POSHAN Abhiyan: Bringing about Behaviour Change through Jan Andolan
Author: Dr Munjpara Mahendrabhai
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clarion call for a Suposhit Bharat has found resonance in the Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition or POSHAN Abhiyaan – the Government of India’s flagship programme to improve nutritional outcomes among children, pregnant women and lactating mothers. A critical part of the programme has been to mobilize communities at the grassroots to combat misinformed or uninformed practices that lead to persistent malnutrition through generations.
Some of the ways in which the programme has sought to bring about behaviour change includes organization of Community Based Events (CBE); Information, Education and Communication (IEC) and advocacy and Jan Andolan (or people’s movement) through convergence and ensuring wide public participation. Focusing on the aims of POSHAN Abhiyaan, Mission Poshan 2.0 (Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0) was announced in Budget 2021-2022 as an integrated nutrition support programme to strengthen nutritional content, delivery, outreach and outcomes with focus on developing practices that nurture health, wellness and immunity to disease and malnutrition.
The programme leverages social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) as one of its strategic pillars to build a Jan Andolan. The Abhiyaan concentrates on creating awareness drives and conducting activities with the objective of improving nutritional outcomes and aims to address the challenge of malnutrition in a mission-mode. In order to ensure community mobilisation and bolster people’s participation, the Abhiyaan has made sustained efforts to push for behaviour change throughout the year with focused campaigns. These campaigns have disseminated various nutrition-related messages leveraging different platforms.
Under the Abhiyan, Community Based Events (CBEs) are being organized twice in a month on a fixed day of week by each Anganwadi Centre. Under Community Based Events, Annaprashan Diwas, Suposan Diwas, specifically focused on orienting husbands, celebrating coming of age, getting ready for pre-school at AWC, messages related to public health for improvement of nutrition, importance of hand-wash and sanitation, prevention of anaemia, importance of nutritious food, diet diversity etc. are covered. Since the launch of the Abhiyan more than to.3.70 crore CBEs have been conducted at AWCs across the country
To focus on nutrition, increase awareness on good nutrition practices and behaviours, two major outreach and social and behaviour change campaigns are undertaken under the Jan Andolan component of POSHAN Abhiyaan. Since the launch of the Abhiyaan, four ‘Rashtriya Poshan Maahs’, a month-long campaign held in September and four ‘Poshan Pakhwadas’, a fortnight-long campaign held in March, have been held with high reach and results. Key activities which include Poshan Melas, Prabhat Pheree, sessions on nutrition at schools, Self-Help Group meetings, Anemia camps, growth monitoring of children, home visits by ASHA/AWW, Village Health, Sanitation and Nutrition Days (VHSND), etc. are carried out.
The Poshan Maah and Pakhwada celebrated so far have witnessed wide participation and enthusiasm from convergent Ministries, States/UTs and field functionaries. Frontline workers, community groups, PRIs, staff at Block and District level, State departments and Ministries had exemplified diligent work towards triggering a Jan Andolan for POSHAN Abhiyaan. The fourth Rashtriya Poshan Maah 2021 witnessed 20.32 crore activities, while during the recently held Poshan Pakhwada from 21st March -4th April, 2022, 2.96 crore Jan Andolan based activities were conducted.
Besides nutrition, awareness of general good health and hygiene practices are also imparted to the beneficiaries of POSHAN Abhiyaan through monthly sessions. Village Health and Nutrition Day (VHND) was conceptualized under the National Health Mission (NHM). It has been implemented across the country since 2007 as a community platform, connecting the community and health systems and facilitating convergent actions. It attempts to bring health, early childhood development and nutrition and sanitation services to the doorstep and promote community engagement for improved health and wellbeing.
Most importantly, in order to improve and create awareness about diet diversity in the community and provide different food groups to malnourished children, Poshan Vatikas or Nutrition Gardens have been developed to encourage local, seasonal produce for use by the community. The main objective of POSHAN Vatika is to ensure supply of nutrition through organically grown vegetables and fruits.It is worth highlighting that under the plantation drive supported by MoAYUSH, 1.10 lakhs saplings of medicinal plants were planted in 21 districts. Additionally, 4.37 lakh AWCs are equipped with their own Poshan Vatikas.
The fifth edition of Rashtriya Poshan Maah is underway with an aim to convert Jan Andolan into Jan Bhagidari. It seeks to address the challenge of malnutrition by spreading the message through Gram Panchayats acting as Poshan Panchayats. In the Poshan Panchayats, the key focus is on “Mahila aur Swasthya” and 'Bacha aur Shiksha.' The Rashtriya Poshan Maah serves as a platform to bring focus on the discourse of nutrition and good health and intends to achieve the holistic goals of POSHAN Abhiyaan in a harmonized manner.
