Anganwadi workers to get smartphones in C'garh: Minister

Raipur: Anganwadi workers will soon be provided with smartphones in Chhattisgarh in order to improve their proficiency, a state Minister said on Monday.

"As many as 8,500 anganwadi workers of seven districts across the state will be given smartphones in the first phase under ISSNIP project," Minister for Women and Child Development Ramsheela Sahu said while inaugurating a three-day training workshop on IT for anganwadi workers in Raipur.

"Smartphones will save time of the anganwadi workers. Earlier everything had to be noted in a register but now mobiles application will help them to update details online thereby improving their proficiency," she added.

The first phase of the project would cover the anganwadi workers of Raipur, Gariaband, Mahasamund, Durg, Bemetara, Balod and Kabirdham (Kwardha) districts, said the minister.

During the opening ceremony of the workshop, she also released a training manual on use of smartphones.

Under the World Bank assisted ICDS Systems Strengthening and Nutrition Improvement Project (ISSNIP) project of the Centre's Women and Child Development Ministry, anganwadi workers and sector supervisors will be provided with smartphones and tablet devices respectively for regular online monitoring of malnourished children and pregnant women, an official said.

Secretary of state’s Women and Child Development Department M Geetha informed that the move will help in improving the performance of anganwadi workers and at the same time reduce their work stress.

Anganwadi workers presently had to maintain 11 separate registers and it takes a long time for all the reports to manually reach the district headquarters via sector supervisor and project officer, she said.

Now with the help of mobile app, the data and reports will be accessible online immediately while the concerned problems could also be addressed promptly. Besides, it will also reduce work stress among workers, the secretary added.