Hemant Nigam transforms Anganwadi into ‘digital and smart’ education centre

BHOPAL / Inspired by the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s social programme ‘Adopt an Anganwadi (AAA)’, an IT (information technology) professional and social worker of Gwalior has transformed a centre of the city into a ‘digital and smart’ Child Education Centre.

Hemant Nigam is a social worker along with a businessman, who has already been working in the field of child education and bringing happiness, to needy kids through running various activities in the city.

After inspiring by the state government’s AAA campaign, with the objective of increasing community participation in strengthening Anganwadi centres, Nigam officially adopted an Anganwadi centre, Bal Shiksha Kendra Resham mil No 2 located in the Hazira area of the city a few months ago. However, he had been taking care of this Anganwadi for two years by providing educational materials and toys to the centre.

Now the Anganwadi has become a digital and smart centre equipped with all advanced materials, like a public school and an advanced child play centre. The state government transformed some Anganwadi centres into Child Education Centres in 2019.

Nigam has provided several materials to make a smart class and a play centre, such as an air conditioner; digital television; a computer with installed learning software; advanced study chairs, desks and recks; a water cooler; hammocks and etc. The Anganwadi worker has also been trained by Nigam to teach kids digitally. Nigam also provides books, pencil and notebooks to the kids.

He also set up a toy bank, water cooler, and hammocks at the Anganwadi. Paintings which are attractive to the kids for learning and playing have been done too. Being the upgradation, the enrolment of the kids in the centre is being increased successively.

“Seeing the happiness on the face of needy children is my passion, and all of this is being done by me for that. The aim behind it is that the kids whose parents cannot afford the fee of public schools their children can fulfil their dreams in this Anganwadi centre,” Nigam told The Sun Today. “I want that every child in society to read, play and enjoy”, he added.

Nigam has also been running a club, ‘Toys for Tots’ club since 2017, he has distributed thousands of toys so far to children living in slums. For this novel work, his name has been recorded in the ‘Limca book of record’.

He has also set up a well-equipped education and happiness centre like such Anganwadi in the Central Jail Gwalior for the children of women prisoners.

Nigam also said that he was soon going to set up the same kind of facilities in the rural area’s Anganwadi (another adopted by him) because it is more needful for the rural children.