‘Gives us nothing’: Anganwadi jobs have become more demanding under NEP but remain ‘honorary’ with low pay

India’s plan to integrate early childhood education into its school system is now being implemented through 14 lakh anganwadi centres. A new preschool curriculum, introduced on the recommendation of the National Education Policy (NEP 2020), presupposes co-location of these centres with primary schools. But as the women running these centres pointed out, they are being asked to teach in addition to feeding, monitoring and record-keeping — without being reclassified as teachers or given better pay.

Under the current arrangement, anganwadi jobs remain ‘honorary’ and the workers (AWWs) receive stipends instead of salaries. The central government pays Rs 4,500 a month; some states add small amounts, while Tamil Nadu pays some of the highest top-ups, reportedly adding nearly Rs 19,700 for senior staff.

“We are now expected to follow the new preschool curriculum, but there are no proper storybooks, no counting materials, not even a proper classroom,” said Sindhu, anganwadi worker in Sindhanur, Karnataka. “I sometimes spend my own money to make charts or buy toys for the children. The stipend is small and comes late. Still, we are expected to teach, feed, monitor growth, do home visits, and complete digital reports. It feels like the system expects everything from us but gives almost nothing in return.”

In Rajasthan’s Alwar district, Sunita has the same experience. “Our stipend barely covers household expenses, yet the work keeps growing. Sometimes it feels like we are invisible despite doing everything.”

ICDS Centres: More work, same pay

The anganwadi centres (AWC) were set up under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme, launched in 1975. The National Food Security Act of 2013 gave legal entitlement to nutritious meals for all children.

The NEP 2020 recommended restructuring school education to include five years of foundational learning. This foundational stage covers three years of pre-school or anganwadi and Classes 1 and 2. The NEP 2020 also recommended that anganwadis be integrated into schools or school complexes and the country’s top advisory body on curriculum, National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), design a curriculum for this stage.

NCERT’s National Curriculum Framework for the Foundational Stage (NCF-FS) was published in October, 2022. It links anganwadi centres – also known as ICDS centres – with schools and introduces a revised curriculum focused on play and activity-based learning.

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Earlier this month, the ministry of education and the ministry of women and child development issued guidelines on co-locating or integrating anganwadi centres with primary schools.

Along the way, there were other interventions. A new digital system was introduced with the Poshan Tracker App, which uses facial recognition and e-KYC to record attendance, growth, and nutrition delivery. The WCD ministry introduced a protocol to facilitate the inclusion of children with disabilities but, as a review of the ICDS scheme by paediatrician and public health expert, Vandana Prasad, points out that the anganwadi workers were not equipped with special materials or support for implementing the protocol.

The reforms have broadened the responsibilities of anganwadi workers to include teaching and digital reporting but otherwise resulted in no change of their status. Plus, the anganwadi centres made for difficult teaching-learning environments. Around 35% of centres lack toilets and 36% do not have drinking water, according to Prasad’s review, published in the BMJ Paediatrics Open.

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Anganwadi Jobs: ‘Burden grows’

Dipti, an anganwadi worker in Bihar, whose husband works in Chennai as a daily-wage labourer, described how fragile the centres can be. “We are in a rented hall. If the landlord locks it, the centre is closed, and families blame us,” she said. “We are asked to teach reading and counting now, but we have no books, no toys, no chairs, and no proper food under the mid day meal scheme. It feels like the burden grows, but our lives do not improve.”

Her husband left for Chennai two years ago to work at a construction site, earning between Rs 350 and Rs 400 a day, when work is available. “He shares a room with six others, cooks his own food, and sends whatever he can home,” Dipti explained. “But some months there is no work and no money to send. Then I have to borrow to keep our children in school and buy groceries. My anganwadi pay comes late sometimes, and even when it comes, it is not enough.”

Just last week, the Bihar government raised the ‘honorarium’ from a measly Rs 4,000 to Rs 9,000 per month. The state assembly polls will be held this year.

For ‘honorary’ work, the anganwadi system is hugely demanding. “When a child of mine falls sick, there is no one else to take them to the doctor. If I miss the centre, I get a warning. If I leave the centre open but go out, children have no one to watch them. We are trying to hold two lives together — one in the city where my husband works and one here where I run the centre. It feels like we are working all the time, but we are still at the bottom,” says Dipti.

Tamil Nadu shows what a higher state contribution can do. In Dinidgul, Anitha runs an Anganwadi with two others with a tiled classroom and bright charts.

“My state gives extra money — almost Rs.19,000 more. At least we can pay our bills,” she said. “But training is still short. They give one or two days on how to play with blocks and sing songs. Real teaching needs more. We want to do this properly and are dedicated to this job.”

"We used to run the centres six hours a day, but the work didn’t stop there,” said Nimmi S who used to be an anganwadi worker in Chitrakoot, Madhya Pradesh, but quit a few years ago as the job required her to work long hours but the pay didn’t even cover her rent. “There are home visits and, I’ve heard, digital entries and reports. Sometimes [the work goes on] until late at night. The Rs. 3,000 I used to get and a small state addition are not enough to pay school fees for my own children or cover rent.”

POSHAN Tracker App a ‘constant headache’

Introduced in 2021, the Poshan Tracker App, a mobile application, records attendance, growth and nutrition deliveries, now tied to facial recognition and e-KYC. According to experts and anganwadi workers’ union representatives this has further strained the system and added to the workers’ stress.

“When the app fails, the child becomes invisible,” said Priyam (name changed), an anganwadi union representative from Delhi, now settled in Bengaluru, who has closely worked with workers for over eight years. “A mother will come and cry, ‘my child did not get ration this month’. But in the app, the face verification failed. We are blamed. We have to call supervisors, go to the block office. Sometimes we pay out of our pockets to calm families. This is not fair.”

Priyam also said that he has seen the shift from manual registers to digital reporting and calls it “a constant headache for just one or two workers handling the entire process while also running the centre”.

Curriculum without capacity

Educationists agree the new curriculum is an overdue step, but warn that the workforce cannot be treated as an afterthought.

“Curriculum without capacity is a hollow reform,” said Dr. Vennila. P from Chennai, a public health paediatrician and researcher who has tracked ICDS for over two decades out of her own interest. “Early learning needs consistent, trained educators. Anganwadi workers are dedicated, but they are underpaid and under-trained. If India wants foundational literacy and numeracy to succeed, it must invest in regularised jobs, professional development and safe, stimulating centres.