Kerala to continue PM SHRI scheme, says CM Satheesan. Here is why

Kerala Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan has said that the state will continue with the PM SHRI scheme, arguing that the previous Left government signed the agreement, leaving the present UDF government with little choice but to remain a participant. According to him, Kerala has already received more than ₹92 crore under the scheme, while an additional ₹106 crore has been sanctioned.

The UDF government's position, he said, is that the Centre should not interfere with the state's freedom to determine its school curriculum. "The state government will decide which schools are to be included in the scheme. To formulate Kerala's ideological and policy position and communicate it to the Centre, the Cabinet has constituted a subcommittee with General Education Minister N. Shamsudheen as convener and ministers Roji M. John, P.C. Vishnunath and M. Liju as members," Satheesan said. He added that Kerala has consulted other non-BJP-ruled states that have signed up for the PM SHRI scheme and intends to adopt a collective approach.

The chief minister argued that his government had effectively been compelled to continue with the scheme because the previous Left government had signed the agreement and accepted the funds after obtaining all necessary clearances, including from the finance department. The UDF's effort, he said, is to implement the scheme without compromising Kerala's educational rights. He also noted that several elements of the National Education Policy (NEP) have already found their way into Kerala's education system.

Satheesan claimed that, as Leader of the Opposition, he had criticised the manner in which the previous LDF government joined the scheme, alleging that the agreement was signed without informing all members of the Cabinet.

Kerala signed the agreement on October 23, 2025. Following the signing, the Pinarayi Vijayan government faced a major political crisis as its key ally, the CPI, challenged the chief minister's unilateral decision to join the PM SHRI scheme. The LDF had long opposed the NEP, describing it as a centralising and exclusionary framework that encouraged the "saffronisation" and corporatisation of education while eroding state autonomy. The PM SHRI scheme was often characterised by the Left as a "backdoor entry" for the NEP, and the government had resisted signing it until then. The decision came after Vijayan met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 10.

Interestingly, when the controversy erupted, the CPI(M)'s initial response was to defend the decision. On October 27, the party's state secretariat concluded that withdrawing from the scheme was no longer feasible and instead sought to persuade the CPI of the circumstances that had led to the decision. Vijayan himself made conciliatory efforts, but the CPI remained firm in demanding accountability.

CPI ministers submitted a protest letter to the chief minister, saying they felt cheated because such a significant decision had been kept from them. In the wake of the row, the LDF constituted a Cabinet subcommittee to review the decision to sign the memorandum of understanding with the Centre. However, the panel never submitted its report.

The UDF government has now adopted a similar approach by constituting its own Cabinet subcommittee while maintaining that Kerala is already committed to the PM SHRI scheme and placing the responsibility for that decision on the previous government. At the same time, Satheesan has sought to allay concerns, particularly among minority communities, over the implementation of the NEP, asserting that the state will not allow any interference in Kerala's authority to determine its school curriculum. Former Education Minister V. Sivankutty, however, criticised the UDF's stand, dismissing the new Cabinet subcommittee as an eyewash and accusing the government of practising "adjustment politics" with the Centre.

Sivankutty claimed that the previous government had halted the PM SHRI implementation in the state. “Whether to continue the PM SHRI school scheme, which was halted by the previous government, is a decision for the UDF government to make. The argument that the present government must continue the scheme because the previous government received funds under PM SHRI is completely false. In fact, the Left government did not even deliberate on which schools should be brought under the PM SHRI scheme. On the other hand, the funds received under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA/SSK) have no connection with PM SHRI and are mandatory allocations that the state is entitled to receive.

“The chief minister's claim that governments are a continuum and that the present government is obliged to carry forward what the previous government did conveniently ignores the fact that the previous government had already put the PM SHRI scheme on hold,” he said.

The Vijayan government's decision to sign the agreement was driven largely by concerns that more than ₹1,100 crore due to Kerala under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) had been withheld by the Centre. The present government has also acknowledged that the blockage of these funds is a serious issue. Defending his government's position, Satheesan said that the more than ₹1,000 crore owed to Kerala was not a favour from the Centre but the state's rightful entitlement. He maintained that the UDF would ensure Kerala's participation in the PM SHRI scheme without allowing any communal agenda to be imposed. He also pointed out that the previous government had never formally written to the Centre seeking to withdraw from the scheme.

A similar dispute had played out in Punjab. In 2023, the Punjab government, which had signed the PM SHRI agreement in October 2022, attempted to withdraw from the scheme and formally informed the Centre of its decision. The Union government, however, maintained that once an MoU was signed, a state could not withdraw unilaterally. Subsequently, the Centre withheld SSA funds to Punjab after the state opted out of PM SHRI. The funding issue was resolved only after Punjab reversed its position in July 2024 and agreed to implement the scheme.