Ranchi, April 17: In an attempt to check the school dropout rate, a bridge course, School Chalein Hum Abhiyan-2006, was launched by the state education department at Krishna Administrative Training Institute here today.

The course would help bring the children, deprived of basic education, back to schools.

The school dropout rate in Jharkhand plunged from 56 per cent to 43 per cent in the past six years, thanks to the efforts of teachers and the state education department.

Expressing happiness over the introduction of the bridge course, chief minister Arjun Munda stressed the need to improve human resources.

?We have made people aware of education. Now, we will have to educate both rural and urban children. Only then can we achieve complete development,? he said.

The education drive will begin from April 24 and continue till April 28. The preparatory workshop, however, started today.

Two films, sponsored by Unicef, were screened in the workshop to make people aware of the benefits of education.

The new programme launched today targets students of four categories: children who are out of school, those who have attained the age of going to school, those going to middle school from primary school and girl students. Intensive social mobilisation activities will be conducted in the villages between April 24 and April 28.

Addressing the workshop, HRD minister Pradeep Yadav said the pupil-teacher ratio, which was 62:1 in 2000, is 41:1 in 2006.

Chief secretary M.K. Mandal urged private schools to come forward and make the campaign a success.

HRD secretary Sukhdeo Singh and finance minister Raghubar Das were also present on the occasion.