Centre sat on a fifth of Samagra Shiksha funds every year; PM SHRI dues at 49% in 2025-26: Govt data

Samagra Shiksha, PM SHRI: Over the last five financial years, the union government has released only about 80% of its share of the annual budget for Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan. In 2025-2026, it released just 78% of the amount it owed to states.

The main schooling programme supporting the fundamental right to education, SSA is funded by both the centre and state, in a 60:40 ratio for most states and 90:10 for northeastern and hilly ones; for union territories without legislatures, centre pays the full cost.

Data shared by the education ministry with Lok Sabha shows that the centre has withheld over 20% of its share every year over the last five years. Similarly, the central share of funds has not been released in full even for the PM School for Rising India (PM-SHRI). In the 2024-25 financial year, 49% of its funds were withheld.

The details were shared by minister of state for education, Jayant Chaudhary, in response to a question raised by Congress MP from Tamil Nadu, S Jothimani, during the current session of parliament.

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Samagra Shiksha: 22% of central share withheld in 2025-26

The Samagra Shiksha scheme is an integrated scheme for school education covering the entire gamut from pre-school to class 12. Samagra Shiksha was launched in 2018 by subsuming the erstwhile centrally-sponsored schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE).

A look at the actual fund release shows that while the budgetary allocation for SSA has risen over the past five years, the entire allocated amount hasn’t been released even once.

Source: Ministry of Education’s reply to parliament. Amounts converted from Rs. lakh to Rs. crore

As per the state-wise allocation, in 2024-25, the central share under SSA was not released to Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Following the implementation of PM-SHRI, the government has linked the SSA fund disbursal with the scheme. States were required to sign an MoU with the centre which several opposition-run states had refused to do.

However, the year after in 2025-26, Kerala and Tamil Nadu managed to get some funds. Kerala received Rs 9,927.38 lakh (22%) out of Rs 45,890.90 lakh, and Tamil Nadu received Rs 71,399.14 lakh (38%) out of the central share of Rs 1,89,642.31.

West Bengal’s allocated amounts were Rs 1,74,579.86 in 2024-25 and Rs 1,99,839.46 in 2025-26. In 2023-24 as well, out of the total central share of Rs 1,76,747.91, only Rs 31,129.41 (18%) was released.

The scheme is implemented as a centrally sponsored scheme through a single State Implementation Society (SIS) at the state level. At the national level, there is a governing council/body headed by the minister of education and a Project Approval Board (PAB) headed by secretary, department of school education and literacy.

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PM SHRI: 49% of central share withheld in 2025-26

The PM-SHRI scheme is an initiative launched by the Government of India to enhance the quality of education in existing schools, transforming them into model institutions that embody the principles of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. Aimed at over 14,500 schools, including Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas, PM SHRI focuses on upgrading infrastructure, integrating technology, and implementing modern pedagogical approaches.

The scheme was launched in 2022 with an outlay of Rs 27,000 for five years – to be shared by the centre and state.

In the table detailing the funds released to states and UTs, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Delhi are not listed.

In 2023-24, states which had not implemented the scheme included Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Punjab and the Kendriya Vidyalayas under National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), now a deemed-to-be university.

Under the PM SHRI scheme, states/UTs are required to sign an MoU with centre laying down the commitments for supporting the schools for achieving specified quality assurance as PM SHRI schools. Thereafter, the selection of PM SHRI schools is done through the challenge mode, wherein schools compete for support to become exemplar schools.

“However, the state of Tamil Nadu is yet to onboard itself onto the PM SHRI scheme,” said Chaudhary.

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NCERT and Bihar started receiving funds under the scheme in 2025-26. However, for Bihar, out of the Rs 600.45 crore allocated, just Rs 5 crore was released.

Himachal Pradesh, which was on board from 2024-25, received the full amount of Rs.135.35 crore that year. But in 2025-26, out of Rs145.62 crore, it just received Rs 68.87 crore.