# Punjab Leads NITI Aayog School Education Index 2026 2026-08-07T09:50:29+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet Punjab has overtaken Kerala to rank first in the NITI Aayog School Education Quality Index 2026, Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains said in the state Assembly. He said an earlier survey found more than 8,000 schools without boundary walls, 3,200 without functional toilets and nearly 4 lakh students sitting on floors. Textbooks, he added, now reach district headquarters by February 15 and schools by March 31. Bains said Mission Samarth covers nearly 12 lakh students and more than 70,000 teachers each year, grouping children by learning ability. Government school NEET-UG qualifiers rose from 80 in 2021 to 882 in 2026, which he attributed to the PACE initiative. Punjab has also introduced Artificial Intelligence as a core subject from Classes 1 to 12, PTI reported. ## Coverage - timesnownews.com Tags: government schools, Mission Samarth, NEET-UG, NITI Aayog, Punjab education Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/punjab-leads-niti-aayog-school-education-index-2026/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/punjab-leads-niti-aayog-school-education-index-2026/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes.