Punjab Ranks No 1 in NITI Aayog School Education Index, Overtakes Kerala
Punjab ranks first in the school education quality index 2026. The state reports better school facilities, NEET success and AI from class 1 to 12. Read the artcile to know more details.
Punjab Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains has said that the state has moved to the top position in the NITI Aayog School Education Quality Index 2026. He said Punjab has gone ahead of Kerala and called it a major change in the school education system. Speaking in the Punjab Assembly during a discussion on an education related resolution moved by MLA Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra he said this is an education revolution the AAP government had promised. Read the article to know more details.
Punjab School Reforms Show Major Change Since 2022
Bains recalled the condition of schools when he took charge in July 2022. He said an early survey showed that more than 8000 schools had no boundary walls. Around 3200 schools had no working toilets. Nearly 4 lakh children were sitting on the floor during classes. He also said textbooks used to reach schools only in October or November. This caused a big loss in learning time during the academic session.
He said the situation has now improved in an important way. For the first time textbooks now reach district headquarters by February 15 and full distribution is completed by March 31. He also shared that he has personally visited more than 2000 government schools across Punjab. These visits include border schools, zero line villages and remote areas. He said these efforts helped the government understand the real needs of students and schools.
Mission Samarth AI Education and NEET Success Lift Punjab Schools
The minister said Mission Samarth has become one of the biggest foundational learning programmes in India. Under this model students are grouped by learning level instead of class level. This helps each child improve in reading, writing and maths at the right pace. Bains said that in September and October 2022 he found Class 8 students who could not write simple sentences and some who could not do basic addition and subtraction. These students were then taught from the Class 3 level and are now making progress. He said the programme now covers nearly 12 lakh students and involves more than 70000 teachers every year.
He also said Punjab has become the first state in the country to introduce Artificial Intelligence as a core subject from Class 1 to Class 12. On top of that the number of NEET qualifiers from government schools jumped from 80 in 2021 to 882 in 2026. He said this sharp rise has come because of the Punjab Academic Coaching for Excellence or PACE initiative. Together these steps show how Punjab is trying to build stronger government schools and better results for students.
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