Rajasthan's school education sector has earned national recognition from NITI Aayog, which has formally acknowledged two of the state's flagship programmes as exemplary practices in its latest policy report. The Shala Swasthya Parikshan Abhiyan and the AI-based assessment system under the Chief Minister Shikshit Rajasthan Abhiyan have been cited as 'Good State Practices' in the report titled 'School Education System in India: Temporal Analysis and Policy Roadmap for Quality Enhancement', released on 20 May 2025.

What the Shala Swasthya Parikshan Abhiyan Covers

The health screening initiative reached more than 75 lakh students across Rajasthan, evaluating each child on more than 70 health parameters. These included vision, hearing, dental health, nutrition, and physical fitness assessments. A mobile app-based follow-up system was deployed to ensure continuity of care after initial screenings.

NITI Aayog described the model as a significant step toward integrating health and nutrition into the education ecosystem, in alignment with the objectives of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

AI and OCR Technology in Learning Assessments

The second initiative commended in the report involves the use of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology and an AI-enabled assessment system introduced under the Chief Minister Shikshit Rajasthan Abhiyan. According to the report's findings, the system helped more than 4 lakh students overcome learning poverty, while delivering an annual improvement of 8–10 per cent in learning outcomes.

Rajasthan also secured a position among the top 10 states in the country in the Rajasthan Parakh Report 2024, outperforming the national average — a metric that further reinforces the state's upward trajectory in school education quality.

Padhai with AI: A District-Level Innovation

NITI Aayog separately appreciated the Padhai with AI initiative being piloted in Tonk district, noting substantial improvements in student performance, particularly in Mathematics and other core subjects. The district-level programme represents an early-stage integration of artificial intelligence into classroom learning, and its recognition at the national level signals potential for wider replication.

Government's Response

State government officials attributed the recognition to the policy direction set by Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma. 'Under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, Rajasthan's education sector is rapidly emerging as a national model of innovation, effectively integrating education, healthcare, and technology to enhance student learning and development,' officials said.

This comes amid a broader national push under NEP 2020 to move school education beyond rote learning toward holistic, data-driven development. Rajasthan's dual focus — student health and technology-enabled learning — positions it as one of the more comprehensive state-level implementations of that vision. Whether the model scales effectively beyond pilot districts will be the next test.