Tamil Nadu: Centre Denies Withholding Samagra Shiksha Funds In Full
Under the Centrally Sponsored Samagra Shiksha, funds were allocated to States and Union Territories based on the approval of the respective AWP&B by the Project Approval Board (PAB): Jayant Chaudhary
CHENNAI: Union Minister of State for Education, Jayant Chaudhary, has denied holding back funds to the tune of Rs 3,284 crore to Tamil Nadu for not implementing the National Education Policy (NEP) and said that a central share of Rs 713.99 crore was released for the years 2025-26 and 2024-25 under the ‘RTE entitlements’ component of the Samagra Shiksha scheme, which the State government had refused to implement.
Replying to a question on the issue raised in Parliament by DMK MP, Dayanidhi Maran, the Minister said that an amount of Rs 624.19 crore towards Annual Work Plan & Budget (AWP&B) for 2026-27 had also been approved, including the Central share of Rs 374.51 crore.
While implementation of Samagra Shikha was implementation of the NEP 2020 and the PM SHRI Scheme, launched in September 2022, aimed at showcasing all the components of the NEP by developing select schools as exemplar schools that would provide leadership to other schools in the neighbourhood, Tamil Nadu has not signed the MoU for PM SHRI scheme though all other States and Union Territories had signed it, he said.
Under the Centrally Sponsored Samagra Shiksha, funds were allocated to States and Union Territories based on the approval of the respective AWP&B by the Project Approval Board (PAB), and in accordance with the prescribed fund-sharing pattern, guidelines, and availability of funds, while the release of central share depended on the submission of the utilisation certificates, audit reports in respect of funds released earlier, physical and financial progress reports, State contributions and compliance with the scheme norms, he said.
NEP 2020 was the first education policy of the 21st century and envisioned a massive transformation in the education system since the Union Education Ministry of Education was committed to ensuring that every child, in every corner of the country had access to the transformative benefits of NEP 2020, the Minister said, adding that Samagra Shiksha was revamped in 2021 to align with the provisions of NEP.
