A PIB backgrounder gives the current numbers on PM SHRI, the Centrally Sponsored Scheme meant to operationalise the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 through a network of exemplar schools.

Figure 1 — State/UT-wise distribution of selected PM SHRI schools

Uttar Pradesh (1,888), Maharashtra (946) and Madhya Pradesh (944) lead the count; smaller UTs such as Chandigarh (6) and Lakshadweep (13) have the fewest. Image courtesy PIB/Ministry of Education, 9 September 2026; reproduced with credit for educational use.

• PM SHRI does not create a new legal category of school; it layers a quality-upgradation and mentoring framework onto existing government/aided schools selected competitively.
• It follows the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan/RMSA-era emphasis on access with a shift toward demonstrable quality benchmarks — infrastructure, learning outcomes, inclusion — consistent with NEP 2020's shift from enrolment-driven to outcome-driven schooling.
• Selection is via a three-stage Challenge Method: State/UT MoU → eligibility screening on UDISE+ data → competitive scoring (urban schools need 70%, rural schools 60%) verified by physical inspection.

Figure 2 — The six major pillars of PM SHRI (derived from NEP 2020)

The six pillars are drawn from nine chapters of NEP 2020 and structure the School Quality Assessment Framework (SQAF). Image courtesy PIB/Ministry of Education, 9 September 2026; reproduced with credit for educational use.

• Curriculum follows the 5+3+3+4 structure prescribed by NEP 2020, with States retaining flexibility to localise content.
• Mother-tongue/regional-language instruction is emphasised in early grades — UDISE+ 2025–26 records 6,102 Sanskrit, 1,994 Urdu and 9,152 regional-language teachers in PM SHRI schools.
• Teacher and principal capacity-building runs through District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs), with financial support capped at ₹3 lakh per DIET and ₹2,500 per teacher trained.

Figure 3 — 21st-century skills PM SHRI schools are designed to build

Government framing links the scheme's technology-enabled, experiential-learning components to this competency set. Image courtesy PIB/Ministry of Education, 9 September 2026; reproduced with credit for educational use.

• Coverage vs. universality: 13,092 schools out of 14.71 lakh is a small demonstrator fraction; the "ripple effect" of mentoring neighbouring schools remains unverified at scale.
• Centre–State cost-sharing: as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, State fiscal capacity affects the pace of matching contributions and infrastructure upgrades, raising familiar federalism concerns around CSS design.
• Assessment burden: the Challenge Method's minimum-score thresholds may favour already better-resourced schools, a critique also made of similar competitive-selection models (e.g., Smart Cities Mission).
• Independent, outcome-level evaluation (learning-outcome gains, not just infrastructure/selection counts) is not yet available four years into a five-year scheme.

UIDAI has released a developer SDK and a testing Sandbox for Aadhaar Face Authentication, aimed at letting banks and fintechs embed face-based identity verification directly inside their own apps.

• Earlier model: users needed a separate government-issued FaceRD app running in the background alongside the bank/fintech app — a two-app journey.
• What changed: the SDK folds face capture, liveness/anti-spoofing checks and encrypted data handling directly into the partner's own single app.
• Face Authentication already anchors services such as Jeevan Pramaan (digital life certificates), Ayushman Bharat onboarding, SIM e-KYC, and beneficiary authentication for PM-KISAN, PM Awas Yojana and PM e-DRIVE.

• Privacy and consent: embedding biometric capture inside third-party apps widens the surface across which facial data is collected, even if UIDAI states data is encrypted and processed under its own protocols — a recurring concern flagged around Aadhaar-linked authentication generally.
• Liveness/anti-spoofing reliability: AI/ML-based spoof detection is an evolving field; sandbox testing of "failure scenarios" is a step toward auditability but does not itself guarantee foolproof security.
• Digital-access divide: face authentication assumes a smartphone with adequate camera/processing capability, which can exclude some users the underlying welfare schemes are meant to reach.

• UIDAI — statutory authority under the Aadhaar Act, 2016, issuing and authenticating Aadhaar numbers.
• SDK vs. Sandbox — SDK = code library for building the feature into an app; Sandbox = isolated test environment before production deployment.
• DPI (Digital Public Infrastructure) — the broader India Stack framing (Aadhaar, UPI, DigiLocker) within which this launch sits.

The two-day International Literacy Day 2026 observance concluded in New Delhi with the ULLAS Mela, inaugurated by DoSEL Secretary Shri T. K. Anil Kumar, featuring exhibition stalls from 28 States/UTs, NCERT, NCTE and NIOS showcasing literacy best practices.

• ULLAS (Understanding of Lifelong Learning for All in Society) is the Centre's ongoing adult-literacy and functional-literacy movement; the Mela is its annual public showcase.
• NCERT Director Prof. Dinesh Prasad Saklani flagged the growing importance of financial, legal, digital and electoral literacy as extensions of the traditional literacy agenda.
• Prelims hook: ULLAS Mela exhibitors included NCERT, NCTE and NIOS alongside 28 participating States/UTs — know these as the key institutional stakeholders in India's adult-literacy architecture.