Women Development and Child Welfare Department Principal Secretary A. Surya Kumari and NTR District Collector G. Lakshmisha at the launch of the ACCHA project in Vijayawada on Friday. | Photo credit: GN RAO
Women Development and Child Welfare Department Principal Secretary A. Surya Kumari on Friday said the Andhralo Chinnarula Chaduvulu (ACCHA) project will bring about a major transformation in the functioning of anganwadi centers in Andhra Pradesh by improving the quality of early childhood education.
After launching the program in Vijayawada, she described the anganwadi workers as the backbone of the state’s welfare delivery and appreciated their efforts in getting the benefits to the beneficiaries at the last mile despite several challenges.
Addressing the workers and officials at the Anganwadi, Mrs. Surya Kumari said that the workers handle various duties every day, including bringing children to the centers, preparing meals, maintaining records and interacting with parents.
She said that while institutional births have become widely accepted over the years, similar trust should now be built among parents towards Anganwadi centres. Although nearly 11 to 12 million children were expected to attend the centers, only about 8 to 8.5 million children are currently enrolled, she said, expressing hope that the numbers would gradually improve.
She advised parents to spend more time with their children instead of engaging in mobile phones and also called on NGOs and voluntary organizations to work with the government so that uniform standards of training and education could be maintained across centres. The government has been taking measures to reduce the workload of Anganwadi workers by providing facilities like induction cookers in some districts, informed and encouraged Anganwadi workers to coordinate with ASHA workers, ANMs and village sarpanches to improve the functioning of the centers beyond the normal ICDS activities.
NTR District Collector G. Lakshmisha said that appreciable progress has been made in Anganwadi services across the district, except for a few aspirational blocks where further support was planned with the help of NITI Aayog.
Women Development and Child Welfare Department Director M. Venugopal Reddy said nutrition and early childhood education services are being provided through 55,746 Anganwadi centers in the state. He said the ACCHA initiative was launched to enhance learning through play-based methods and enhance the skills of Anganwadi workers.
Initially launched in Kuppam as a pilot initiative, the project is now being scaled up across Andhra Pradesh with the support of various foundations and NGOs. The ACCHA project logo and brochures were unveiled earlier during the program.
Published – 15 May 2026 20:06 IST
