Recently, Kerala signed an MoU with the union ministry of education to participate in the PM SHRI (Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India) initiative. Launched in 2022, PM SHRI aims to upgrade select government schools, including Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalayas, and state-run schools, into model institutions aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. These schools are envisioned to promote foundational literacy and numeracy, experiential and holistic learning, and inclusive, technology-enabled classrooms, supported by outcome-based monitoring. However, broader structural issues in Kerala’s education system call for system-wide reforms and solutions that benefit all schools, rather than only a select few.
Despite near-universal primary school enrollment and infrastructure improvements, Kerala’s learning outcomes have deteriorated in the last decade. ASER data indicate a marked decline in basic arithmetic proficiency across school types between 2014 and 2024, signalling a system-wide issue.
Trends over time: Arithmetic in Std V and Std VIII. By school type
The contradiction between better inputs and weaker outcomes points to deeper governance challenges that infrastructure-focused interventions alone cannot address.
While Kerala is a relatively well-performing state in education, recent Comprehensive Modular Survey (CMS) data provide additional nuance. The survey reveals that more than half of Kerala's secondary school students now rely on private coaching, indicating that formal schooling is not providing students with sufficient conceptual competence. Strengthening learning outcomes within the regulatory framework, therefore, becomes critical. While PM Sri’s initiative may solve this problem for select government schools, Kerala's intent to resolve the state-wide schooling issue should apply to all schools, especially the budget schools, which form the majority of private schooling in Kerala but often remain under strict regulatory scrutiny.
Private schooling in Kerala is not an elite phenomenon as commonly perceived. A substantial proportion of private schools in the state are low-fee, or budget schools that cater primarily to lower- and lower-middle-income households. These unaided schools provide an affordable alternative to government schools, charging monthly fees between ₹400 and ₹3,500 or operating at per-student costs lower than government schools (CCS, 2022). CMS data indicate that average annual household spending on private unaided schooling in Kerala is ₹16,518 (roughly ₹1,377 per month), the lowest among South Indian states. This is important as it raises critical policy questions about affordability, recognition, and equity within Kerala’s otherwise universal schooling framework.
While Kerala is a relatively well-performing state in education, recent Comprehensive Modular Survey (CMS) data provide additional nuance. The survey reveals that more than half of Kerala's secondary school students now rely on private coaching, indicating that formal schooling is not providing students with sufficient conceptual competence. Strengthening learning outcomes within the regulatory framework, therefore, becomes critical. While PM Sri’s initiative may solve this problem for select government schools, Kerala's intent to resolve the state-wide schooling issue should apply to all schools, especially the budget schools, which form the majority of private schooling in Kerala but often remain under strict regulatory scrutiny.
Private schooling in Kerala is not an elite phenomenon as commonly perceived. A substantial proportion of private schools in the state are low-fee, or budget schools that cater primarily to lower- and lower-middle-income households. These unaided schools provide an affordable alternative to government schools, charging monthly fees between ₹400 and ₹3,500 or operating at per-student costs lower than government schools (CCS, 2022). CMS data indicate that average annual household spending on private unaided schooling in Kerala is ₹16,518 (roughly ₹1,377 per month), the lowest among South Indian states. This is important as it raises critical policy questions about affordability, recognition, and equity within Kerala’s otherwise universal schooling framework.
In Kerala, the Kerala Education Rules (KER) framed under Section 36 of the Kerala Education Act, 1958, represent one of the most detailed regulatory frameworks in India. These rules specify minutiae, such as door and window dimensions, furniture sizes, and behavioural norms, with violations potentially affecting school recognition. These norms disproportionately affect budget schools, diverting resources and attention away from teaching and learning. As a result, schools often prioritise meeting regulatory checklists over improving pedagogy or teacher training.
Today, approximately 808 schools remain unrecognised in the state (Ministry of Education, 2024) because they do not meet state-mandated standards, such as having a playground or adequate laboratory facilities. Yet these gaps could be addressed if the state adopts a facilitative approach, allowing budget schools to meet requirements through shared infrastructure. For example, recognition could be granted when schools partner with government playground facilities, collaborate with other schools, or access corporate social responsibility (CSR)–funded resources, thereby enabling compliance without imposing costly capital requirements.
Similarly, school learning progress could be systematically monitored, and the state could provide adequate support, extending teacher training and pedagogical resources to budget schools. For instance, when a school falls short on any learning metric, the state can play a facilitative role by providing targeted interventions to help schools meet quality benchmarks. Key capacity-building measures include mentorship programmes, pairing low-performing private schools with high-performing government schools to provide guidance and share ready-to-use lesson plans, classroom activities, and supporting incremental improvements in teaching practices and student outcomes. Other measures could involve deploying instructional coaches to underperforming budget schools to provide hands-on support and guide curriculum adaptation, assessment strategies, and pedagogical tools to promote sustainable, scalable improvements in learning.
Regulatory frameworks should shift from compliance-heavy regulation to outcome-oriented governance, where continuous teacher training, professional development, and innovative pedagogies are institutionalised or incentivised. While PM SHRI provides Kerala an opportunity to enhance the quality of select government schools through improved learning outcomes, teacher development, and technology integration, the state could go further by institutionalising learning progress, supporting teacher development, and easing burdensome infrastructure requirements, allowing all schools to focus on learning while ensuring quality education benefits all students across the system.
This article is authored by Nissy Solomon, honorary trustee, CPPR.