29-Jul-2022: Scheme for Adolescent Girls

To ensure well-being of adolescent girls, Government is administering the Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG) under which nutritional and non-nutritional support is being provided to adolescent girls (AGs). Earlier the Scheme covered out-of-school AGs in the age group of 11-14 years. Under the said Scheme, Kishori Health Cards for AGs were maintained at the Anganwadi Centre (AWC) to record the information about the weight, height, Body Mass Index (BMI), along with the services provided to the AG under the scheme. The details of achievements/success made under the scheme were marked on Kishori Card and the card also carried important milestones of AGs life. However, the earlier Scheme has been discontinued since 31.03.2022 and the revised SAG Scheme has been introduced and subsumed under Saksham Anganwadi & Poshan 2.0. The targeted beneficiaries under the revised scheme are AGs in the age group of 14-18 years in Aspirational Districts of States including Assam and NE States.

Government is administering the Scheme for Promotion of Menstrual Hygiene among Adolescent Girls(AGs) in the age group of 10-19 years since 2011 with specific objective of ensuring health for adolescent girls. The major objectives of the Scheme are:

1. To increase awareness among adolescent girls on menstrual hygiene;
2. To increase access to and use of high quality sanitary napkins to adolescent girl;
3. To ensure safe disposal of sanitary napkins in an environmentally friendly manner.

Since 2015-16, the Menstrual Hygiene Scheme is supported by National Health Mission through State Programme Implementation Plan (PIP) route based on the proposals received from the States. States/UTs have decentralized procurement of sanitary napkins for ensuring quality standards. The sanitary napkins are sold to the adolescent girls at subsidized rates by the Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA). Community awareness is carried out through mass media activities and ASHA outreach.

Further, to break the inter-generational cycle of anaemia, the Government is implementing Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation (WIFS) which entails provision of weekly supervised IFA tablets to the in-school adolescent boys and girls and out of-school adolescent girls along with biannual albendazole tablets for helminthic control for prevention of iron and folic acid deficiency anaemia. The programme is implemented across the country both in rural and urban areas, covering government, government aided and municipal schools and Anganwadi Centres. Screening of targeted adolescent population for moderate/ severe anaemia and referral of these cases to an appropriate health facility and information and counselling for prevention of nutritional anaemia are also included in the programme.

30-Mar-2022: Scheme for Adolescent Girls

An evaluation of Schemes of the Ministry of Women & Child Development including Scheme for Adolescent Girls was conducted by NITI Aayog during 2020.

Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG), a Centrally-sponsored scheme, aimed at providing nutritional support to out of school girls in the age group of 11-14 years for improving their health and nutritional status and motivated them to go back to formal schooling, provided life skill training, accessing public services etc. However, Right to Education Act, 2009 provides legal entitlement for compulsory and free education to AGs in the age group of 11-14 years and all the AGs in this group are entitled to go-to school wherein they are provided mid-day meal for improving their nutritional status. Hence, a decline in the number of beneficiaries was seen under the Scheme due to the RTE Act.

Since the adolescent girls in the age group of 11-14 years are being covered under the RTE Act, recently the Scheme for Adolescent Girls has been revised and subsumed under Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 wherein the targeted beneficiaries are all the AGs in the age group of (14+) to18 years in the Aspirational Districts and the North Eastern States.

The Government of India has launched a campaign “Kanya Shiksha Pravesh Utsav” on 07.03.2022 under Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Scheme to ensure that all the out-of-school Adolescent Girls in the age group of 11-14 years are enrolled back to formal schooling.

24-Jan-2018: Rapid Reporting System for the Scheme for Adolescent Girls launched

Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Shri Rakesh Srivastava launched the Phase -1 i.e. the beneficiary module of the Rapid Reporting System for the Scheme for Adolescent Girls - a web based on line monitoring for the Scheme for Adolescent Girls in New Delhi. The RRS will facilitate the monitoring of the scheme and taking corrective measures by ensuring faster flow of information, accurate targeting of the beneficiaries and reduction of leakages. This Portal has been developed in collaboration with National Informatics Centre (NIC).

The Government on 16.11.2017, realizing the multi-dimensional needs of out of school adolescent girls (11-14 years) owing to the onset of second growth spurt during this period and with a aim to motivate these girls to join school system, approved continuation of the Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG) for out of school girls in the age group of 11-14 years. The scheme aims at providing them nutritional support @ Rs.9.50/beneficiary/day for 300 days in a year, motivating out of school girls to go back to formal schooling or skill training under non-nutrition component of the scheme. Government has also approved expansion and universalisation of the Scheme for Adolescent Girls in a phased manner i.e. in additional 303 districts in 2017-18 and the remaining districts in 2018-19 with the simultaneous phasing out of Kishori Shakti Yojana.

Presently, MWCD is implementing the Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG) in selected 508 districts across the country. SAG aims at empowering out of school adolescent girls of 11 to 14 years by improving their nutritional and health status, upgrading their skills. In addition to the nutritional support under the scheme, the girls are equipped with information on health, hygiene and guidance on existing public services. The Scheme aims to mainstream out of school girls into formal education or non-formal education. The scheme is being implemented using the platform of Integrated child Development Services Scheme. Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) are the focal point for the delivery of the services. Scheme for Adolescent Girls is a centrally sponsored scheme, implemented through Centre and State share in the ratio of 50:50, for nutrition component 60:40 for the rest of the activities for State and UTs with legislation, 90:10 for NE and three Himalayan States and 100% for UTs without legislation.