If you ask children from the anganwadis in Sattari whether they enjoy what the institutions have to offer, their answer will be no. It is but natural, since the centres lack basic infrastructure and facilities that are essential for their all-round development.
Some people say that Sattari is backward compared to the other talukas in Goa as far as education is concerned. It has 108 anganwadi centres, out of which nine fall under the Valpoi Municipal Council, while the rest fall under the panchayats of Khotoda, Mauxi, Thane-Dongurli, Honda, Morlem, Querim, Poriem, Nagargao, Sanvordem, Pissurlem, and Guleli.
Each anganwadi has its fair share of teachers and helpers. However, most of them cannot perform their duties properly as they do not have their own premises. Out of the 108 centres, only 33 have their own building. The rest operate from rented premises, which are often not conducive for learning.
Some centres, like the one in Bhuipal, do not have even a proper sitting arrangement. Some face frequent power failures, while some do not have power to begin with. Others do not have fans or rest facilities. It’s not hard to imagine why the anganwadis have gotten a bad name.
To give their children a brighter future, the parents prefer to send them to well-equipped private schools instead of a problematic government anganwadi.
Some panchayats, like Honda, Pissurle and Bhironda, which is a mining area, have decided to help the children by constructing proper buildings for the anganwadis. Out of the 33 centres that have the own building, 19 were constructed by the government, while 14 were constructed with the help of a mining association ‘Mineral Foundation of Goa’.
Looking at the pathetic state of the anganwadis, the government’s commitment to Goa’s children can certainly be questioned.
Child Development Project Officer of Sattari Nanya Priolkar said, “There are 108 anganwadi centres in Sattari and 2,865 kids are an active part of them. For the last ten years, my office is begging the government for proper buildings for the centres in Sattari. In some areas, the local panchayat members helped them get their own building, but in other places, children are facing many problems. The government should be very much concerned about the problem.”
Sattari Junior Engineer (buildings) Pramod Rao said, “Based on the request that was received from some panchayats and locals for new buildings, we have prepared the estimates and submitted the same to the head department for further processing.”
