Executor of early education: A day in the life of an Anganwadi worker Premium

Geeta Gautam, an Anganwadi worker in Lucknow, navigates challenges to provide essential services for children and mothers.

Geeta Gautam, a 37-year-old living in Takrohi in Lucknow, starts her day like any other. She wakes up in the morning and prepares breakfast and tiffin for her husband and 11-year-old son. Having sent them off, she finally turns to pick the pink saree that has been her uniform for over the last seventeen years. She is an Anganwadi worker since 2007.

Geeta hurriedly drapes it, keeps her tiffin box in the bag and after a pause stuffs it in a bag of locally made gajak sweets as well. Off she hurries to get an e-rickshaw ride from Takrohi to Chandanapur village. 

The National Education Policy 2020 has turned attention to children below 8 years of age like never before however, the success of these plans hinges on how well resourced the Anganwadi workers such as Geeta and the centres are.

Of the ₹26,889 crore allocated to the Ministry of Women and Child Development in the Union Budget 2025-26, ₹21,960 crore is for Saksham Anganwadis and Poshan 2.0 showing how the network of Anganwadi centres is the backbone of national effort towards the development of women and children. There are over 14 lakh Anganwadi centres with over 13.31 lakh Anganwadi workers that are reaching out to over 10 crore children upto the age of 6 across the country. This data is as of January 31st.

The e-rickshaw stops at a small roadside restaurant – Naani ka Hotel and Geeta gathers her saree and her bags, stepping out and handing the driver a folded 20-rupee-note. Right next to the rundown establishment is a narrow cobbled path which she takes and walks the rest of the way to the ‘Anganwadi centre’. She reaches the small room, unlocks it and puts her bags to the side. By the time she reaches, it is almost 10 am. There are a few charts put up and some stationery in one corner. 

Geeta takes out her mobile phone and opens the Poshan Tracker app. The mobile application rolled out in 2018 has become a real-time data collection and monitoring portal for all Anganwadi activities. The Ministry of Women and Child Development won the National Award for e-Governance 2024 (Gold) for this very mobile app in September last year.

On the app, she uploads a location pin to convey that she has reached the centre and marks her attendance. She says, “The phone that we had gotten from the government barely worked so I saved to buy a smartphone. I have learned using it very well because so much of our work is now digital but the internet is often inconsistent and the application works very slow.”