A school courtyard in one of Himachal Pradesh's most remote districts becomes the stage for two back-to-back missions on Thursday, November 5, 2026 — one to lift learning, one to fight drugs. Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, posting on X through the Chief Minister's Office of Himachal Pradesh, announced he will address students at the PM SHRI Government Model Senior Secondary School in Teesa, Chamba district, before flagging off an Anti-Chitta Walkathon.

A model school at the edge of Chamba's hills

The school in Teesa is part of the PM SHRI (PM Schools for Rising India) scheme, a central government initiative launched in 2022 by the Ministry of Education to transform 14,500 government schools across India into model institutions with upgraded infrastructure and improved learning standards. Chamba, a predominantly rural and tribal district bordering Jammu, is among the regions in Himachal Pradesh where the scheme's impact is most keenly awaited — historically underserved, its schools have long struggled with limited resources and teacher shortages.

CM Sukhu's direct interaction with students follows a pattern his government has maintained since taking office in December 2022: on-ground school visits that double as accountability checks and community engagement drives, particularly in districts far from Shimla's administrative corridors.

The 'chitta' crisis and the walkathon response

'Chitta' — a colloquial term for synthetic opioids and heroin that has spread from Punjab into Himachal Pradesh's border districts — has become one of the state's most pressing public-health emergencies. After the walkathon flag-off, participants will march through Teesa in a visible community statement against the drug's reach among adolescents and young adults.

Himachal Pradesh intensified its anti-drug campaigns after 2020, with special drives concentrated in districts that share a porous social boundary with Punjab's narcotics belt. Pairing that campaign with a school visit is deliberate: the students in the audience are precisely the demographic most at risk. One event, two fronts — education and prevention woven into a single morning.

Routine outreach, real stakes

The day's programme is administrative rather than a new policy announcement, but its setting gives it weight. Chamba rarely draws the chief minister's personal attention, and the convergence of a PM SHRI school interaction with an anti-drug walkathon signals that the state is treating narcotics inflow and educational quality as linked problems — not separate bureaucratic silos. Advocates tracking the PM SHRI rollout in Himachal Pradesh will watch whether today's visit accelerates infrastructure upgrades or staff allocations for the Teesa school specifically.

The winter session of the state assembly is approaching, and any follow-up measures on anti-drug enforcement or new PM SHRI school notifications in Chamba and Kullu districts are likely to surface there.