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CHENNAI: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday wrote a letter to Chief Minister MK Stalin, asking the state to sign the Memorandum of Understanding to implement the PM Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) scheme, including provisions related to the National Education Policy, for the release of Samagra Shiksha (SS) scheme funds.
The letter was sent in reply to Stalin’s letter a few days ago to the Prime Minister, seeking the release of the funds due to the state. In his letter, pointing out Tamil Nadu’s reservations about specific provisions in the NEP, Stalin noted that a minimal modification the state wanted to the MoU for PM SHRI schools has yet to be approved by the union government.
Pradhan in his letter, however, mentioned that despite giving an undertaking, Tamil Nadu is yet to sign the MoU on PM SHRI. Every state/UT is required to sign a MoU with the Ministry of Education and so far, 32 states/UTs have signed and are onboard the scheme platform, he said.
“Tamil Nadu, too, has been repeatedly requested by me as well as the secretary, School Education & Literacy, to sign the MoU and I was happy to note when Tamil Nadu gave an undertaking dated March 15, 2024, indicating their willingness to sign the PM SHRI MOU in 2024-25.
After receiving the undertaking, a draft MoU was sent by the Department of School Education & Literacy (DOSEL) to Tamil Nadu. However, I was surprised to see that the state responded with a modified MoU vide letter dated 06.07.2024 wherein key paragraph referring to the Implementation of NEP 2020 in entirety has been dropped,” said Pradhan.
The PM SHRI scheme, launched in September 2022, aimed to develop more than 14,500 schools across the state as exemplar schools that offer leadership to other schools in the neighbourhood, while also showcasing all the initiatives of NEP 2020, he said.
Highlighting that SS scheme has also now been aligned with the NEP, he said, “Just as the state is implementing Samagra Shiksha Scheme that is aligned with NEP 2020, it would be appropriate that the state comes forward to implement and showcase all the initiatives of NEP 2020 under PM SHRI scheme.”
Pradhan also cited in his letter that in the 2023-24 financial year, the centre released all four instalments under Samagra Shiksha amounting to Rs 1,876.15 crore to Tamil Nadu and for current FY 2024-25, a sum of Rs 4,305.66 crore has been approved.