A government school in Ghatshila block is banking on zero investment to prove that school attendance and punctuality can be improved.

School attendance is a major problem in government schools in Jharkhand as many children are engaged by their parents to look after their siblings or graze cattle.

Utkramit Madhya Vidyalaya, Dhatkidih in Ghatshila was one such school. But last year in June, headmaster Sajid Ahmed introduced an innovation that has led to a surge in attendance.

The school with 150 students has paired a child who comes to school regularly with one who doesn’t in an initiative called Jodi Banao, Pagdi Pehnao.

“The duty of the child who is regular is to motivate his or her friend to come to school. We pair classmates who are roughly from the same area so that it is easy for them.

“We assess them every month and the best performing pair is given a green badge made of ribbon that they are allowed to wear for a month,” said Ahmed.

The initiative has made school attendance reach 85 to 90 per cent from 60 65 per cent in less than a year.

Recently, at the school’s annual day function, the best performing pairs and their parents were felicitated with medals, certificates and a pagdi.

Ahmed said that this motivated other parents because it became the talk of the village.

How did he come up with this idea? “It is not mine,” Ahmed confessed frankly. “An upgraded middle school at Khejuria in Chakulia block had implemented the idea for around two years,” he said.

He added that the school also worked on the student’s punctuality as most students come late.

“The ones who come early or on time are felicitated at the morning assembly with a handmade crown. The crown has become a craze. Now students who used to come half an hour late have also started coming by 8am for the crown,” he said. “We are able to start classes by 8.30am.”

Students are also happy. “I like the recognition that I get. Other students respect those who are felicitated and I love being respected,” said Somay Jha, a Class VIII student who was felicitated for coming to school on time.