Anganwadi in Kerala

A large, sunny room with tiny chairs, play equipment, educational toys, educational charts, books and mattresses for afternoon nap kept neatly folded in cupboards. An attached kitchen where nutritious food is being prepared, to be served hot in clean plates. A clean toilet on the other side. A large and shady outdoor play area. About a dozen excited kids singing rhymes or playing or riting on their slates while the teacher keeps an eye on all of them. They are taken good care of from 9.30am to 3.30pm, served nutritious and freshly cooked breakfast, lunch and evening snack, all of this given absolutely free! This is an anganwadi in Thrissur, Kerala.

However this is not the case with most anganwadis in the the state. Most of them function in a small building, with no open areas to play outdoors. They have their own new building with areas as per Government norms. There are regular inspections, so hygiene is ensured. Some, like the one mentioned above, are lucky to be attached to a primary school, where there is ample outdoor play area under the trees. However many of the anganwadis, especially the ones in city areas, have no buildings of their own, and have to function in rented rooms. The amount given by the Government is Rs.1000/-, and insufficient to rent a decent facility. As per the new early childhood education and care policy of the State government, an anganwadi will not be permitted to function in a building which has space less than 500 sq.ft. The local bodies are provided funds to purchase land and construct own buildings for the anganwadis. However, the funds are insufficient-just Rs.50,000 per cent. The functioning of an anganwadi is in the hands of one trained anganwadi worker and one ayah(maid). But they are paid very low wages and are given a lot of other responsibilities like helping with election duties, conducting door-to-door survey etc. All of this affect the quality of pre-school education given in an anganwadi. 
This post describes how the anganwadi where my children go functions. http://tripletshouse.blogspot.in/2015/06/our-anganwadi-in-thrissur.html