Gujarat CM Vaja personally drives dropout girls back to school
Synopsis
Gujarat Education Minister Pradyumanbhai Vaja personally visited dropout girls in Gir Somnath's Bodidhar and Chikhli villages, encouraged them to return to school, and drove them in his own car for re-enrolment under the Back to School campaign linked to Shala Pravesh Utsav 2026.
Key Takeaways
Education Minister Pradyumanbhai Vaja personally drove school-dropout girls to school in his own vehicle on 25 June 2026 .
The outreach covered villages Bodidhar and Chikhli in Gir Somnath district , Gujarat.
The activity is part of the state's Back to School campaign under Shala Pravesh Utsav 2026 .
The CMO framed the gesture as giving practical meaning to the national Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao scheme launched in 2015 .
Gujarat has run the Shala Pravesh Utsav enrolment drive annually since the mid-2000s to reduce dropout rates.
District enrolment data post-campaign will indicate whether the outreach achieves lasting impact.
The Chief Minister's Office of Gujarat on Thursday, 25 June 2026 shared how Gujarat Education Minister Pradyumanbhai Vaja personally visited homes of school-dropout girls in Gir Somnath district and drove them to school in his own vehicle as part of the state's ongoing Back to School campaign.
Context
The CMO's post, written in Gujarati, describes how Minister Vaja travelled to the villages of Bodidhar and Chikhli in Gir Somnath district, met dropout girls at their residences, encouraged them to resume their studies, and personally transported them in his official car for re-enrolment. The post frames this as giving real meaning to the national motto 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' ('Save the daughter, educate the daughter').
The CMO described the gesture as a 'Kanya Kelavani Rath Yatra' — a procession for girl-child education — carried out by setting aside the formalities of office and protocol. The activity is linked to the hashtag #ShalaPraveshostav2026, the state's annual school-enrolment festival.
Policy Backdrop
The Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao scheme, launched nationally in 2015, was designed to address declining child sex ratios and to promote the education and empowerment of girls, with Gujarat among the early implementing states. The state government has run the Shala Pravesh Utsav — a school-enrolment drive — annually since the mid-2000s, targeting new admissions as well as children who have drifted out of the formal school system.
Gujarat has layered state-level outreach such as Kanya Kelavani Rath Yatra on top of the national framework, using community processions and direct engagement to reduce female dropout rates, particularly in rural and coastal districts where access and social barriers can be acute.
Stakeholders and Impact
The immediate beneficiaries are rural girls in Gir Somnath, a coastal district where economic pressures and distance from schools have historically contributed to dropout rates among girls. By having a cabinet-level minister personally escort students, the administration signals that re-enrolment is a top-order priority rather than a routine bureaucratic exercise.
Educators and civil-society groups working on girl-child education have long argued that high-visibility official participation can shift community attitudes in conservative rural pockets, making families more willing to send daughters back to school. The act of a minister setting aside protocol to personally drive girls to school carries symbolic weight that routine government circulars cannot replicate.
What's Next
District-level enrolment data following Shala Pravesh Utsav 2026 will be a key indicator of whether such outreach translates into sustained attendance rather than one-time re-enrolment. Observers will also watch whether the Gujarat government scales similar direct-outreach models to other educationally lagging districts across the state, and whether Minister Vaja's initiative prompts other officials to adopt comparable on-ground approaches during the current academic-year drive.
Point of View
And this episode follows that established playbook. The framing of a minister setting aside 'protocol' is itself a political communication strategy — humanising governance and aligning the state with the Centre's Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao messaging simultaneously. Whether the gesture catalyses systemic change in Gir Somnath's dropout numbers, or remains a compelling image, will depend on the follow-through in district-level data.
NationPress
25 Jun 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Back to School campaign in Gujarat?
The Back to School campaign is a Gujarat government initiative to identify children — particularly girls — who have dropped out of school and encourage them to re-enrol, often conducted alongside the annual Shala Pravesh Utsav enrolment festival.
Who is Pradyumanbhai Vaja?
Pradyumanbhai Vaja is Gujarat's Education Minister, responsible for school enrolment drives and girls' education programmes across the state.
What is Shala Pravesh Utsav?
Shala Pravesh Utsav is an annual Gujarat government school-enrolment festival held since the mid-2000s to boost admissions, with a focus on girls and dropout students in rural districts.
What is Beti Bachao Beti Padhao?
Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao is a national scheme launched in 2015 to address the declining child sex ratio and promote the education and empowerment of girls across India.
Which district did the minister visit for the re-enrolment drive?
Education Minister Pradyumanbhai Vaja visited the villages of Bodidhar and Chikhli in Gir Somnath district of Gujarat for the dropout re-enrolment outreach.
