Alliance govt focusing on revival of PM SHRI Schools

Visakhapatnam: With an aim to develop green schools, the Prime Minister School for Rising India (PM SHRI) scheme was introduced by the Union government.

However, following the negligence of the previous YSRCP government, the implementation of the scheme has gone for a toss in Andhra Pradesh.

Focusing on this, Visakhapatnam MP Mathukumilli Sribharat recently raised a question in the parliament session about the current operational status and enrolment figures of the PM SHRI schools set up in Visakhapatnam and Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh.

Responding to it, minister of state for education Jayant Chaudhary said that five schools in Visakhapatnamand 42 schools Anantapur districts have been selected for PM SHRI schools scheme. In Visakhapatnam, student enrolment is 3,804 in five PM SHRI Schools, while the enrolment is 22,049 in 42 schools of Anantapur district.

Further, the minister stated that for the selected PM SHRI schools in Andhra Pradesh in the first phase, an amount of Rs354.85 crore has been approved by the Project Approval Board (PAB) for FY 2023-24.

The amount utilised in FY 2023-24 by Visakhapatnam and Anantapur was Rs1.25 crore and Rs.4.89 crore respectively.

As per the guidelines of the ministry of finance, the state government shall transfer the Central share as well as the commensurate state share to the SNA account within 30 days of receipt of the central share.

However, there was a delay of 136 days in transfer of funds released in the first instalment to Andhra Pradesh in FY 2023-24 from the state treasury to the SNA account of the PM SHRI scheme.

Moreover, the funds released in the second instalment by the Government of India to Andhra Pradesh in FY 2023-24 are yet to be transferred from the state treasury to the SNA account of the PM SHRI scheme. This delay by the state government has affected the implementation of the scheme considerably.

Under the scheme, incorporating environment-friendly aspects like solar panels and LED lights, nutrition gardens with natural farming, waste management, plastic free campus and other sustainable practices will be followed by the schools.

The PM SHRI schools will encourage mother tongue/local languages as medium of instruction incorporating technological interventions to help bridge language barriers. Thirty-two schools in Srikakulam, 24 in Anakapalli, 16 in ASR district, 29 schools in Vizianagaram and four schools in Visakhapatnam, including government high school in Pendurthi, MCHS at Railway New Colony, ZPHS Revadi in Padmanabham and Anandapuram ZP High School have been selected for PM SHRI.