West Bengal signs pact with Centre to implement PM-SHRI sheme
With the recent polls in these states bringing in new governments, the Education Ministry had written to the Chief Secretaries of all three states last week, making a fresh attempt at prompting them to sign the MoU with the Centre.
With West Bengal signing the MoU, Tamil Nadu and Kerala remain the only states which are yet to do so. (File Photo) THE BJP government in West Bengal signed an agreement with the Centre on Friday to implement the PM-SHRI schools scheme in the state.
While the Centre’s PM-SHRI schools scheme – meant to upgrade existing schools into exemplar ones that showcase the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 – was approved in 2022, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala had refused to implement it.
With the recent polls in these states bringing in new governments, the Education Ministry had written to the Chief Secretaries of all three states last week, making a fresh attempt at prompting them to sign the MoU with the Centre.
With West Bengal signing the MoU, Tamil Nadu and Kerala remain the only states which are yet to do so.
The Education Ministry had linked the release of Samagra Shiksha funds for school education to the implementation of the PM-SHRI schools scheme. Since the three states had not implemented the PM-SHRI scheme, they have either not received or received only in part the Centre’s share of Samagra Shiksha funds owed to them from 2023-24.
While West Bengal under the TMC had objected to the ‘PM-SHRI’ prefix being applied to schools despite the state government having to shoulder part of the scheme cost, Kerala and Tamil Nadu had refused to sign the MoU on the grounds that the agreement specifies that the state will implement the NEP in its entirety.
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