What is PM SHRI? Which states resisted Centre’s ‘showcase’ schools scheme?

New Delhi: Prime Minister’s Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) scheme, launched two years ago on September 7, 2022, is an ambitious scheme of the Modi government to impart high-quality education to students and equip them with 21st-century skills, in order to make them ‘future-ready’.

The flagship scheme, with an outlay of Rs 27,000 for five years – to be shared by the Centre and states will work towards upgrading about 14,500 schools into ‘exemplar’ institutions across the country, by showcasing the implementation of the National Education Policy 2020.

Under the scheme, Centrally operated, state govt-run schools along with Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) and Navodaya Vidyalayas (NVs) are set to upgraded into ‘model’ schools, pan India.

However, the scheme has been met with resistance by some state governments, particularly the Opposition-ruled ones.

To establish PM SHRI schools, the state governments had to sign a memorandum (MoU) with the Union Education Ministry. Though most of them signed pacts for the same, five states namely West Bengal, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Delhi wrote to the Centre raising ‘apprehensions and objections’ over the scheme.

After the Centre took a tough stance and threatened to stall the disbursal of funds, they dropped their resistance and agreed to sign the pact. A couple of them lent support to the scheme with ‘far-reaching implications’ in the education sector and also got the funds sanctioned.

However, three states and UTs including West Bengal, Punjab and Delhi remained adamant and refused to give a nod to the PM SHRI scheme. The premise for rejection was disagreement over state funding and also claimed of their own ‘schools of eminence’ as a better alternative to the Centre’s scheme.

The Centre, taking exception to this, went to halt the funding for Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), the flagship school education program to these three states for their refusal to join the PM-SHRI yojana.

The fund allocation, which apparently remains the main contention point by the states stands ‘close-to-evenly’ distributed, with 60:40 funding ratio, as per information posted on the official portal.

Centre is expected to shoulder 60 per cent of the expenditure while state governments have to shell out 40 per cent of the total cost. The fund-sharing pattern between the Centre and North-Eastern States and UT of J&K stands at 10 per cent and a full 100 per cent for the UTs without any legislature.

The total cost for the five-year project is Rs 27360 crore, out of which the Central govt’s share is Rs. 18,128 crore and the state government’s share is Rs. 9,232 crore.

The motive behind the flagship PM SHRI schools scheme is to build a new schooling ecosystem that is resilient in the face of an increasingly unpredictable, dynamic, and non-linear world. The ‘exemplar’ schools will nurture students to make them engaging and contributing citizens, as envisaged under the National Education Policy 2020.

The PM SHRI scheme seeks to nurture students as nation-builders and ‘future-ready’ citizens.