PM SHRI: Kerala’s V Sivankutty says Rs 953 crore of SSA funds stopped; Tamil Nadu MOU stalled due to NEP para

NEW DELHI: Kerala general education minister V Sivankutty, on Monday, said that the union government has withheld more than Rs 953 crore of Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) funds in 2023-24 and 2024-25 citing the non-implementation of PM SHRI scheme.

The PM Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) is a central government scheme to develop and upgrade nearly 15,000 schools across the country into “model” institutions demonstrating the practical implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. Kerala education minister V Sivankutty said that despite the PM SHRI being a separate scheme, the central government is denying SSA funds to the state for not implementing it.

The minister said that the central government is using SSA funds as a “tool” to force states to implement PM SHRI.

“The central government is using the centrally sponsored scheme Samagra Shiksha as a tool to take decisions on this scheme. The central government has taken a completely objectionable stand that it will not provide money to Samagra Shiksha Kerala unless it approves the PM SHRI school and signs its MOU. Therefore, the central government has completely withheld the instalments from the third instalment of last year and this year's financial assistance. The Centre has withheld Rs. 953 crore 12 lakh for public education in the years 2023-24, 2024-25. This is a stance that completely renders the federal system proposed by the Indian Constitution irrelevant,” said Sivankutty.

PM SHRI MOU: Tamil Nadu drops ‘key’ para on NEP 2020

In a reply to a question in the Parliament on not releasing third and fourth instalments of SSA funds for West Bengal the education ministry, on Monday, said that while 33 states and union territories have signed the agreement for PM SHRI schools, three states have not. These are Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

The ministry also said that the PM SHRI scheme “supplements the efforts of Samagra Shiksha” and for this, states are supposed to sign an agreement with the ministry.

In reply to a similar question on Tamil Nadu SSA funds, the education ministry, on Monday, said that the Tamil Nadu government sent a “modified” agreement which deleted a “key paragraph” referring to the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

“The State of Tamil Nadu, too, gave an undertaking dated 15.03.2024 to sign the PM SHRI MoU before the beginning of the academic year 2024-25. After receiving the undertaking, a draft MoU under PM SHRI was sent by the Department of School Education & Literacy (DoSEL) to the state government. However, the state responded with a modified MoU vide letter dated 06.07.2024 wherein key paragraph referring to the implementation of NEP 2020 in entirety had been dropped. Thereafter, the state government has been repeatedly requested to sign the MoU without any modifications,” said the ministry in parliament.

Tamil Nadu has been very vocal in its opposition to the NEP 2020. It even launched its own state education policy in July 2024. Similarly, West Bengal has also announced its own state education policy, in September 2023, and has said that the NEP 2020 will not be implemented in the state. Kerala also has vocally opposed NEP 2020 and has refused to implement some of its suggestions in the Kerala Higher Education Reforms released in June 2023.

The NEP 2020 was implemented through a union cabinet decision. Despite claims of widespread consultation and support, the policy was never tabled, debated or voted on in parliament.

Moreover, this is not the first time that the Kerala government is in a tiff over funds. In September 2023, the Kerala government accused the centre of not releasing PM Poshan funds, erstwhile mid-day meal scheme. Then the centre had replied that the Kerala government did not follow proper protocol for requesting funds.