Radio sets for anganwadi centres

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Jan 17, 2018: Anganwadi centres in Dakshina Kannada district will soon have radio sets, to create awareness among mothers and women about cleanliness through radio talks every Saturday.

The radio talk, which will be held under Swacha Bharath Mission of the Zilla Panchayat, will roll out from 12.30 pm to 1 pm, from January 20. The initiative aims at creating awareness on health, hygiene and nutritious food among mothers who visit the centres to pick their children up and among Sthree Shakthi members.

Zilla Panchayat CEO Dr M R Ravi stated, “We are trying to reach out to at least 70,000 women in the district. There are 2,104 Anganwadi centres in the district, of which 1,600 are in the rural areas.”

The programme will have a 15-minute talk by experts on health, cleanliness, women and child-related issues. A panel of experts and the topics to be covered have already been worked out. The programme will be held until March and will be continued in the next financial year as well.

There are nearly 4,000 SHG groups that carry out their meetings and activities in the Anganwadi centres and this radio talk will bring them all together in every centre.

The Balavikasa Samithi, Sthree Shakthi members and PDO’s have been asked to convene a meeting to discuss the availability of radio sets in these centres.

Women and Child Development Department Deputy Director Sundar Poojary said, “Many families have old radio sets that have remained unused and these can be handed over to the nearby Anganwadi centres. If the radio set has USB support, it can be used for different purposes as well, such as for teaching rhymes to the children during weekdays. “A few Anganwadi centres in the district have already received radio sets in the form of donation,” he said.