Maharashtra's classrooms are getting a new mandate — and it goes well beyond textbooks. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis chaired a review meeting of the School Education Department in Mumbai on Monday, August 3, 2026, directing the rollout of a 'Drug-Free School' campaign statewide and calling for anti-addiction education to be formally embedded in the school curriculum.

De-Addiction in the Classroom: What Fadnavis Has Directed

The headline directive from the meeting is pointed: addiction awareness must become part of what students learn, not an afterthought. Fadnavis called for Anti-Drug Guidance and Counselling Committees to be established in schools across Maharashtra, paired with the statewide 'Drug-Free School' campaign. The logic is straightforward — equip students not just with academic knowledge but with the awareness and values to lead 'healthy, responsible and addiction-free lives', as the CM put it.

Strict measures were also mandated to address school safety, cyber fraud, and substance abuse — three threats that have increasingly converged in the lives of school-age children across urban and semi-urban Maharashtra.

Maharashtra Holds Second Rank Under PGI 2.0

The meeting was also an occasion to flag a significant benchmark. Maharashtra continues to hold its position as the second-best performing state in the country under the Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2.0 framework — a Union government ranking that measures states on school education quality across multiple parameters. That ranking, the CM noted, reflects sustained commitment rather than a one-time surge.

Central to this performance push is the rollout of PM SHRI Schools — the Centre's flagship scheme to upgrade select government schools into model institutions with modern infrastructure and a future-ready curriculum. Maharashtra's participation in the scheme is being positioned as a cornerstone of the state's broader school education ecosystem.

Mother Tongue, Heritage, and Modern Infrastructure: The Balancing Act

Fadnavis framed the state's education philosophy around a deliberate balance: academic excellence alongside preservation of the mother tongue, the richness of historical heritage, and investment in modern educational infrastructure. It is a formulation that speaks directly to Maharashtra's complex linguistic and cultural identity — a state where Marathi pride runs deep and debates over medium of instruction have long been politically charged.

Cabinet Minister Dadaji Bhuse and Minister of State Dr. Pankaj Bhoyar, both tagged in the post, were present at the review along with senior officials from the department.

Maharashtra is not just promising better schools — it is writing new rules for what happens inside them. The test now is implementation.