Poshan Bhi, Padhai Bhi Scheme [UPSC Notes]

The Union government, in May 2023, launched its flagship programme ‘Poshan Bhi, Padhai Bhi’ to focus on Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) at Anganwadis all over the country. In this article, you can learn more about the ‘Poshan Bhi, Padhai Bhi’ for the IAS exam polity section.

What is the Poshan Bhi, Padhai Bhi Scheme?

Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi is an Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) that aims to create the world’s largest universal high-quality preschool network envisaged by the National Education Policy.

• The Ministry of Women and Child Development has allocated Rs 600 crore to train Anganwadi workers in implementing Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE).
• The Anganwadi workers will be trained by the National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD).
• The ECCE is planned under New Education Policy and is an important part of Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0.
• The Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani said that the objective of the scheme is to make Anganwadis not only nutrition centres but also centres that impart education.
• ECCE will follow the New Education Policy and will impart education in the mother tongue.
• Under the scheme, the children will be provided with high-quality preschool instruction for two hours on a daily basis. 
• As stated in National Education Policy, the Anganwadi centres will be strengthened with high-quality infrastructure, play equipment, and well-trained Anganwadi workers/teachers.
• Poshan Bhi, Padhai Bhi program will provide for:
  • Instruction in the mother tongue 
  • Different types of teaching-learning material (visual aids, audio aids, audio-visual and bodily-kinesthetic aids) to Anganwadi Sevikas
  • Aid to build a Jan Andolan involving communities in strengthening the foundations of the country’s future generations

Poshan Bhi, Padhai Bhi Scheme Significance

• The global evidence shows that 85% of brain development is achieved by the age of 6 years. In this context, Anganwadis are important in imparting education and nutrition.
• India runs the world’s largest network of Anganwadis numbering around 13.9 lakh operational Anganwadi centres providing supplementary nutrition and early care and education to 8 crore beneficiary children under the age of 6 years.   
• Under the Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi scheme, the government will target the overall development of children mentioned in the National Curriculum Framework such as physical and motor development, cognitive development, socio-emotional-ethical development, cultural/artistic development, and the development of communication and early language, literacy, and numeracy.

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