Jharkhand is set to flag off the 'School Chale Hum' programme from Hotwar village, 5 kms from Ranchi, on April 24 to mark the sixth year of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA). Hotwar villagers, meanwhile, have a mixed reaction towards the programme.While the villagers are preparing to make the campaign a success, cynicism has crept in. Sudhir Singh and Ramesh Gope, two locals, are sceptical about the programme's success. "Atal Behari Vajpayee government had to go because the people did not have the gratitude. They did not even thank his government for creating this state and starting this programme which had brought school to our door step," one of them said. A report by the state HRD department states that Jharkhand, with a population of 2.69 crore, has 2.06 lakh school drop outs. SSA Director Sunil Barnwal said, "During the campaign we will try to enroll all of them in schools." Programme volunteers have put up posters targeting parents asking them to send their children to school. An audio cassette with the song Ghar Ghar Me Shiksha Ka Deep Jalana Hai has been released to create awareness and draw children to school. The campaign targets children below 14 years.The campaign, launched by Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh on April 17, is slated to formally take off across the state from April 24. It will be concluded on April 30 and during this week volunteers will go door-to-door to mobilise parents to send their wards to school. A meeting to review the campaign will be held on May 1.Protests mar Arjun’s function in RanchiRanchi: Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh was the target of a black flag protest by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad activists while he was delivering a convocation speech at Ranchi University on Wednesday. About a dozen protestors, who were in the audience, suddenly rose to their feet and began waving black flags and shouting slogans as soon as Singh started his speech, interrupting him for a few minutes. The protestors alleged there was "intellectual pollution" by the ministry. Police caught hold of four activists and thrashed them with batons before dragging them out of the venue.Later, Singh made light of the incident, saying the handful of protestors were undermined by an attentive audience. Asked for his reaction to the slogans accusing his department of “intellectual pollution”, Singh, without taking anybody's name, wondered who was the guru (of such pollution). He was apparently referring to the previous BJP-led NDA government. SP Richard Lakra said the detained ABVP activists were in police custody. PTI
