Doctorates for skilled farmers mooted

Tirupati: District collector PS Pradyumna has mooted the idea of awarding doctorates to farmers and women, who have been doing exceptionally well in their fields with great skill even without any formal education. He addressed the Anganwadi workers in Tirupati on Tuesday, after formally inaugurating the second batch training programme ‘Yashoda’.

After the success of ‘Yashoda’ programme which laid emphasis on the improvement of service delivery systems at Anganwadi centres, the district administration has initiated the launch of second batch training programme. ‘Yashoda’ (Yardstick for Self-empowerment, Holistic and Overall Development of Anganwadi Personnel) was a novel programme designed by the collector PS Pradyumna in December 2017.

It was the first of its kind diploma programme having a duration of six months for which 1,354 Anganwadi employees were enrolled out of which 1,308 persons have qualified in the examinations and received certificates.

Sri Padmavathi Mahila Visvavidyalayam (SPMVV) responded promptly to Collector’s request in taking forward the initiative and prepared the syllabus and training module. Its faculty took active part in the training programme for the diploma course to Anganwadi personnel and held classes through video conferencing, direct classroom coaching and practicals at different centres.

The classes were held twice a week and the candidates were assigned record and practical works. SPMVV faculty even set the question paper and evaluated the answer scripts. However, the examinations were monitored by the Collector and conducted by the Education department.

The candidates have shown keen interest in the course and joined it by paying Rs 5,000 towards course fee. They felt that it brought remarkable change in their attitude and enriched their knowledge especially in nutrition and computer education.

With this, the collector has decided to cover the remaining Anganwadi employees under the scheme and launched the second batch training programme in which 516 women have joined. Speaking on the occasion, Pradyumna has said that he has asked SV Veterinary University authorities to design a diploma course for farmers on the lines of Yashoda programme.

He called upon the Anganwadi teachers in the district to improve their skills with Yashoda diploma and become best Anganwadi personnel at the State and national-level. This will enhance their self-confidence too in developing the children towards the better future. He has reaffirmed his commitment to make the district nutrition deficiency free by March end.

The collector said that Yashoda programme should be a topic for discussion at academic conferences and congratulated SPMVV in-charge vice-chancellor (V-C) Prof V Uma, registrar Prof DM Mamatha, Home Science faculty Prof Aruna and others for successfully running the programme. TUDA chairman G Narasimha Yadav and ICDS project director G Usha Phanikar also participated in the programme.