PM SHRI: Kerala Government Writes to Centre to Freeze Implementation of Scheme in State
Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan agreed to put the PM SHRI on hold as the scheme was against the well-stated position of the Left parties
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The CPM led LDF government in Kerala finally sent a letter to the Centre, urging that no further steps should be taken in the implementation of PM SHRI (PM Schools for Rising India) scheme.
General Education secretary K Vasuki sent the communication to the Union Government on Wednesday, two weeks after the State Cabinet decided to put the PM SHRI on hold and constitute a Cabinet subcommittee to review the scheme.
General Education Minister V Sivankutty said the government had sought opinion from Advocate General to assess the legal implications of the Cabinet decision prior to sending the letter to the Centre.
Even though the education minister met Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in Delhi recently and also held discussions with senior officials of the ministry, the state government had not sent the letter. The delay caused apprehensions in the CPI leadership, which had raised serious objections against PM SHRI.
CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam spoke to his CPM counterpart M V Govindan on the issue on Tuesday. Subsequently, CPI ministers K Rajan and P Prasad met the Chief Minister on Wednesday morning and apprised him about the delay in writing the letter to the Centre.
Subsequently, the process was expedited and the official shot of the letter to the Centre.
The Kerala Government, on October 29, constituted a seven-member cabinet sub-committee to review the controversial PM SHRI scheme. The letter has urged the Centre to put the MoU on hold till the Cabinet Sub Committee comes out with its report.
The subcommittee headed by Education Minister V Sivankutty will review the scheme in detail.
The government was forced to put the PM SHRI MoU on freeze following the strong opposition of the CPI, which is the second largest coalition partner in the ruling LDF headed by CPM. The CPI alleged that the decision to sign the MoU was taken without taking the LDF and the Cabinet on board. The four ministers of CPI were kept in the dark.
Pinarayi Vijayan agreed to put the PM SHRI on hold as the scheme was against the well-stated position of the Left parties. CPI general secretary D Raja came out in the open against the LDF Government decision, saying that there was no question of accepting or implementing the RSS-prompted scheme.
The CPI has been outspoken in its opposition to the PM SHRI scheme, a central government initiative launched in 2022 to transform around 14,500 schools into model institutions under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The scheme offers central funding, with Kerala expected to receive Rs 1446 crore for infrastructure and improvements.
Despite the CPI's strong objections, the government went ahead and signed the MoU on October 23, intensifying the internal rift within the ruling coalition. The CPI and several left-aligned groups and individuals had argued that RSS-influenced changes to the curriculum under the guise of NEP cannot be justified for short-term financial benefits. They believe PM SHRI supported NEP, enabling central interference in state-controlled education.
General Education Minister V Sivankutty initially defended signing the MoU for the PM SHRI scheme, calling it a tactical move and a practical decision. He emphasised the need to secure crucial central funding without compromising Kerala's independent, secular education system.
However, he retracted from the position following strong opposition from the CPI.
