More than 60,000 Anganwadi teachers in Karnataka will be provided with smartphones by the state government, which will be part of their daily work. Under the Poshan Abhiyan scheme of the Union government, it is compulsory to update everyday activities at anganwadis on Common Application Service (CAS), a national portal, using mobile phones.

Though the funds were allocated three years ago, the procurement of mobile phones was delayed for various reasons.

The state’s women and child development department has finally procured smartphones and handed them over to the taluk-level officials. The phones will be distributed to anganwadi teachers after a training programme which started on Wednesday, September 23, 2020.

The department officials said the smartphones will be used to update health check-up details of children, height, weight, growth, immunisation status etc.

An official said, “Uploading these details on the common website will help the authorities concerned at the national level to track the malnutrition among kids across the nation.” The teachers will also have to even have to mark their attendance using mobile devices.

Considering the network issues in rural parts, the department has gathered the details of networks available and procured the SIM cards accordingly. It has spent around Rs 65 crore for the purchase of mobile phones and SIM cards, of which 60 percent was provided by the Union government.

The official added, “All these years, the teachers used to maintain 32 different registers. With the introduction of smartphones, that is going to end and everything will be done through mobile phones.”

K A Dayananda, Director, department of women and child development department, said that the teachers would get mobile phones in the next three-four days.

Source: Deccan Herald

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