As per the recently released report of the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5), (2019-21), conducted by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, India has improved on various nutrition indicators as compared to National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4), (2015-16). According to the NFHS-5 data, Stunting among children has reduced from 38.4 percent to 35.5 percent. Wasting has reduced from 21.0 percent to 19.3 percent and Underweight prevalence has reduced from 35.8 percent to 32.1 percent. Further, the percentage of women aged (15-49 years) whose Body Mass Index is below normal has reduced from 22.9 percent in NFHS-4 to 18.7 percent in NFHS-5.
Launched with a noble and holistic goal, POSHAN Abhiyaan intends to bring about behaviour change and increase nutritional awareness among mothers of young children, adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women, family members including husbands, father, mothers-in-law and community members, health care providers (ANM, ASHA, Anganwadi worker) about vital nutrition behaviours with a strong focus on community level interventions and community participation. Behaviour change communication is a potent tool for promoting positive health behaviour among populations. Success of Poshan Abhiyan lies in the achievement of bringing the agenda of nutrition to the centre-stage of public discourse. /PIB/
(The writer is Minister of State for Women and Child Development and AYUSH)
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NEP-2020 aspires for inclusive excellence in school education
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The New Education Policy-2020 (NEP-2020), unveiled recently, aims at achieving excellence in school learning by imparting quality, affordable and inclusive education to all, with an extra emphasis on those children coming from socially and educationally disadvantaged groups of the society. It is a futuristic endeavour towards building Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat. The previous education policies largely focussed on the issues of access and equity in giving school education, while the NEP-2020 commits to laying the foundation of a vibrant Bharat where no one is devoid of a kind of school education, which helps every student become an asset for the nation in a true sense. The unfinished agenda of the National Policy on Education 1986, which was modified in 1992, has been effectively dealt with in the NEP-2020 along with the vision behind the Right to the Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, which “laid down legal underpinnings for achieving universal elementary education.”
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What further makes the New Education Policy-2020 uniquely special is its pledge for equitable and inclusive education for all, one of the great dreams of our founding fathers. Education, as the NEP-2020 rightly envisions, is “the single greatest tool for achieving social justice and quality.” Inclusive and equitable education, indeed an essential goal in its own right, is also critical to achieving a social order where every citizen has “the opportunity to dream, thrive, and contribute to the nation.” Quality, affordable and ethical education to all is the first move to break multiple social and economic barriers, which sow the seeds of exclusion, discrimination and exploitation against our own people on different parochial considerations.
Needless to say efforts were made in the past as well to bridge the educational chasm between socially and educationally disadvantaged groups (SEDGs) and the children of top social strata, but the desired results remained elusive. SEDGs account for the country’s overwhelming population, but their children’s share in quality school educational institutions has been minimal over the years. Early childhood care and education (ECCE) needs to be handled more comprehensively. According to the Unified-District Information System for Education (U-DISE) 2016-17 data, about 19.6 per cent of students belonged to Scheduled Castes (SCs) at the primary level, but this fraction fell to 17.3 per cent at the higher secondary level. These enrollment drop-outs were more severe for ST students (10.6 per cent to 6.8 per cent), and differently-abled children (1.1 per cent to 0.25 per cent), with even greater declines for female students within each of these categories. Thus, there is no scope for any complacency on the part of the government. A series of interventions including better facilities, more and more hostels, scholarships and other enabling support have been provisioned in the NEP-2020 so that the idea of ‘learning for all’ is realised in a more comprehensive manner.
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( The writer is a senior journalist and author. The views expressed are strictly personal.)
NEP-2020 aspires for inclusive excellence in school education
Rajeev Ranjan Roy
The New Education Policy-2020 (NEP-2020), unveiled recently, aims at achieving excellence in school learning by imparting quality, affordable and inclusive education to all, with an extra emphasis on those children coming from socially and educationally disadvantaged groups of the society. It is a futuristic endeavour towards building Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat. The previous education policies largely focussed on the issues of access and equity in giving school education, while the NEP-2020 commits to laying the foundation of a vibrant Bharat where no one is devoid of a kind of school education, which helps every student become an asset for the nation in a true sense. The unfinished agenda of the National Policy on Education 1986, which was modified in 1992, has been effectively dealt with in the NEP-2020 along with the vision behind the Right to the Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, which “laid down legal underpinnings for achieving universal elementary education.”
Given the undisputed role of education in nation building, the NEP-2020 rightly lays the stress on standardization and accreditation of school infrastructure and teachers as well, since education with accountability, transparency and affordability is the need of the hour, and hence the need to “empower schools, teachers with trust, enabling them to strive for excellence and perform at their very best, while ensuring the integrity of the system through the enforcement of complete transparency and full public disclosure of all finances, procedures and outcomes.” Since private sector is significantly present in the field of school education, the idea to promote ‘not-for-profit’ entities is a unique feature of NEP-2020, which at the same time intends to promote private philanthropic efforts for quality education, thereby affirming the public-good nature of education, while protecting parents and communities from arbitrary increase in tuition fees.
