This has gained national attention as the drive- blow a whistle - undertaken by the state education department has motivated students to lower the drop out rate in tribal belt of Simdega. 

The drive ‘blow a whistle’,call to school, was launched with an aim to increase attendance at government schools. 

This has yielded result. The drop out rate has decreased in several schools in Simdega, it is learnt. 

In the past, 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 schools, as per the education ministry response during the winter session of Parliament in 2019. 

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Jharkhand had a retention rate of just 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. 

Now, a survey conducted in the same schools suggest that the drop out rate in government schools where the drive - blow a whistle,call for school- was undertaken, the drop out rate was less than 10 percent.