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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).

The same matter was raised in recent state sessions that the Education Ministry has been conducting with states over the PM-POSHAN or the midday meal scheme as well.

Referring to the "alarming trend" of students "away from government schools", and the steady increase in admissions in private schools in states, including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Uttarakhand, the Ministry of Education has asked them to initiate steps to reverse the trend.

The issue of admission of students into school was a topic discussed during the meetings the Education Ministry organized with the states in March and April in order to decide on their plans for 2025-26 under the Samagra Shiksha programme.

In 11 of the 23 states and Union Territories, in whose meeting minutes till now have come into the public domain, the Union ministry has placed on record the aspect of increasing enrolments in private schools, and decreasing enrolments in government and aided schools, when the respective states themselves have a higher percentage of government schools.

Another connected issue, of decreasing enrolments in government schools, was also raised in recent sessions the Ministry held with states on the PM-POSHAN or midday meal scheme as well.

In Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Uttarakhand, the Department of School Education and Literacy secretary under the Ministry of Education "dwelt on the issues that even though massive amounts of money were being spent, students are drifting away from government schools, which was a cause for concern."

The Andhra Pradesh meeting minutes of the ministry utilize UDISE+ data of 2023-24 to inform that out of the state's 61,373 schools, around 73 per cent (45,000) are government schools and around 25 per cent (15,232) are private schools. However, enrolment in government schools is around 46 per cent of overall enrolment, and enrolment in private schools is marginally more than 52 per cent of the total, as per the minutes. "Enrolment trend from 2021-22 to 2023-24 shows that enrolment at unaided schools is regularly on the increase," the minutes state.

Telangana and Uttarakhand, as per the minutes, have the trend of enrolment between the years 2018-19 and 2023-24 showing that "except during 2021-22 (COVID-19)", in the unaided schools enrolment is steadily increasing.

A heartwarming video of Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma helping a student learn guitar chords while visiting a school has gone viral on Instagram and earned appreciation from its users.

While on his visit to Nongspung A village in the constituency of Jirang, the Chief Minister was found teaching students at a local school. While watching them at play, he couldn't help but notice one shy little boy struggling with playing the guitar. Instead of just standing and watching, Sangma intervened and showed him how to put the correct chords on and how to hold and play the guitar himself.

Encouraging future talent

Posting the video on his Instagram account, Sangma wrote in the caption, "At Nongspung A village of Jirang, one student was very eager to play the guitar, so I gifted one to the school during my visit there. He is an amateur today, but I'm sure he will learn and play when we dedicate their new school building some day."

Social media fans filled the comment section with admiration. One of them wrote, "This is the kind of leadership that inspires real change." Another added, "Not only a politician, but also a mentor. Respect!"

A third posted, "Music, kindness, and leadership—what a beautiful blend!" whereas another added, "This is the content we love to see from our leaders."

Another one wrote, "The act of kindness and love .It's great to see your time with the students on music" Another one wrote, "Thank you sir for visiting our school. We are so happy that you have encouraged my students in the field of music not only words but through deeds. Thank you for the guitar sir, we are immensely happy.". Next time when you visit to inaugurate our new school as requested by you our students will certainly sing you a welcome song."

A user commented, "This is beautiful." Another user said, "Such sympathy is not common in public life. Keep inspiring us!"

As part of efforts to boost vocational education, the Directorate of Education has sanctioned inclusion of Skill and NSQF subjects in 257 additional government schools in Delhi from the ongoing academic year itself, officials confirmed.

The step is a part of the Samagra Shiksha initiative and seeks to provide students with practical, job-oriented skills in addition to their mainstream academic curriculum. According to a May 23 circular, the students of Classes 9 and 11 will be able to avail themselves of various skill-based subjects, and each school would have to provide admission to up to 50 students per subject.

For enabling students to make conscious choices, schools have been instructed to hold counselling sessions delineating the scope and career prospects of the skill courses being introduced. The circular also makes it clear that new admissions in Class 11 will be entertained even if students have not studied the subject in Class 9 or 10.

Pointing to a more flexible education paradigm, the report explained that this is within a flexible, multi-entry and multi-exit framework, and this makes vocational education more accessible. But this is not required of all students to take up skill subjects—schools can provide them as an optional stream.

According to CBSE guidelines, schools don't require individual approvals for offering these subjects. They need to simply modify the concerned information on the CBSE portal.

National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) offers courses under such practical streams as Information Technology, Retail, Healthcare, and Beauty & Wellness—subjects geared to enhance students' employment prospects and equip them with skills to fit real-world careers.

The Bengaluru South MP also shared a video of a school-going autorickshaw driving through a badly damaged stretch littered with open manholes and potholes

The politics of who will fix Bengaluru's battered roads has reached fever pitch, with Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya entering the fray.

Surya posted a thread comprising a letter, which was written from a school, appealing to the parents to write to civic officials to repair the roads immediately for the sake of their children.

Given below are the tweets by Surya regarding the same:.

"See the condition of the road. There are uncovered manholes here—children can fall in. Two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and buses can't pass through. It's a disaster waiting to happen. Thousands of children, many in school vans, pass on this road daily. How can they ignore this?" the Bengaluru South MP posed to News18.

Surya challenged the Karnataka Congress government to take responsibility for keeping the infrastructure of the city intact, stating that the tech hub of India is "crumbling" under its regime.

On Wednesday, after touring areas badly hit by relentless rains, Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar asserted the damage was worst in BJP constituencies.

Reacting to this, Surya said to News18, "Does Bengaluru belong to a political party? It was Shivakumar who began the practice of releasing money to Congress MLAs but not to BJP MLAs. Let him come out with how much crores were released to BJP MLA constituencies and how many crores to Congress MLA constituencies. Recall how in Jayanagar he intentionally withheld money from the local BJP MLA? You cut money from BJP constituencies and then point fingers at those same regions?

The letter Surya had sent was signed by the secretary of Kumaran Group of Institutions. It requested parents to "acknowledge the challenges posed by the condition of roads leading to the school," and emphasized the inconvenience and danger for students.

The school urged the parents to approach civic authorities directly: "If you would like to further support the cause, we urge you to write directly to the concerned municipal or public works department. A joint voice from the parent community will perhaps help bring focus to the urgency of the issue and trigger quicker action," the letter added.

The school also clarified that it has repeatedly requested for road repairs, but its role is limited. “The responsibility of repairing public roads lies solely with the municipal bodies," the letter stated. Surya pointed out that he was chosen to serve all of Bengaluru and should be held accountable for the issues of the city. "MLAs do not enjoy executive power, that rests with ministers. The irony is, while they mark two years of so-called good governance, half of Bengaluru is sinking," he said to News18