Speaking at a media meet FA Jami Education Specialist, UNICEF said that we need an early warning system to identify potential drop out children in school and to ensure their retention. He quoted an NCERT study and called on the increased focus on mental health in school education.

Sharad Dwivedi, Group Editor, Bansal News said that school is an institution for growth of society and we need to invest more in focussing on education and learning in school.

The media meet had participation of around 55 representatives from district and was organised by UNICEF and Bansal News with district level TV journalists of Bansal news on the theme of school education - opportunities and challenges.

Brajesh Chouhan, Ex member, State Commission for Protection of Child Rights said that Madhya Pradesh has a bag policy, but still bag of children are heavy. Though the State has taken steps for improving school education, at ground level we see challenges including drop outs, which needs a focus.

Neha Bagga, Spokesperson of BJP shared the steps being taken by the State, including CM rise schools, and called on media to bring in positive stories of change happening at ground and also shared the work done during COVID19 times.

The meet was facilitated by Anil Gulati, Communication Specialist who said that we need to increase media stories on education both looking at positive change happening at ground and also on the theme of learning recovery.

Aim is to increase focus on softer stories on school education, and also listening to views of children.

At a start of the meet children part of the school forum of child rights observatory, Satish, Prince, Amrita and Mehruhak, students shared the things they learned and challenges they had faced during the online learning period. Girish Updhyaya, senior Journalist said we need to listen to children and their views if we wish to bring in change in the system. We need to see from their perspective and include teachers in the same, to bring change in school education.

Manoj Saini, Executive Director, Bansal News, spoke on the focus on sports. Participants shared the stories done by them from the field.