Women's Day 2020: Maharashtra girls steps to act as 'collector for a day'

In the run-up to International Women's Day, the Buldhana district administration in Maharashtra has come up with one of its kind initiatives to celebrate womanhood as it is giving an opportunity to the bright girls of Zilla Parishad schools to be the District Collector for a day. Conceptualised by Buladhana Collector Suman Rawat Chandra, the drive aims to instil confidence in young girls and motivate them to perform better in studies.

The 7-day long initiative which kickstarted on Monday and will end on Sunday saw Poonam Deshmukh, a class 8 student from Padoli Zilla Parishad school, as the collector on the first day.

The Twitter handle of the Buldhana district administration shared photos of Poonam from the first day and it garnered praises from all corners with many



users suggesting that this initiative should be adopted across the country.

Chandra, an IAS officer of the 2010 cadre who took charge in December 2019, sat next to the girls to guide them about the functioning of the administration and how it tackles social and other issues.

Talking about the initiative, Chandra said, "They get exposure for a day and we also make them write a diary wherein they note down their experience and their vision for society. They will be reading and sharing their experience during a program on International Women's Day."

"On day 2, we were joined by a class 9 student from a Zilla Parishad school in Malkapur Taluka named Maria. She attended a census meeting and also oversaw the training program of census activities," she added.