Kerala anganwadis to get new curriculum after more than a decade

A new curriculum will be introduced in anganwadis in the State the next academic year.

The curriculum revision has been initiated, and the updated curriculum will be ready for roll out by January or February so that it can be implemented in the 33,115 anganwadis in the State in the 2027-28 academic year.

The anganwadi curriculum was last revised in Kerala in 2014-15 on the basis of the National Early Childhood Care and Education Policy, 2013. The present curriculum adopts a thematic approach to early childhood education for anganwadi children in the age group of three to six years. Thirty themes, beginning with the immediate family unit and gradually moving on to the world around, cover the development domains of children and ready them to navigate every day life and prepare them to enter school education.

Though the thematic approach is expected to stay, the Women and Child Development (WCD) department aims at modernising the curriculum in tune with the times, especially in view of the shift in role of technology in preschool learning.

The WCD had introduced changes to anganwadi teaching-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and later. During the pandemic, it brought out Kilikonchal online videos for children and a handbook for anganwadi teachers. Anganathaimaavu teachers’ assistant handbook and age-appropriate Anganapoomazha workbooks were also introduced. QR codes have been embedded in these workbooks.

The curriculum overhaul will bring in more changes on the advice of early childhood education and other experts for optimal child development, say officials.