Samagra Shiksha Kerala in crisis due to lack of funds; CPI will be convinced; Kerala will sign PM SHRI to get 1466 crores

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Chief Minister and the CPM have finally given their consent to the Education Department to sign the Central Government's PM SHRI (Prime Minister's Schools for Rising India) scheme to obtain Rs 1466 crore, including the central dues (1148 crore) for Samagra Shiksha Kerala (SSK). The decision was taken, bypassing the opposition of the CPI, in a situation where there was no other option. The CPI will be convinced of this. The Secretary of General Education has been assigned to sign the scheme.

Minister V Sivankutty said that there is no point in saying no to the money that should be spent on the needs of poor children on the pretext of a technicality. "This central fund will be used and spent in the same way as in the health, higher education and agriculture sectors. At the same time, there will be no deviation from the education policy of the state. The fact that an alternative textbook was published when Indian history was cut out of the NCERT textbook is proof of that," the minister clarified.

Although the CPM had decided to sign the project when it was not possible to avoid losing the huge amount of central funds, it withdrew after strong opposition from the CPI in the cabinet meeting. Minister V Sivankutty had discussed the matter again with Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

The Centre has withheld funds for Kerala for the last two years since the PM SHRI was not signed. The functioning of Samagra Shiksha Kerala has been in crisis due to a lack of funds for children's uniforms, salaries of officials, textbooks, etc. Kerala has so far been keeping a distance from the scheme envisaged by the Centre for the period 2022-27. If the scheme is implemented, Kerala will receive Rs 318 crore for the next two years, apart from the arrears.