Following the State Government’s decision to relaunch the School Chalein Hum campaign from July 16 to 31, questions have been raised over the effectiveness of its first phase. Official records from the School Education Department showed that student enrollment in government schools for the 2025–26 academic session is lower compared to the previous year, prompting authorities to initiate a door-to-door child tracking drive using a newly developed mobile app. However, in response to the concerns raised on the failure of the first round, District Education Officer (DEO) Narendra Ahirwar has refuted claims that the campaign has failed. Speaking exclusively, Ahirwar said that the drop in enrollment numbers is not reflective of the ground reality but a result of technical issues in the online system.

 

“The campaign has not failed. The numbers are not low. The problem is that many students are not being shown as enrolled because their transfer process from previous schools remains pending online. These students have already taken admission, but due to unmapping issues, their names do not reflect in the current school records,” he explained. He further clarified that while manual admissions are happening in good numbers, the online portal is not detecting these entries. According to him, this discrepancy between manual and digital data is being misread as low enrollment. “I have spoken to the principals of many schools.

 

They confirmed that admissions are ongoing, and students are attending classes. It’s the digital system that is yet to capture this data. The Directorate of Public Instruction (DPI) has now worked on fixing the technical errors,” he added. First Round: Campaign Overview and Execution: Launched in June 2025, School Chalein Hum is a flagship initiative of the Madhya Pradesh School Education Department aimed at ensuring school access for all children aged 6 to 18. In the first phase, teachers conducted house visits to trace out-of-school children using manual registers and school records. Awareness rallies and parent-teacher meetings were organised to boost public participation and encourage admissions in government schools.

 

Shortfall in Admissions Detected After Initial Phase: Despite the ground efforts, data from Education Portal 3.0 and UDISE revealed that several schools had not met their targeted admission numbers for 2025–26. The Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) and Net Enrollment Ratio (NER) showed a downward trend compared to the previous year, raising concerns within the department. This gap in expected and recorded admissions led to the decision to initiate corrective action through a second phase. Second Round: Relaunch of the Campaign with New Tools: To address these challenges, the State Government has scheduled a second round of the campaign from July 16 to 31.

 

The focus will now shift to digital tools, with the Child Tracking App enabling teachers to log real-time data of school-going and out-of-school children. Using electoral rolls to map households, each teacher will be assigned a segment for coverage. The campaign will also involve district and block-level officials for monitoring, and training sessions will be conducted online to ensure smooth and uniform implementation. Ahirwar’s statement comes as the department gears up for the second phase of the campaign. The final review of actual enrollment numbers is expected by September 30, when updated data will reflect the campaign’s overall impact.