The much discussed PM SHRI (PM Schools for Rising India) scheme has the recently elected Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government in Kerala in hot soup.

Events over the past few days seem to indicate that similar to the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government that burnt its fingers after signing an MoU for implementing the centrally sponsored PM SHRI scheme in October last year, the UDF government too could be in for possible backlash if it decides to go ahead with it. It is deja vu all over again. The same issue. The same actors. Only the roles have reversed.

The UDF government led by Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan argued that it was forced to continue with the PM SHRI as the previous LDF government had already entered into an agreement with the Union government. The State badly needs the ₹1,158.13 crore in education funds being held up by the Centre. The volte-face could not have been more glaring, since Mr. Satheesan had earlier said that Mr. Vijayan, by inking the deal, had betrayed the national cause against the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020.

Wavering stance

A little over a month after forming the UDF government, Mr. Satheesan said that only the Union government had the right to withdraw from the MoU. Kerala became a party to it the moment the agreement was signed, an argument that the current Opposition vehemently denies.

In yet another U-turn, the Chief Minister later denied that the government had said that it would implement the PM SHRI; UDF convener Adoor Prakash had said that the government would go ahead with the scheme, even as the report of a UDF Cabinet sub-committee on the PM SHRI was awaited. It prompted the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader P.K. Kunhalikutty to assert that a final decision would be taken only after the sub-committee gave its report, exposing the fault lines within the UDF. Other Muslim organisations, such as the Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama, have also been vocal about their opposition.

These repeated flip-flops made it evident that the government was in a bind over how to balance fiscal prudence, coalition pressures, and its ideological position on the NEP.

Pros and cons

The Union Minister of State for Education Jayant Chaudhary once replied in the Rajya Sabha, “States that do not sign the MoU or withdraw from the scheme stand to miss out on these benefits of PM SHRI scheme”. It has to be remembered that Punjab had opted out of the scheme in 2023, but later went back on its decision after the Union government had frozen the funds.

On the other hand, there are concerns about the curriculum. The PM SHRI Schools framework states that the curriculum should follow the National Curriculum Framework/State Curriculum Framework developed in accordance with new curricular structure of the NEP. The MoU, for its part, says that States should implement all the provisions of the NEP in its entirety. According to the NEP, States can prepare their own curricula and textbooks, incorporating the State’s demands as needed. However, it goes on to say, “while doing so, it must be borne in mind that the NCERT curriculum would be taken as the nationally acceptable criterion.” Last year, the former Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty had pointed out that the Union government had declared in 2022 that the objective of the Samagra Shiksha scheme was to help implement the NEP.

Even if the Union government does not appear to be intervening in the curriculum of the States at present, there is apprehension that other interventions such as curriculum-based programme implementation or prescription of teaching-learning materials/ assessment patterns could well be thrust upon them.

Other than taking the legal route like Tamil Nadu did, the UDF has the option of writing to the Union government insisting on the freedom to decide its own curriculum. This undoubtedly will expose it to harsh criticism of allowing the NEP to be smuggled into the State. However, if it chooses not to implement the PM SHRI, it will lose out on crucial federal funding.

Damned if they do and damned if they don’t — that is the UDF’s dilemma on the PM SHRI scheme.

roshni.r.k@thehindu.co.in

Published - August 04, 2026 01:17 am IST