Launching the statewide ‘School Chalen Hum’ campaign from Bhopal on April 1, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav announced that all ‘CM RISE’ government schools across the state would now be known as ‘Sandipani Vidyalaya.’

The Chief Minister explained that the English name was a colonial legacy, and renaming the schools as Sandipani Vidyalaya would introduce an Indian perspective into the education system.

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Dr Yadav’s predecessor, former MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, had introduced the ‘CM RISE’ concept to transform government schools in Madhya Pradesh. The acronym ‘RISE’ stood for ‘Respect, Integrity, Strength, and Excellence.’

Chouhan had envisioned upgrading over 9,000 government schools into best-in-class institutions over the next decade through improvements in infrastructure, staffing, training, academic policies, and administrative processes to enhance access to quality education.

At the event in Bhopal, Dr Yadav acknowledged the importance of the initiative but expressed dissatisfaction with its name. “The name ‘CM RISE’ rankles me,” he remarked.

“Though the British left India, that mindset still lingers,” the CM lamented.

Dr Yadav declared that the schools would now be called Maharishi Sandipani Vidyalaya, saying, “It will remind us of the era when Acharya Sandipani imparted education to Lord Shri Krishna.”

Maharishi Sandipani is revered as the teacher of Lord Krishna and is believed to have run an ashram in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, where he provided education to Krishna.

During the event, the CM also launched Education Portal 3.0 for student admissions in government schools. He emphasized that the vision of Ram Rajya was being realized by providing students with uniforms, laptops, e-scooters, bicycles, coaching, and other educational resources.

He further announced that the state government would distribute textbooks to nearly 8.5 million students at the beginning of the academic session.

Dr Yadav encouraged students to aspire to greatness, citing personalities such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former President and Bharat Ratna Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, former President Dr Rajendra Prasad, and former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri as role models.