The Kerala government on Wednesday indicated that the state will not withdraw from the Prime Minister’s Scheme for Schools Rising India (PM-SHRI), but will try to seek a conditional implementation of the initiative in a way that gives the state freedom to reform the curriculum.
Addressing a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram, Chief Minister V D Sathisan said that Kerala is currently one of the signatory states of the PM-SHRI scheme because the previous Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led government had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Union Education Ministry over the scheme in October last year and received funds from $92 crore as part of Sarva Sikhsha Abhiyan (SSA).
“We are obliged to continue the project. But our condition is that we will not allow the Union government to interfere in the state curriculum framework. We will not allow it to choose schools for the scheme. It is the state government’s right to choose the number of schools. We are the competent authority to prepare the curriculum. So we will submit a letter to the Union government on these conditions,” Sathisan said.
The Prime Minister said that a subcommittee of the Council of Ministers of four ministers had been formed to study the implementation of the project and study its legal aspects. The sub-committee includes N Shamsuddin, state public education minister, as convener, and Higher Education Minister Roji M John, Culture and Tourism Minister B C Vishnunad and Excise Minister M Lijo as members.
A row erupted after the Republican People’s Party, the second-largest coalition partner, complained that the agreement was signed without discussion or approval by the Council of Ministers. Later, the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government, under pressure from the CPI, announced that it would inform the Union government to keep the scheme on hold, signaling its withdrawal from the proposal.
The PM-SHRI scheme, under which funds are released to states to boost infrastructure in government schools, is controversial in Kerala with both the LDF and UDF asserting that it is an “ideological project of the BJP-RSS to inculcate majority nationalism” in students. Both coalitions have in the past alleged that the BJP-led Center is trying to implement the National Education Policy (NEP) indirectly through the scheme and withholding SSA funds to non-signatory states.
Sathisan said on Wednesday that the CPM has not sent a letter to the Center asking the latter to keep the implementation of the scheme on hold.
He said: “We objected to the scheme earlier because the deal was signed without being informed or discussed in the Council of Ministers.”
He added that the state government will not sacrifice its rights with regard to the education sector while implementing the scheme. At least Kerala deserves it, he said $1,100 crore as part of the scheme by the Union government.
At the same time, the CPI(M) accused the United Democratic Front of going back on its promise that PM-SHRI would not be implemented in the state under its government.
“When the previous government signed the agreement on PM-SHRI, the UDF peddled the lie that the deal was part of the good friendship between CPM-BJP. At that time, UDF leaders like VD Satheesan, KC Venugopal and PK Kunhalikutty said that the UDF, if elected to power, would not implement the scheme. They were lying to the people. IUML leaders, who had talked about throwing the deal into the Arabian Sea, are now taking the initiative To implement it, the CPM State Secretariat said.
