‘Open Schooling System’ Will Help Students Who Missed Formal Education Get Another Chance: CM Devendra Fadnavis

Government Signs MoU with Educate Girls Organisation

Mumbai, March 2026: The Maharashtra government is committed to ensuring that no student in the state is deprived of education. With the support of experienced organisations like Educate Girls, the state’s open schooling system will become stronger and help students—especially girls who discontinued their studies—return to the mainstream education system, expressed confidence Devendra Fadnavis.

To strengthen the open schooling system in the state and provide flexible educational opportunities to students who have dropped out of the formal education system, the School Education Department, under the guidance of Chief Minister Fadnavis and with the initiative of Dadaji Bhuse, recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Educate Girls organisation.

Chief Minister Fadnavis has consistently emphasised that every child in the state should receive school education. As part of this effort, the School Education Department is also making registration mandatory for private institutions providing pre-primary education. Various measures are being implemented by the government to ensure that students remain in the education system from pre-primary to secondary levels.

However, efforts are also being made to bring back into the mainstream those students who have dropped out of school for any reason. Since the Chief Minister has given special priority to this issue, the MoU is expected to particularly benefit girls and women who were unable to continue their education.

Educate Girls is among the leading non-governmental organisations working for girls’ education and has been honoured with the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award, considered one of Asia’s highest recognitions.

With the Chief Minister’s forward-looking vision, this partnership with Educate Girls will provide strategic guidance and technical support to strengthen the state’s open schooling system. Under the partnership, a Technical Assistance Unit will be established to support the Maharashtra State Open School Board.

Through this unit, awareness campaigns will be conducted, outreach will be expanded to marginalised communities, and efforts will be made to identify students who have not completed their Class 10 or Class 12 education and help them rejoin the learning process.

The initiative will place special emphasis on reaching girls, women students, and socially and economically disadvantaged groups. In addition, efforts will be made to strengthen the open schooling system by developing educational resources and technology-based learning systems. Innovative approaches will also be introduced to improve the quality of open education programmes.

Furthermore, the programme will explore opportunities to connect students with various government schemes, scholarships, fee concessions, and skill-based courses. These initiatives are expected to enhance students’ employability and encourage them to pursue further education.

Chief Minister Fadnavis expressed hope that this initiative will not only bring more students back into the education system but also help them build better futures through improved educational and employment opportunities.