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Primary teachers in Himachal Pradesh called off their 43-day hunger strike on Saturday following the state government guarantee that their demands would be met.

A meeting was conducted here with Education Minister Rohit Thakur, and an agreement was arrived at on approximately 20-21 points, after which the teachers decided to call off the strike.

It was also decided that the directorate of elementary and higher education was to be the same.

Besides this, the government will also review the suspended teachers, Thakur added, stating that the teachers were made aware that their promotions would not suffer.

On March 28, the Himachal Pradesh cabinet cleared the promotion of the directorate of elementary education to the directorate of school education.

This new directorate would manage education from pre-nursery to Class 12, whereas the directorate of higher education would manage colleges and look into all the issues of higher education.

After making this decision, about 10 teachers were suspended for demonstrating, using derogatory language against the government and absenting themselves from school.

The Primary Teachers' Association of Himachal Pradesh's President Jagdish Sharma affirmed the strike was suspended following the meeting with Thakur. 

Sharma added that a committee will probably be formed to create a directorate of primary as well as higher education to be regulated by a single director.

He further added that there would be no alterations in other buildings without the committee's suggestion, and primary teachers will also be made members of this committee

While government schools are preparing to take back students, the education department is running against time—but many of the key upgrades under the Mana Ooru Mana Badi programme are not yet completed.

Of 1,156 government primary schools and government high schools in the area, 45 only have had the works completed as planned. While 407 of the schools were chosen for upgrade under 11 components—with infrastructure, sanitation, and digital learning equipment—the work remains pending or incomplete for 316 schools.

Worse still, 40 schools need over ₹60 lakh each to complete upgradation, but the money hasn't materialized. In spite of contractors raising the matter time and again, not much has shifted at the higher administrative level. Till now, the work completed has cost around ₹9 crore, but work has come to a halt, with concerns regarding students' readiness and safety.

Interestingly, ex Nizamabad urban MLA Bigala Gupta made a precedent by taking over and entirely up-gradation of two schools in Makloor mandal. Such instances are exceptional, and majority of schools wait for action to be taken.

In parallel, 760 schools were selected for minimal facility improvements—drinking water, electricity, and toilets—under the Amma Adarsha Patashala (AAP) programme rolled out last year by the Congress administration. Approximately 80% of AAP has been covered, with ₹21.97 crore having been expended out of the estimated ₹42.15 crore.

With schools reopening, incomplete classrooms, dysfunctional toilets, and missing luxuries may interrupt learning. The holdup on Mana Ooru projects is a sign of a larger problem of infrastructure under-prioritization, particularly in rural education.

If no sharp attention is provided, the very initiatives intended to improve school atmospheres may fail the students they were intended to support.

NCERT, in association with Uttar Pradesh Police, has confiscated over five lakh pirated textbooks, besides huge quantities of printing machinery and raw materials worth Rs 20 crore in the past 14 months.

29 FIRs have been filed till date against some of the owners of warehouses, printers, and sellers who were caught involved in this illegal business of producing and selling counterfeit books.

In the latest raid, NCERT and the Uttar Pradesh Police busted a warehouse in Muzaffarnagar. More than 1.5 lakh pirated books worth about Rs 2 crore were seized, one truck, two cars with illegal books, many printing plates, and other stuff. Eight individuals were arrested during the raid.

Such a raid in Samalkha, Haryana resulted in the confiscation of a huge number of machines, printing plates, and pirated books.

The authorities are continuing with the investigation to identify the masterminds of the racket, which is resulting in heavy revenue loss to the government and NCERT.

CONSEQUENCES FOR STUDENTS AND CORRECTIVE MEASURES

Such spurious textbooks, which are printed on poor quality paper using inferior ink, also pose problems for students who unwittingly buy them.

To counter the increasing problem, NCERT has implemented a number of corrective measures: it has made mandatory a significant improvement in the standard of paper and printing, ensured prompt printing and sufficient availability of textbooks in the market, and imposed stricter checks on manufacturers, printers, and distributors.

Further, a Kashipur-based paper mill making spurious NCERT watermarked paper has been dealt with. NCERT is also taking efforts to ensure that textbooks are sold on e-commerce websites at affordable rates without any delivery cost.

