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Over 1.92 crore school students from all 36 states and union territories have participated in Project Veer Gatha 5.0, the largest ever participation of the initiative since its launch in 2021. Students sent poems, paintings, essays, videos and other creative submissions celebrating the bravery, sacrifice and leadership of India’s gallantry award winners and great warriors.
This nationwide project encourages students to explore the stories of courage from officers of the Indian Armed Forces to historical icons such as King Kharavela of Kalinga, Prithviraj Chauhan, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, freedom fighters of 1857 and leaders of the tribal rebellion. Its objective is to inculcate the feeling of patriotism among the students and inspire them by introducing them to the heritage of bravery of India.
Project Veer Gatha was established in 2021 to disseminate the life stories of gallantry award winners and strengthen experiential, project-based learning in line with the vision of NEP 2020. Over the past few years, participation has grown rapidly:
• 8.03 lakh students in version 1
• 19.5 lakh in version 2
• 1.36 crores in version 3
• 1.76 crores in version 4
• 1.92 crores in version 5
As part of version 5.0, schools conducted activities between 8 September to 10 November 2025 and uploaded their four best entries on the MyGov portal. To deepen the education of students, the Defense Ministry coordinated virtual and in-person awareness sessions across India through regional units of the Army, Navy and Air Force.
This year also marks an important milestone: the international expansion of the project, with Indian schools abroad joining the initiative. Their participation underlines the growing global impact of the project and its contribution in strengthening the cultural bond between the Indian diaspora and the country’s values of courage and patriotism.
Adding momentum to the 2025 edition, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, Test Pilot, Indian Air Force, delivered a motivational speech and shared a video message, encouraging students to pursue excellence and adopt the qualities of bravery and resilience.
Following the previous exercise, this year 100 national winners will be selected under the 5+3+3+4 curriculum structure:
• 25 from initial stage
• 25 from middle stage
• Class 9-10 to 25
• Class 11-12 to 25
Each national winner will receive 10,000, and his felicitation will be jointly organized by the education and defense ministries in New Delhi. Additionally, there will be 2,956 district-level winners and 288 state/UT-level winners, who will be honored by their respective administrations.
(Based on PIB input)
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