Anti-drug lessons to be introduced in school curriculum: Fadnavis
Maharashtra continues to rank among the country’s leading States in school education and is strengthening its pupil-centric system by balancing quality, promotion of Marathi, preservation of history and modern facilities, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Monday.
Chairing a review meeting of the School Education Department, he directed officials to initiate the process of incorporating lessons on drug de-addiction into the school curriculum. Maharashtra has retained the second position in the national Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2.0 for school education and stressed the need to implement innovative initiatives across all schools, including PM SHRI schools, an official release quoted Fadnavis as saying at the meet.
He reviewed the implementation of key initiatives, including Aadhaar authentication of school students, educational benefits provided to 35 lakh students under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, the ‘Pavitra’ teacher recruitment portal and the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The CM noted the State Government has decided to set up anti-drug guidance and counselling committees in schools and launch a “Drug-Free School” campaign.
He directed officials to implement stringent measures to strengthen school safety and prevent cyber fraud and drug abuse among students. According to a presentation made at the meeting, Maharashtra accounts for 9.34 per cent of the country’s schools, 8.84 per cent of its teachers and 7.69 per cent of its students.
The state has 108,065 schools with 22,048,443 students and maintains a student-teacher ratio of 28:1. Of these, 64,341 are government schools, 29,486 are government-aided private ones, while the remaining are self-financed institutions and central government schools.
Officials informed the meeting that the government is implementing several initiatives to improve school education, including the Nipun Maharashtra Mission, Rashtriya Pratham campaign, the “Majhi Shala Sundar Shala” (My School, Beautiful School) initiative and enrolment drives.
The meeting was informed that teachers are being provided online training through AI-based platforms. Exposure visits, adoption of schools, CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) partnerships and the “Super 100” scheme are also being promoted.
Under the scheme, 100 meritorious students from rural areas in every district will be selected for high-quality coaching for competitive examinations such as NEET and JEE, the release noted.
Fadnavis maintained that following the state’s efforts, the Centre has given greater coverage to the history of the 17th-century warrior-king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in NCERT textbooks.
He suggested that the curriculum should be further expanded to widely cover the legendary Maratha king’s legacy.
Officials informed the meeting that teaching Marathi and conducting examinations in the language has been made compulsory in all schools affiliated with the SSC, CBSE, ICSE and IB boards across the state.
Cabinet School Education Minister Dadaji Bhuse, Minister of State Pankaj Bhoyar, Principal Secretary (School Education) Ranjitsingh Deol, Education Commissioner Sachindra Pratap Singh and other senior officials attended the meeting.
