Assessment Of Knowledge And Skills Of Anganwadi Workers For Conduct Of Preschool Education Activities

The present research was carried out to assess the Knowledge and Skills of Anganwadi workers (the key functionary in the ICDS programme for delivery of services) for conduct of preschool education activities in Anganwadi centres. A sample of 105 Anganwadi workers was randomly drawn from three urban blocks of Jammu district. The tools used for collecting information were Observation and Rating scales. Rating scale devised by National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD) for “Assessment of Preschool Education (PSE) skills of Anganwadi workers” and self devised rating scale for “Assessing knowledge level of Anganwadi workers” were used. The results of the study revealed that majority of the respondents had adequate knowledge regarding their roles and responsibilities in preschool education component of ICDS programme. The conceptual understanding of respondents on the issues related to growth and development of child, age for preschool education, teaching method and language to be used for communication was found to be in accordance with child development theory. On the other hand, knowledge level of Anganwadi workers on the aspect of importance of early childhood, concept and need of preschool education were found inadequate. Regarding the skills of Anganwadi worker, it was found that the Anganwadi worker demonstrated good skills for communication, preparation of teaching aids, motivating and organising PSE activities, while they were optimal in other skills like interaction between Anganwadi worker and helper and several aspects related to knowledge across the selected blocks. Knowledge and skills of Anganwadi workers were found to share high positive correlation (0.75) thus depicting the interdependence of these two factors. The study has important implication for policy makers, trainers and staff of Anganwadi Training Centres (AWTCs) particularly for improvement in knowledge and skills of Anganwadi workers especially in view of large scale expansion of ICDS programme in India.