Women’s Day in Buldhana: School girls become collector for a day

To boost confidence of youngsters in the run-up to the International Women’s Day on Sunday, the district administration of Buldhana plans to give seven bright girls

To boost confidence of youngsters in the run-up to the International Women’s Day on Sunday, the district administration of Buldhana plans to give seven bright girls from zilla parishad schools a chance to be the ‘collector for a day’.

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The initiative started on Monday and will end on Sunday, March 8. A Class 8 student from the Padoli Zilla Parishad school, Poonam Deshmukh, was made the collector for a day on Monday. According to officials, she interacted with the media, participated in the Lokshahi Din event and also took stock of the unseasonal rainfall in the district. Yogita Magar, a Class 9 student from GP High School, was made the collector for the day on Tuesday.

Suman Chandra, district collector of Buldhana, who took charge in December 2019, said, “The idea is to spread awareness about governance and give the girls an opportunity to see the work being done in government offices. They girls should feel more confident and inspired to work towards their goal and also motivate other girls to shatter the glass ceiling.”

Chandra, an IAS officer of the 2010 cadre, sat next to the girls who were given a chance to sit on the collector’s chair on the day. She said the seven girls are toppers from schools and recommended by the education department.

Buldhana district is located in the Amravati division of Maharashtra. A district collector is the head of revenue administration in the district. His/her duties range from implementing land reforms, collecting land revenue to maintaining land records, among others.

The Buldhana district administration is also celebrating this entire week as ‘Pink Week’ to focus on women’s health. The public health centres in the district have organised screenings for anaemia, breast cancer and cervical cancer.