An equally important area, which has got due attention in the NEP-2020 is the need for efficient resourcing and effective governance through school complexes and clusters, a significant initiative in view of the fact that nearly 28 per cent of India’s public primary schools and 14.8 per cent of upper primary schools have less than 30 students. The average number of students per grade in the elementary schooling system – Grades 1 to 8 – is about 14, with a notable proportion having below six students during 2016-17, the year which also had 1,08,017 single-teacher schools, and majority of them – 85,743 – being primary schools taking care of Grades 1-5 children. It was, therefore, a pressing need to evolve a mechanism for establishing a grouping structure, say, school complexes, consisting of one secondary school together with all other schools, which lead to greater resource efficiency and more effective functioning, coordination, leadership, governance, and management of schools in the cluster. This will not only ensure optimum utilisation of resources, but will also foster the sense of oneness and togetherness among the school children, who are the future of the nation.
What further makes the New Education Policy-2020 uniquely special is its pledge for equitable and inclusive education for all, one of the great dreams of our founding fathers. Education, as the NEP-2020 rightly envisions, is “the single greatest tool for achieving social justice and quality.” Inclusive and equitable education, indeed an essential goal in its own right, is also critical to achieving a social order where every citizen has “the opportunity to dream, thrive, and contribute to the nation.” Quality, affordable and ethical education to all is the first move to break multiple social and economic barriers, which sow the seeds of exclusion, discrimination and exploitation against our own people on different parochial considerations.
Needless to say efforts were made in the past as well to bridge the educational chasm between socially and educationally disadvantaged groups (SEDGs) and the children of top social strata, but the desired results remained elusive. SEDGs account for the country’s overwhelming population, but their children’s share in quality school educational institutions has been minimal over the years. Early childhood care and education (ECCE) needs to be handled more comprehensively. According to the Unified-District Information System for Education (U-DISE) 2016-17 data, about 19.6 per cent of students belonged to Scheduled Castes (SCs) at the primary level, but this fraction fell to 17.3 per cent at the higher secondary level. These enrollment drop-outs were more severe for ST students (10.6 per cent to 6.8 per cent), and differently-abled children (1.1 per cent to 0.25 per cent), with even greater declines for female students within each of these categories. Thus, there is no scope for any complacency on the part of the government. A series of interventions including better facilities, more and more hostels, scholarships and other enabling support have been provisioned in the NEP-2020 so that the idea of ‘learning for all’ is realised in a more comprehensive manner.
Teachers are not only an integral part of an education system, but the most important stakeholder in the entire gamut of things. Their quality and ability to teach school students, when they are in their formative age, become something of paramount importance. From their recruitment to training, every precaution needs to be taken to ensure that school education is not rendered to a mere formality, but becomes a game changer. The New Education Policy-2020 comes with a basket full of tools and parameters to ensure holistic training and upgradation of teachers and their teaching skills in a sustainable manner. From continuous professional development (CPD) to career management and progression (CMP), the NEP-2020 vouches for a set of common guidelines – National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST), which will be put in place by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) in its restructured new form as the Professional Standard Setting Body (PSSB) under the General Education Council. This exercise will be carried out in consultation with National Council Educational Research and Training (NCERT), SCERTs, teachers from across levels and regions.
The teacher education will also undergo a sea-change. By 2030, the minimum degree qualification for teaching will be a 4-year integrated B.Ed. that teaches a range of knowledge content. Today B.Ed. teaching is most poorly regulated in our country ever since the standalone B.Ed. colleges were allowed to be opened up in the private sector. It is high time to take B.Ed. teaching more than seriously. The NEP-2020 stipulates that by 2021, a new and comprehensive National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education (NCFTE-2021) will be formulated by the NCTE. NCFTE, which will also factor in the requirements of teacher education curricula for vocational education, will be revised once every 5-10 years.
In conclusion, the NEP-2020 visualizes to impart a school education which lays the foundation of a self-reliant India and also to help our country emerge as a knowledge hub. From the foundation of learning to foundational literacy and numeracy to checking drop outs and ensuring universal access to education for all and at all levels to the restructuring of school curriculum, India is in for a metamorphosis in the field of school education, recognizing, identifying and fostering the unique capabilities of each student. Tools such as multi disciplinarity, emphasis on conceptual understanding, creativity and critical thinking, ethics and human and constitutional values, full equity and inclusion, and light but tight regulatory framework are bound to do wonders. Education is a public service, a rare pursuit in nation building, which should be holistic and inclusive and must make one take pride in India and its rich, diverse, ancient and modern culture and knowledge systems and tradition. The NEP-2020 aspires so, indeed!
( The writer is a senior journalist and author. The views expressed are strictly personal.)
