Jharkhand, among the worst performing states in terms of retention of school students in the past few years, has launched a unique campaign “blow a whistle, call to school” to increase attendance at government schools.

As per the United District Information System for Education (UDISE) data of 2017-18, Jharkhand with its high tribal population had the highest dropout rate for schoolchildren in India with only 30 out of 100 students finishing school.

Jharkhand, along with Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Bihar, had the worst retention rate (the percentage of students who have continued to enrol in the government school in the subsequent year) among higher secondary students in government school as per the education ministry response during the winter session of Parliament in 2019.

Jharkhand had a retention rate of 20.19 per cent, slightly better than Bihar with 18.91 per cent and Assam which was at the bottom with 17.24 per cent. The national average of retention rate at the higher secondary level was 40.17 per cent.

Even at the primary level, Jharkhand had a retention rate of 80.53 per cent (as against the national average of 86.97 per cent.

As per information obtained from the meeting of the Project Approval Board (PAB) under the ministry of education on the ‘Samagra Shiksha’ programme for 2022-23, Jharkhand had a dropout rate of 16.6 per cent in 2020-21 in secondary level higher than the national average of 14.6 per cent.

“We are replicating the model which has been successful in Simdega district of our state. A few months back all the schools started the ‘blow whistle, call to school’ campaign wherein every morning, house captains and class monitors blow whistles to motivate the children of their villages, towns and hamlets to go to school. As soon as the whistle blows, children get ready to go to school and go to school with their classmates. Parents of children are also becoming aware of this campaign. Earlier, children used to make excuses for not going to school by giving wrong information or information about school closure. Now they cannot with this initiative,” said Jharkhand Education Project Council (JEPC) project director Kiran Kumari Pasi.

On January 11, this successful venture will be recognised with the joint effort of masses across the state.

“As per the directive of state education secretary K. Ravikumar we want to celebrate this initiative along with parents, intellectuals, social workers, leaders and other sectors on a symbolic basis on January 11,” said Pasi.

The picture or video of the campaign will be posted tagging #SeetiBajao on social media handles of all government education officials deputed in districts.

Schools have been instructed to keep adequate whistles for the campaign on that day.