17 lakh children of 3-6 years. The Anganwadi workers make a series of calendars in 10 mother tongues with joyful learning activities coupled with Covid safety messages.

The state has implemented Mother Tongue Curriculum “Nua Arunima” in 10 tribal languages and moving forward for transformation in early education and life of tribal children in Odisha. There was a linguistic problem with the tribal children. It was difficult to make them understand the concepts in another language which is not their mother tongue. Under this programme, Anganwadi worker’s and children’s comprehension and participation have increased to acquire Nua Arunima Curricular activities with better understanding. A large number of children, parents and community workers have increased their access to health, nutrition, immunisation as much as pre-school education in their home language. The programme targets 1,80,000 children in 12 districts out of 30 tribal districts in the state.