Pune’s Rural Classrooms Shine Globally: From Skill on Wheels to the World’s Best School Prize

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A Moment of Pride for Rural India

Mumbai : On October 2, as the world celebrated Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary, a quiet rural corner of Maharashtra made history. Pune Zilla Parishad’s Jalindarnagar Primary School was named winner of the World’s Best School Prizes – Community Choice Award by global education platform T4 Education.

For a school tucked away in a Zilla Parishad village to win one of the most prestigious awards in global education is no ordinary feat. It is recognition not only of a single institution but of a larger movement brewing in rural Maharashtra: a belief that world-class education is possible in government schools, with community spirit, innovation, and leadership.

From Local Innovation to Global Recognition

The Jalindarnagar school’s success story is rooted in its peer-learning model. Here, older children tutor younger ones, creating a vibrant cycle of shared knowledge. This co-learning environment has done more than boost academic results; it has created empathy, responsibility, and leadership among children who otherwise might have been denied even the basics.

The award acknowledges the school’s innovation, social impact, and contribution to student development. But for Pune Zilla Parishad, this was not an isolated victory. It was a culmination of years of experimentation and reform to reimagine rural education.

Only a few months earlier, in August 2025, the district had rolled out another pioneering project: Skill on Wheels — a mobile laboratory designed to take hands-on, skill-based learning directly to village schools.

Skill on Wheels: Bringing Science to the Village Square

The Skill on Wheels bus, launched in partnership with Lend A Hand India, is a traveling classroom equipped with modern tools, activity kits, and vocational training resources. Its mission: to bridge the rural-urban divide by ensuring children in villages are not left behind in practical education.

The bus began its journey on 25 August 2025, covering 30 Zilla Parishad schools until October. At its very first stops—ZP Primary School, Kasarsai (Mulshi) and ZP Primary School, Shirsufal (Baramati)—the impact was immediate. Students conducted science experiments, practiced vocational skills, and engaged in life-skill activities, all within the bus’s compact yet dynamic setup.

“Education today cannot be limited to textbooks and examinations. To truly prepare our children for the future, they must be equipped with practical exposure, hands-on learning, and skills that build confidence and curiosity,” said Gajanan Patil, IAS, CEO of Pune Zilla Parishad, at the launch. His words captured a philosophy that has come to define Pune’s approach: equity in quality education.

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Building the “Pune Model” of Schools

The Jalindarnagar award and Skill on Wheels are not isolated innovations but pillars of what is increasingly being described as the “Pune Model Schools” vision. This model emphasises foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN), but also insists on creativity, problem-solving, adaptability, and innovation.

In practice, this means classrooms that are not silent rows of rote learners, but interactive ecosystems. It means teachers are mentors and facilitators rather than mere exam-preparers. It means using technology and mobility to overcome barriers of geography and access.

Most importantly, it means ensuring that a child in Jalindarnagar has the same opportunity to dream big as a child in Mumbai or Singapore.

Why This Matters Globally

The global education community often debates how to democratise learning, how to give children from low-resource settings the same exposure as those from wealthy urban centres. Jalindarnagar and Skill on Wheels offer a blueprint: community-driven, government-supported, innovation-led public education.

Peer-learning at Jalindarnagar demonstrates that leadership and empathy can be built into pedagogy itself.

Skill on Wheels proves that exposure to science and technology does not require expensive infrastructure — mobility and creativity can break barriers.

Together, these initiatives show that quality education is not about privilege, but about purpose.

A CEO’s Vision, A Community’s Effort

Much credit for these milestones goes to Gajanan Patil, IAS, the dynamic CEO of Pune Zilla Parishad. Under his stewardship, ZP schools have seen reforms that emphasise accountability, innovation, and pride.

But Mr Patil is the first to admit that this is not a one-man show. “This achievement reflects the tireless efforts of our teachers, the enthusiasm of our students, and the support of parents. It is a matter of pride not just for Pune district but for India, as the school has become a global inspiration,” he said after the Jalindarnagar announcement.

Indeed, the award is a tribute to thousands of unsung teachers who balance administrative hurdles with their passion to innovate in classrooms. It is also a tribute to parents who, despite poverty, encourage their children to stay in school.

The Global Lesson from Pune

Why should a rural ZP school winning a global award matter to the world? Because it challenges assumptions. For too long, rural government schools in South Asia and Africa have been portrayed as symbols of failure. Jalindarnagar breaks that stereotype.

It shows that Innovation can thrive in public schools with the right leadership. Global recognition can come from grassroots, not just elite private institutions. Models developed in Pune can inspire replication worldwide in countries facing similar rural education challenges.

As international organisations debate the future of education in the post-COVID, AI-driven era, Pune is quietly showing that the future can also be rural, inclusive, and deeply human.

Sustaining the Momentum

The challenge now is sustainability. Awards bring recognition, but the harder task is to ensure the momentum continues, resources are scaled, and other schools in India and beyond learn from Jalindarnagar’s model.

If done well, the Skill on Wheels bus need not stop at 30 schools. It could become a state-wide or even nationwide model. If peer-learning is systematically encouraged, India could transform rote-heavy classrooms into hubs of collaboration and creativity.

A Light from Rural India

In 1947, Mahatma Gandhi had said that he saw “a ray of hope” in Jammu & Kashmir. Nearly eight decades later, in 2025, the world can say it sees a ray of hope in rural Maharashtra.

From the moving laboratories of Skill on Wheels to the peer-learning corridors of Jalindarnagar Primary School, Pune has proven that innovation in education is not the monopoly of the elite. It can emerge from mud roads, Zilla Parishad classrooms, and the determination of children who want to learn.

The world’s best schools are not always the most expensive ones. Sometimes, they are in places like Jalindarnagar — where children teach each other, communities rally around them, and leaders ensure that rural India does not wait for the future, but creates it.

Pune’s story is not just India’s pride. It is a global lesson.