Centre issues guidelines to co-locate 11 lakh anganwadis on nearest school premises

In a bid to ensure continuity in early childhood education, the Union government on Wednesday (September 3, 2025) issued guidelines to facilitate co-location efforts to place almost 11 lakh anganwadis on the same premises as primary schools.

Anganwadi centres cater to the nutrition and early learning needs of children between zero and six words, and locating them on school premises enables a smooth transition to formal schooling in Class 1. The guidelines were issued jointly by the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD), which oversees anganwadi centres (AWCs).

So far, nearly 2.9 lakh anganwadis have been co-located with the nearest schools, out of the 14 lakh anganwadis and 9.16 lakh schools with Class 1, according to WCD Secretary Anil Malik. “However, there are close to 11 lakh aanganwadis which have not been mapped or co-location has not occurred,” he added.

Convergence guidelines

“Before this, there were no synergistic and convergence guidelines on how AWCs and schools having Grade 1 should work together. There was a sense in the field that the role of AWCs was different from that of schools and that there was no organic link between the two,” he noted, adding that it is important to co-locate or map AWCs to the nearest schools to ensure that lower income group children are provided access to pre-primary education.

The Union government has issued a curriculum for children aged three to six years, titled ‘Aadharshila’. Co-location can help in convergence between anganwadi staff and school teachers, joint planning of activities, curriculum alignment, and active community participation, Mr. Malik said. The guidelines provide States and Union territories with a roadmap to strengthen their co-location procedure, he added.

The guidelines were jointly launched by Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan and Union Minister for Women and Child Development Annpurna Devi.

A single ID from birth

The guidelines emphasise the importance of reconciling the data of children between three and six years in the target population to avoid duplication between MoE and MoWCD databases. “Currently, we have two databases - Poshan Tracker, UDISE+ which track students in AWCs and school systems [respectively]. These two databases need to be interoperable, so that we can track every child,” said School Education Secretary Sanjay Kumar.

Under the guidelines, all co-located or mapped anganwadis will now also be included in the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+). “MoWCD will register children between 3-6 years on Poshan Tracker and this will be shared with Department of School Education and Literacy to avoid duplication,” the guidelines state.

Mr. Kumar explained that the Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry IDs (APAAR IDs) now being provided to school children from Class 1 onwards can be extended for children between the ages of three to six who attend anganwadis, for easier tracking.

He added that the MoE is in discussion with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to ensure that the civil registration and Aadhar databases can be linked for a child from the moment they are born and assigned an identity. “This unique number will stay with the child for their entire life, and can be converted into Poshan Tracker and APAAR ID when the child enters the school system. This way, a child can be tracked through one ID over a long time,” Mr. Kumar said.

Co-location challenges

Field observations in some areas suggest that a spare room has been designated within the primary school for AWCs which caters to children between three to five years, while the school runs Balvatika classes for children aged five to six years, but convergence between the two is often limited, the guidelines said. In some places, new buildings have been constructed within the school premises ensuring physical co-location, but there is little or no convergence with schools.

Another challenge is that co-located AWCs at times lack access to basic school facilities like electricity, kitchen and learning resources, while some are run from school verandas.

The guidelines emphasise critical evaluation of such co-location models for their effectiveness. They add that when AWCs are relocated, they must ensure that the pregnant women and children they serve are not forced to travel more than 500 metres from their homes in urban areas, and up to 1 km in rural areas.

Efforts must be taken not to physically co-locate more than two AWCs in one school, the guidelines said. If that is not possible, then the nearer AWC should be co-located and all the remaining AWCs should be mapped with the school.