The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions held the 40th webinar in its National Good Governance Webinar Series on 25 September 2026. The event examined how Project PATHA, a teaching initiative from Mehsana district in Gujarat that won the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration in 2022, has sustained its gains and been replicated across other regions. More than 900 locations across India tuned in, including district administrators, state officials and officers from training institutes.
The webinar series itself was launched on the direction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April 2022. The purpose is to help past winners of the PM’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration share their methods with serving administrators so that successful schemes and approaches can be copied in other districts and states. Each webinar typically draws around 1,000 government officials from various departments and training institutions.
Key facts
- 40th webinar held on 25 September 2026
- Project PATHA won PM’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration 2022
- Initiative covers foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) across 994 elementary schools in Mehsana district
- Attended from over 900 locations across India
- 39 webinars held prior to this one since April 2022
- Typical attendance: around 1,000 officials per webinar
- Initiative now being scaled under state-level scheme Nipun Gujarat
What is Project PATHA?
Project PATHA is an approach to teaching reading and mathematics in primary schools. It focuses on foundational literacy and numeracy, which are the basic skills students need before progressing to higher learning. The initiative was developed and implemented across all 994 elementary schools operated in Mehsana district.
The project began by identifying gaps in how well students were learning these foundational skills. A task force then created teaching guides for teachers, worksheets in Gujarati and Mathematics, and an assessment tool to track student progress. These materials were reviewed by the Gujarat Council of Educational Research and Training (GCERT) and made available through DIKSHA, a digital platform for educational resources.
How has it been sustained?
One major challenge for government schemes is maintaining momentum after the award period ends. Mehsana district tackled this through several measures. First, the district institutionalised the PATHA approach by making it a permanent part of how schools function, not just a time-limited project. Teachers and education officials received regular training and support. The district also monitored results continuously and reviewed progress with schools.
The initiative evolved beyond its original form. What began as a focus on foundational literacy and numeracy expanded into Grade-Appropriate Learning (GAL), ensuring that teaching methods matched the academic level of each grade. The district continued using the original learning materials while also integrating PATHA methods with other education initiatives launched later by the state.
How is it being replicated?
Mehsana district has helped other districts adopt the PATHA model. Officials provided training and ongoing support to teams from other regions. The teaching guides, worksheets and instructional videos created for PATHA were shared through GCERT and the DIKSHA platform, making them freely available.
The state government recognised the value of the approach and incorporated it into Nipun Gujarat, a state-level programme. The PATHA teacher guide, worksheets and learning resources now form part of these state-level initiatives. Nipun Gujarat also developed state-level tracking tools named Kadam and Pagla to monitor how well students are learning across the state.
What this means for you
If you are a student in a primary school in Gujarat or another state, your teachers may now be using teaching methods and materials developed under Project PATHA. If you work in education administration or school management, this webinar demonstrates a practical model for how to make new teaching approaches permanent and spread them to other districts rather than letting them fade after a project ends.
If you are preparing for competitive exams on public administration or governance, Project PATHA illustrates how government schemes can be designed for sustainability and replication from the start, rather than treating success as a one-time achievement.
What happens next
The National Good Governance Webinar Series will continue to profile successful initiatives from past PM’s Award winners. Officials and administrators attending these webinars are expected to apply similar approaches in their own districts and departments.