Consensus on signing PM SHRI scheme eludes UDF govt. in Keralam
The UDF government in Kerala is facing internal disagreement over whether to sign the central government's PM SHRI school education scheme. Critics argue the scheme promotes a specific nationalist agenda, while proponents highlight the significant federal funding it would provide for state schools.
Why it matters
The debate reflects the ongoing tension between state-level political ideologies and federal education policies in India.
The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government on Friday seemed to be struggling to settle on a plan to resolve the politically, legally, and financially fraught question of signing the “revanchist National Education Policy (NEP)-seeded” PM SHRI scheme, which allegedly whittles down secular and broad-based studies to promote a Hindu nationalist academic perspective, in return for sizeable federal funding for Keralam’s school education.
General Education Minister N. Samsudheen signalled that matters had come to a head, telling reporters in Thiruvananthapuram that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government had issued an ultimatum demanding that the State decide whether to sign up for the scheme. He said the ruling front must now reach a consensus before Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan declares Keralam’s course of action. “I cannot make a statement on my own,” he added.
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