The Sivaganga district administration is to launch a comprehensive child enrolment drive across all Anganwadi centres in the district starting from June 1, 2026. The initiative aims to integrate children into the State’s recently expanded early childhood and nutritional care programmes. District Collector K. Porkodi informed that parents can enrol children aged between two and six years at any of the 1,552 functional childcare centres operating under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme in the district. Detailing the structural benefits of the programme, the press statement stated that the centres will serve as vital hubs for pregnant women, lactating mothers, and developing children. Expectant mothers are encouraged to register at their nearest centre immediately upon confirmation of pregnancy to receive a monthly quota of specialised nutritional powder (sathumaavu), the statement added. To streamline distribution and eliminate pilferage, the department has mandated a digital registration process. Beneficiaries must submit their identity details and mobile numbers to Anganwadi workers to be logged into the Union government’s Poshan Tracker application. Future monthly distributions of nutritional supplements would be authenticated strictly through a digital Facial Recognition System (FRS). A similar biometrically verified supply chain would govern nutritional distribution for lactating mothers—from childbirth up to six months—and infants aged between seven and 24 months. For children over two years old, the centres offer a structured early childhood education curriculum running daily from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM. To support their learning capacity, the State provides a robust dietary plan, including nutritional powder balls or kozhukattai (dumplings) twice a day, a scheduled daily lunch menu, and eggs three times a week. Further, the district has introduced a proactive health tracking system. Anganwadi workers would conduct monthly height and weight checks using specialised Salter cradle scales, logging the data directly into the Poshan Tracker app to monitor growth deficiencies. Children flagged with nutritional deficits will be provided with specialised biscuits for home consumption. In severe cases where standard interventions fail to restore a child’s health indicators to normal levels, the cases will be referred to the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) medical teams for advanced clinical treatment. A dedicated network of Anganwadi workers, supervisors, block coordinators, and Child Development Project Officers (CDPOs) will continuously monitor these high-risk cases. The Collector emphasised that the centres have been upgraded with specialised play equipment, early childhood learning materials, modern textbooks, and school uniforms to make the learning environment highly engaging. Parents have been urged to utilise the upgraded public infrastructure and enrol their children starting next week. Published - May 27, 2026 06:56 pm IST