On 23 April 2026, the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Minister of State for Education Jayant Chaudhary visited the State Council of Educational Research and Training, Maharashtra, in Pune and reviewed the implementation of the National Education Policy 2020 and related state academic initiatives. He held detailed interactions with faculty and senior officials and assessed progress across major programmes. The review covered the NIPUN Maharashtra Mission, the State Curriculum Framework, PM SHRI Schools, vocational education pathways, digital learning initiatives and the School Quality Assessment and Assurance Framework. The minister examined how these programmes were being operationalised at state and district levels and queried arrangements for teacher training and capacity building. He noted Maharashtra's progress in leveraging technology through AI-enabled tools, digital content platforms and real-time data systems and dashboards to support learning and administrative decisions. He identified AI Saathi for Educators as a tool enabling teachers to use artificial intelligence for lesson planning, assessment and content creation and emphasised the need to build teacher capacity for such tools. Strengthening teacher education and continuous professional development was signalled as a priority for effective classroom integration and improved learning outcomes. The minister reviewed efforts to integrate skill education within the school system through structured vocational pathways spanning multiple sectors and urged that skill-based learning be reinforced at all stages of schooling. He emphasised scaling up last-mile delivery models such as Skills on Wheels that bring vocational learning directly to learners at the grassroots across urban and rural areas and framed these as critical to expanding access. The visit was placed in the context of advancing the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047 through greater school-to-work readiness. He directed that best practices in digital pedagogy, skill integration and classroom-level implementation be documented for sharing with other states. The delegation included Commissioner (Education) Shri Sachin Pratap Singh, Dr Nandkumar Bedse, Director In-Charge of SCERT Maharashtra, and other senior state education officials who participated in the deliberations. Officials discussed mechanisms for monitoring progress, capacity building and periodic assessment to ensure fidelity of reforms. The minister recommended greater documentation and dissemination of Maharashtra models so other states could adapt successful approaches and indicated that the central ministry would follow up on implementation and collaboration to support scaling of vocational and digital initiatives.