For added security, an anti-piracy solution developed by IIT Kanpur will be launched.

CALL FOR VIGILANCE AND FUTURE SAFEGUARDS

NCERT has reaffirmed its commitment to safeguarding intellectual property and upholding the academic welfare of students.

It has made parents, schools, and sellers cautious while buying textbooks and report any suspicious transaction to the authorities.

As part of its gigantic exercise to restructure its education department, the Arunachal Pradesh government directed 386 state-owned schools spread all over the state to shut immediately on account of zero enrollment. The move, after the state Education Department conducted a thorough audit, is done with an intention of streamlining educational infrastructure and giving importance to quality rather than quantity.

The audit, based on the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) data, confirmed that the schools were closed down for years. Their closure in almost all frontier and remote districts has been unprecedented. West Kameng district has the highest number of 73 closed-down schools, followed by Papum Pare with 50 schools. Government also intends to relocate the teaching and non-teaching personnel from the closed schools to the high-enrollment schools to enhance the provision of education. There will also be provision for admitting students who might have just joined then-closed schools into proximal running schools.

This initiative has been implemented in synchronism with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which has been designed to maximize educational infrastructure and enhance learning achievements. By closing the redundant schools, the state seeks to maximize its resources and increase the quality of education in general. The project will surely leave a lasting legacy on the education sector of the state, especially in rural and far-flung areas where quality education is already compromised. But the determination of the government to place quality and maximize resources above others will benefit students in the long term. With this commendable step, Arunachal Pradesh is one of the states going the extra mile in revamping and enhancing its educational system. The move is regarded as a move towards making sure all students are given proper education regardless of the hurdles created by geography and accessibility. 

In a dramatic and contentious education policy move, Maharashtra School Education Minister Dada Bhuse on Monday said that from Class 1, students would be given basic military training. The step is being framed as a step towards making students patriotic, physically disciplined, and nationally prepared from a young age.

Addressing the media, Bhuse said that the training would be done with the assistance of retired army personnel to instill fitness, discipline, and a sense of responsibility among school kids. "This move will make children do regular exercise, learn about camaraderie, and develop patriotism," Bhuse told news agency PTI.

Support will be drawn from a network of 2.5 lakh ex-servicemen, sports teachers, NCC cadets, and members of Scouts and Guides, as per the minister. The plan has received a green signal already from Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

The timing of the move is significant, coming after Operation Sindoor—India's retaliatory action against terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed personnel. On May 7, civil defence exercises were conducted across the country under 'Operation Abhyas', and a follow-up series, 'Operation Shield', was organized on May 31 along border states to mimic emergency situations and raise preparedness.

Against this fraught geopolitical background, Maharashtra's new school drive for its state is being considered as something greater than an educational curriculum shift — it embodies the increasing intertwining of education and national security concerns.

While others have welcomed the move as a visionary initiative to bring about a "disciplined and vigilant generation," others have raised eyebrows over the psychological and ethical implications of training children as young as six using military-style drills. As the debate rages, Maharashtra's classrooms are on the brink of becoming the battlefields for molding not only young minds but the very fabric of national readiness in a world that is full of uncertainty.

In a bid to instill environmental awareness among students, the Delhi government has approved a project to promote climate change and sustainability education in Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalayas for the 2025–2026

The document also describes the program's conditions in accordance with the Directorate of Education's (NGO Branch) official circular: "The aforementioned organization has been given permission to operate its project in the schools listed below. This authorization is valid until September 2025. Additionally, there can be no more than 20 events, and teacher preparation should only take place on school grounds.

According to the official circular of Directorate of Education (NGO Branch), "Permission was given to Earth Warriors Global to empower children to act on climate through climate change and sustainability education in Sarvodaya schools in Delhi in academic year 2025-26."

The letter also gives the details of programme conditions: "The aforementioned organisation has been assigned the below mentioned schools for running their project. upto September, 2025 permission is granted. Moreover, number of activities are restricted to 20 only and teacher training should be conducted in School premises only."

There are ten such schools in North East district. Coordination will be done with the Deputy Directors of Education (North East) which include those in Babarpur, Gokalpuri, Ghonda, and Yamuna Vihar. The coordination process will include the Deputy Directors of Education (North East).