Minister says UDF will decide on PM SHRI soon

Keralam general education minister N Shamsudheen said on Friday that the UDF leadership will discuss and decide on whether to implement the PM-SHRI (Schools for Rising India) scheme in the state, after the Centre wrote to the state government to relay its decision on implementing the scheme.

PM-SHRI, a scheme aimed at boosting the infrastructure of government schools, has been a hot-button topic in Keralam where the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) have maintained that it is part of an ideological project of the BJP-RSS to infuse “majoritarian nationalism” in students and “saffronise” education in states.

Shamsudheen told reporters on Friday, “We have got another communication from the Union government asking us to convey our decision regarding PM-SHRI. They said that the scheme can be taken forward only with our consent. The letter was sent by the Union education secretary to the chief secretary”.

“I cannot decide on it alone. The chief minister and the UDF leadership will sit together and discuss it. The CM will convey the final decision,” the minister said.

The minister, who belongs to the IUML, said that the UDF had opposed the scheme before the elections held in April-May. “We still hold reservations about it. Therefore, its details need to be examined,” he said.

The previous LDF government had signed an MoU on the implementation of the scheme in 2025 in Delhi. But due to reservations expressed by the Communist Party of India (CPI), the LDF government decided to keep the scheme’s implementation in abeyance.

In June, chief minister VD Satheesan had claimed that the State is a signatory to the scheme and cannot voluntarily withdraw from it as the previous government had signed the MoU to implement it. He said that the UDF government was forced to implement the scheme. At the same time, he said the State will not allow interference in the selection of the curriculum to be taught in schools under the scheme.

The Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) scheme targets to upgrade 14,500 schools and is expected to benefit 1.8 million students. It also aims to ensure these schools serve as model institutes and encapsulate the spirit of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.