Karnataka is preparing to implement by November the National Education Policy (NEP) under the early childhood education component for those aged above three years. In the first phase, the NEP would be rolled out in 20,000 anganwadis and schools. School Education and Literacy Minister B C Nagesh and Women and Child Development Minister Halappa Achar said this on Thursday in a joint press conference.

Stating that the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) from the Union Education Ministry is expected in September, Mr Nagesh said after that, the State's curriculum framework would be finalised in October, and expert teams were already working on it, "and if things go as planned we will do it by November in about 20,000 anganwadis, schools."

Once the State's curriculum framework is finalised, training would be given to anganwadi workers based on it, he said. The NEP would be implemented by School Education and Literacy Department in partnership with the Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD).

There are 66,361 anganwadi centres in the State, Child Development Minister Achar said. Among the anganwadi workers, 732 are postgraduates, 6,017 are graduates, 14,303 have completed pre-university education and 40,786 have completed SSLC (class 10). There may be some constraints with respect to anganwadi workers with SSLC as their qualification, but efforts to train them would be made, he said.

"Hence in the first phase, 20,000 anganwadis, where there are workers with PG, graduate or PUC as qualification, have been chosen." About 14,000 anganwadi teachers have been trained by the Tata Foundation in the backward Kalyana Karnataka region, the Ministers said, adding that based on the qualification of the anganwadi workers it is intended to provide different types of training.