The ‘Siti Bajao, Bachche Bulao’ (Whistle and Call the Children) initiative, launched by Collector Sonia Meena to encourage rural children to attend school regularly, has been recognized at the national level. The initiative will be honored with the prestigious SKOCH Award.
Collector Sonia Meena and District Project Coordinator (DPC) Rajesh Jaiswal have been invited to Delhi on February 15 to receive the award at Heavyweight Center.
DPC Rajesh Jaiswal explained that under Collector Meena’s guidance, the District Education Center conducted a study to identify factors affecting educational quality in rural schools. The findings revealed that due to a lack of awareness among rural families, many children did not attend school regularly, which directly impacted their learning levels.
To tackle this issue, the district education team introduced the unique “Whistle and Call the Children” campaign in five schools where attendance was as low as 30%. Under this initiative, teachers and a student team—led by a whistle captain—would visit the homes of absent children and blow a whistle outside. The sound of the whistle soon became a symbol in villages, signifying that children should get ready for school. Parents and villagers actively participated, leading to a significant rise in school attendance from 30% to 70%.
This innovative initiative was nominated for the SKOCH Award by NIPUN professional Yogesh Singh from the District Education Center. After successfully clearing three selection stages, including project reports and online presentations, the initiative made it to the final round, competing against 22 prestigious projects nationwide. In the semifinals, it was chosen as one of the top three projects to be honored with the award.
Following its success, the initiative is now being implemented in several other schools to boost attendance ahead of exams, proving to be a valuable intervention in improving academic performance.
The District Education Center team, including Pradeep Singh Chauhan, Vinod Kerkatta, Surendra Wasnik, Balwant Singh Rajput, Nitin Dubey, Sarika Sharma, Deepak Verma, APC Vineet Sahu, and Jaydeep Patankar, has received congratulations from district officials for their commendable efforts in making this initiative a success.
