Dikhyaa Mohanty 
Memorandums of understanding will be signed by Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Odisha to embrace the central government’s Pradhan Mantri Schools For Rising India (PM-SHRI) program, according to Union education ministry officials. This incident occurs just days after the Union government announced that it will stop providing funding to five states and one Union territory that have not signed agreements to implement the PM-SHRI scheme for 2023–2024 under its flagship program, Samagra Shiksha (universal education). Delhi, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Odisha, and Punjab were among them.
On March 15, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, and Kerala sent letters to the education ministry about the issue; the officials did not want to be identified. The creation of PM Shri schools in Kerala is something that the state of Kerala is excited about. The Kerala General Education Department wrote to School Education Secretary Sanjay Kumar, stating that a state-level committee led by the Principal Secretary, General Education, has been established in this regard. “The state will sign the Memorandum of Understanding for the establishment of PM Shri schools before the academic year 2024–2025, based on the committee’s recommendations.”
“It is requested to kindly release the 37.5% of the fund sanctioned for the financial year 2023-24,” the state added. Similarly, both Tamil Nadu and Odisha have assured to sign the MoUs before the beginning of the next academic session, and requested the Centre to release the instalments of the 2023-24 financial year.
The Union education ministry commended the Kerala government for making a “far reaching decision” to sign an agreement to implement the PM-SHRI Scheme in a post on the social media platform X (previously Twitter) on Sunday. “Better Center-State relations are indicated by this collaboration between the Kerala government and the Indian Ministry of Education. We wholeheartedly back this endeavor since it demonstrates our shared commitment to bolstering education in schools and guaranteeing the holistic growth of learners in Kerala, the government declared.
For the PM-SHRI program, which intends to modernize 14,500 schools benefiting 1.8 million students and ensure these schools serve as model institutes and capture the spirit of National Education Policy 2020, 30 states and Union territories have signed memorandums of understanding with the ministry thus far. For the first round of the upgrade, 6,448 schools from 28 states and UTs have been chosen by the government. After signing the Memorandums of Understanding, only West Bengal, Delhi, and Punjab would be able to implement the PM-SHRI program.
