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Congratulating the Kerala government for the signing of the MoU, the Education Ministry said it is “a major milestone in transforming school education in Kerala, developing schools as centers of excellence with modern infrastructure, smart classrooms, experiential learning and a strong focus on skill development in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.”
PM Shri: What is this?
Launched in September 2022, PM SHRI is a centrally sponsored initiative that aims to develop over 14,500 schools to reflect “all components of the National Education Policy 2020”.
Its total outlay for the five years from 2022-23 to 2026-27 is ₹27,360 crore, which includes ₹18,128 crore as central share. According to the official website, through this scheme, the government seeks to “nurture students in such a way that they become engaged, productive and contributing citizens in building an equitable, inclusive and pluralistic society”.
While 33 states/UTs have already signed MoUs with the Ministry of Education, the number has now increased to 34 with the addition of Kerala. According to The Hindu, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are now the only two states that have not yet signed the MoU.
Why did Kerala join PM Shri?
According to NDTV, a major reason behind the change in the attitude of the Kerala government was financial compulsion.
The BJP-led central government had earlier withheld around ₹456 crore in the Samagra Shiksha Yojana for 2025-26 as the state was not a part of the PM SHRI scheme.
Besides, dues of previous years were also pending. These include ₹513.54 crore for 2024-25 and ₹188.6 crore for 2023-24. Overall, this took the total amount to ₹1,158 crore.
According to the Government of Kerala, due to this, approximately 40 lakh students in Kerala, who were from marginalized sections and enrolled in government and aided schools, were directly affected.
Many essential services, including uniforms and textbooks, were disrupted.
Defending the decision, Kerala Education Minister V Sivankutty called it a strategic move to secure central funds.
He claimed that the decision was taken to counter the central government’s attempt to “withhold funds worth thousands of crores of rupees for children”.
“This government will not allow any steps that weaken public education or deprive children of their due funds. Our children will not lose even a single rupee that they deserve,” PTI quoted the state minister as saying.
The Kerala Curriculum Framework (KCF) 2023 remains untouched, he said, adding that the curriculum will continue to focus on secularism, scientific temperament and constitutional values.
LDF alliance is divided
On Monday, Pinarayi Vijayan met CPI secretary Binoy Viswam to talk about the matter, but the PM failed to resolve the dispute over the SHRI school scheme.
“The issue we raised has not been resolved. We had a conversation with the chief minister and it was very cordial. But there was no resolution to the issues. So our concern remains. The next step will be taken later,” PTI quoted Vishwam as saying.
On Monday, members of the Kerala Students Union marched towards the Education Minister’s office in protest against the state government’s decision.
Congress MP JB Mather told ANI that Vijayan has taken a “big U-turn” which is “contrary to the ideology of the CPI-M and the LDF.”
He said, “CPI has protested this decision… CPI claims it was kept in the dark about the agreement. People accuse the Chief Minister of attempting to deceive CPI with promises of delaying the process, suggesting that it is aligned with the RSS’s agenda to promote communal thinking in the system.”
Congress MP KC Venugopal said that there is a ‘big conspiracy’ behind taking this decision.