Published Paper Details:

Children are the first call on agenda of human resource development – not only because young children are most vulnerable, but because the foundation for lifelong learning and human development is laid in these crucial years. It is now globally admitted that investment in human resource development is necessary for economic development of any nation. India is the home to the largest population of children in the world “the development of children is the first priority on the country’s development agenda, not because they are most vulnerable, but because they are our supreme assets and also the future of human resources of the country”. In these words, our tenth five year plan (2002-07) underlines the fact that the future of India lies in the future of Indian children. Most of the children who are below six year of age have inadequate access to the health care, nutrition, sanitation, child care, early stimulation, etc. to ensure that all the young children, even those from the vulnerable sections of the society have access to their basic rights, ICDS was launched in 2 Oct, 1975 to provide a package of services to ensure their holistic development. The main objective of this programme is to cater the needs of development of children in the age group of 0-6 years. Preschool education aims at ensuring holistic development of the children and to provide learning environment to the children which is helpful for their social, emotional and cognitive development. Under the ICDS, one trained person is allotted to a population of 800 appox, to bridge the gap between the person and organised health care, and focus on health and educational needs of children aged 0-6 years. This person is the Anganwadi worker. The present paper highlights the status of the training of the anganwadi workers towards their duties and also the impact of the preschool education provided by anganwadi workers on the children. This paper is based on the data collected from both the primary and secondary sources. This study shows the positive impact of the training of the anganwadi workers on children learning.