Kerala Chief Minister V D Satheesan said on Wednesday that the state government believes the Centre has no right to interfere with the state’s autonomy in deciding its school curriculum.
He said that a cabinet sub-committee of four ministers has been formed to look into the PM SHRI scheme in order to communicate to the Centre the state government's stand regarding the initiative.
Satheesan told reporters at a press conference here that the decision was taken during a Cabinet meeting chaired by him.
The sub-committee shall comprise ministers N Samsudheen, Roji M John, P C Vishnunadh and M Liju, he said.
According to him, the state should also have the freedom to select the schools where the scheme will be implemented.
Satheesan also said that the state received Rs 99 crore in connection with Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) and the Centre has sanctioned Rs 106 crore under the scheme.
"It is the previous government which signed the agreement with the Centre to implement the scheme. It also accepted funds in connection with it. So, we are forced to go ahead with the scheme," he contended.
PM SHRI School is a Government of India scheme launched to qualitatively upgrade and modernize over 14,500 existing schools across the country.
Kerala signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to join the PM SHRI scheme to unblock pending Samagra Shiksha (SSK) funds.
The CPI(M)-led Left government had, in October last year, put on hold the implementation of the PM SHRI scheme, days after signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Centre, following objections from coalition partner CPI.
The CPI had alleged that the scheme could pave the way for the implementation of the RSS agenda in the education sector, while the General Education Department had defended the move as necessary for securing central assistance. Congress-led UDF then criticised the LDF government for signing the PM SHRI MoU.
(With inputs from PTI.)
