Kerala’s CPI(M)-led government announced on Sunday that it has decided to join the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) scheme, which is aimed at upgrading existing schools.
The state government had been reluctant to join PM SHRI, and has alleged that the scheme, which is part of the National Education Policy, is a tool for the “saffronisation” of education in the country and that it would bring the schools under the control of the Centre. As a result of the state’s reluctance to ink an MoU with the Union Ministry of Education, the central government had withheld the release of over Rs 1,000 crore to Kerala’s general education sector.
CPI(M) leader and Education Minister V Sivankutty said on Sunday, “There are arrears of Rs 1,466 crore that we have to receive from the Centre. It is money that must be spent on our children. Many expenses, such as grants to students and salaries to teachers, can be met only if we get this fund. Other departments, such as Health and Agriculture, have also accepted the Centre’s assistance. The fund of the Union government belongs to everyone in the country. Why should we stay away?”
He said the Centre was trying to cut aid on “silly grounds”. “Even if we accept the Centre’s aid, we will continue to uphold the state’s traditions in the education sector. We have a policy, and there is no question of going back from that policy. We will adopt a practical approach,” he said.
As per the PM SHRI scheme, states have to bear 40% of the project expenditure, like other Centre schemes. So far, 12,400 schools from primary to higher-secondary levels, in 670 districts across the country, have become part of the scheme.
However, schools under state boards in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal had so far not been part of the scheme.
The Kerala government had said that it has already implemented many elements of the PM SHRI scheme. For instance, on the infrastructure front, Kerala schools, both government and government-aided ones, have made major progress over the last nine years. The state already has 40,000 smart classrooms with broadband connections in several schools.
