'Nutrition monitoring software helping in monitoring anganwadi staff's work'
New Delhi, June 25: The Integrated Child Development Services-Common Application Software (ICDS-CAS), introduced for the 'Poshan Abhiyaan' (nutrition scheme has helped to track proper functioning of anganwadi workers, an official said here on Monday.
"We found that the anganwadi centres do not remain open all the days and with this software, we can keep a track on the functioning of the centres. It is a more systematic pattern and has brought in changes in operation of the scheme," said Women and Child Development Secretary Rakesh Srivastava.
Smartphones with the ICDS-CAS software, provided to the anganwadi workers and lady supervisors, will ensure assigned service delivery and prompts for intervention, he said.
"This data is then made available in near real time supervisory staff from sector, block, district, state to national level through a dashboard for monitoring," he added.
According to the ministry, 95 lakh plus have been registered as beneficiaries under the scheme which is functioning in 57 districts of seven states - Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
The ‘Poshan Abhiyaan' primarily aim to bring down stunting of the children in the age group of 0-6 years from 38.4 per cent to 25 per cent by the year 2022. All 36 states and union territories, and 718 districts will be covered in a phased manner by 2020.
The ministry will also organise a seminar on Thursday on use of technology for steering the programme.
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AIITA welcomes Karnataka’s ban on obscene songs in school events
Bhatkal: The Karnataka unit of the All India Ideal Teachers Association (AIITA) has welcomed the Karnataka government’s decision to strictly ban school children from dancing to obscene songs during educational and cultural programmes in government, aided, and private schools across the state.
AIITA Karnataka State President M. R. Manvi congratulated the government for taking what he termed an important step to preserve the sanctity of education.
“Such decisions to safeguard the dignity of school children and uphold the values of education are the need of the hour. This rule should not be limited to government schools alone but must be strictly implemented in all private educational institutions as well,” he said.
He further urged the government to address other concerns within school programmes.
“The government should not only prohibit obscene dances in the name of school anniversaries, but also ensure that plays and dialogues that incite religious hatred are avoided. Schools should be centres of harmony, not platforms for spreading hatred,” he added.
According to a recent circular issued by the Department of School Education and Literacy, obscene dances are adversely affecting the mental health and moral values of students.
In this regard, schools have been advised to use songs that promote nationalism, positive thinking, the greatness of Kannada culture, and value-based traditions instead of inappropriate content during programmes.
The circular also emphasises that students should be dressed in decent attire.
AIITA also backed the department’s warning that disciplinary action would be taken against head teachers if such guidelines are violated. The association has further demanded that district Deputy Directors of Public Instruction strictly monitor the implementation of these rules.
