Shillong: A subdivisional officer posted in Dadenggre under Meghalaya’s West Garo Hills district is silently bringing about a transformation away from the glare of media.

Swapnil Tembe, an IAS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, has successfully transformed an Anganwadi centre at Dilsigre and made it a model centre. He wishes to change other such centres through crowdfunding.

In his blog, the young officer wrote: “After wriggling through the treacherous roads, we finally reached our destination — a small sleepy village in the lap of Garo hills. Across the playground, there was an abandoned one-room structure. That’s what it looked like. There was another dilapidated structure along that room which supposedly was the toilet. Must have been some old office, I thought. To my surprise, the nokma (village headman) told me that I got it all wrong. That was an operational Anganwadi centre.”

Tembe also noted that fate of other such centres was similar. “They are the primary interface for the children of rural areas with the world of learning, nutrition and health. And with the present infrastructure, how are we supposed to inculcate in them a desire to learn — a desire that is quintessential in these early stages as they will soon be ready for the realm of school education?”

Stating that there are hundreds of Anganwadi centres in the subdivision and it is impossible to transform each of them into model centres, the officer noted that the centre at Dilsigre was chosen. “I initiated a crowdfunding campaign on Milaap.org, but this time the response was not much as it was during the campaign for solar lanterns. Perhaps people do not connect to Anganwadis; even I didn’t when I was unaware of their state and the colossal importance they hold,” he noted.

On what prompted him to intervene and make the Dilsigre centre a model one, Tembe told this correspondent: “Anganwadis are the first interface where the children come in touch with institutions imparting education. I always felt, therefore, we must have excellent Anganwadis to give children a good start. Anganwadis generally have poor infrastructure compared to those in government schools. They just have one room and some supplementary nutrition facility.”

He said these centres need to be transformed. However, since there are many centres in a district, it is impossible to make all of them model centres. “If we make a few of them model centres, it will motivate people to come forward and volunteer for others.”

Tembe said after the success of transforming the Dilsigre Anganwadi, more help from crowdfunding platforms and from across the country were forthcoming. “The process will go on. There are more than 1,000 centres in the entire West Garo Hills.”

It costs around Rs 1 lakh to transform a centre. On the response of children to the model centre, Tembe said: “Earlier, children saw Anganwadi as a place for disbursal of supplementary nutrition only — a place where they went to eat. But now they are staying there and learning about letters and numbers, reciting poems and playing.”

Last Diwali, a crowdfunding campaign was initiated to provide solar lamps to villages which are very remote. “We raised a good amount of fund and distributed more than 300 solar lamps to several villages. We also gave them saplings to promote environment conservation and earning opportunities.” Another project that Tembe has started at Dadenggre is a public library to be inaugurated soon.