The Ministry of Education has stopped funds under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) to opposition-ruled Delhi, Punjab, and West Bengal amid their reluctance to take part in the Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India (PM-SHRI) scheme.
This comes as a blow for these states which are yet to receive funding instalments for the past three quarters, a National Herald report claimed.
With a budget of over Rs 27,000 crore for the next five years, the PM-SHRI scheme was launched to upgrade at least 14,500 government schools into "exeplar" institutions, showcasing the execution of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The Centre will bear 60 per cent of the cost under the scheme, while states must cover the remaining 40 per cent. The state governments will have to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the education ministry to participate in the scheme.
So far, five states — Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Delhi, Punjab, and West Bengal — are yet to sign the MoU. Of them, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have shown willingness to be signatories to the scheme, while Delhi, Punjab and West Bengal have categorically refused to it. This prompted the Centre to stop their SSA funding.
As a result, these three states have not received the third and fourth instalments of SSA funds for the October-December and January-March quarters of the last financial year. They are also yet to receive the first instalment for this financial year's April-June quarter.
According to state government officials, Delhi has not received Rs 330 crore, Punjab close to Rs 515 crore and West Bengal awaits over Rs 1,000 crore for the three quarters. Numerous letters and reminders were sent to the Ministry by these states seeking the release of the pending funds.
Meanwhile, a senior official of the ministry revealed that the states cannot receive SSA funds while continuing to refuse to implement PM-SHRI scheme, which is considered as a part of the programme.
The education ministry did not respond to questions regarding stopping the funds and the pending amount claimed by the states.
Notably, Delhi and Punjab are ruled by the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which declined to participate stating that they already run a similar scheme for exemplar schools called "Schools of Eminence". Given the state's 40 per cent financial contribution, West Bengal refused to add the prefix "PM-SHRI" to the names of their schools.
West Bengal education minister Bratya Basu and education secretary Manish Jain, along with Delhi government wrote letters to the ministry to seek the release of SSA funds.
