Punjab joins PM SHRI but wait for Samagra Shiksha funds goes on
Punjab awaits Centre's ₹176 crore Samagra Shiksha funds despite rejoining PM SHRI. Delay affects education programmes; state received partial funds; hopeful for release soon.
Despite agreeing to implement the Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) Scheme in the state a fortnight ago, the Punjab government is still waiting for funds from the Centre under the Samagra Shiksha programme.
The Punjab government, which had opted out of PM SHRI last year, conveyed its willingness to roll out the new school upgrade programme in the state to the Union Ministry of Education (MoE) on July 26, but it has not received the first instalment of approximately ₹176 crore of the Centre’s share for the financial year 2024-25 under the Samagra Shiksha scheme till now. The education ministry’s project approval board had, in its meeting held on February 9, approved the annual work plan and budget (AWP&B) of ₹1,275 crore for this year under the jointly-funded flagship scheme for the education sector, with the central government’s share of ₹708 crore and the state government matching share being ₹472 crore as per the prescribed 60:40 funding ratio. The MoE releases its share of funds in four instalments of 25% each.
However, the ministry decided to withhold the release of its share to the state due to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s decision to opt out of PM SHRI. The fund-starved state was forced to reconsider the decision and agreed to rejoin the programme. “There is no way this scheme can be run without the central grants. The financial position is tight and the delay has affected various programmes and activities. Already four months have lapsed and any further delay will only add to problems,” said a senior official, who did not want to be named.
Another school education department official said they have submitted their proposal for release of funds to MoE and are in contact with them. “In the absence of central grants, we have received some money from the state government’s share. The Centre has its procedures, but we are hopeful of receiving the central grant for the current fiscal very soon,” the official said.
In the state’s AWP&B 2024-25 under Samagra Shiksha, the Project Approval Board (PAB) had approved ongoing and new activities to improve the quality of education, up-gradation of classrooms and other school infrastructure, pre-primary education, distribution of free uniforms, free textbooks and special training of out-of-school children, learning enhancement programme, study trips, early childhood care and education and in-service training of teachers.
Punjab was also among five states and union territories which did not get the third and fourth instalments of the Centre’s share in the financial year 2023-24. Union minister of education Dharmendra Pradhan, in reply to a question in the Lok Sabha last week, said the reasons for the non-release of funds were mainly non-fulling the required conditions for fund release, citing PM SHRI as a factor for the non-release of grant in case of Punjab. On the pending instalments of 2023-24, the second official quoted above said there was hardly any chance of getting the previous year’s recurring grants as the financial year was already over.
The Punjab government had initially agreed to participate in PM SHRI and even signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) in October 2022. A total of 241 government secondary and senior secondary schools in Punjab were also selected, but the government pulled out of the scheme in July last year, citing its ‘Schools of Eminence’ scheme and plans to transform 1,000 other state-run schools into specialised schools. “It is felt that shifting 241 schools under any other scheme would create ambiguity since the state wants to focus on state initiatives/projects. Therefore, the state government is not willing to opt for the PM SHRI School Scheme,” the director general school education, Punjab, had written to the central ministry on July 18, 2023. PM SHRI was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2022 for the upgrade of 14,500 government schools into ‘exemplar schools’, which will showcase the implementation of the National Education Policy 2020 and offer leadership to other schools in the neighbourhood. At present, 32 states and union territories have joined the scheme.