Congress govt to implement PM-SHRI in Kerala, with riders. It’s reignited a political row

June 18, 2026 Headlinesnews

Thiruvananthapuram: The controversy over Centre’s PM-SHRI scheme made a comeback in Kerala politics Wednesday, with the Congress-led UDF deciding it would implement the scheme, though with some riders.

The decision comes months after the previous CPI(M) government froze the scheme’s implementation amid opposition from its LDF ally, the CPI.

The Congress, then out of power, had also criticised CPI(M) for signing the agreement.

Addressing the media Wednesday, Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan said the Kerala government was compelled to continue with the scheme as the state had already signed the PM-SHRI MoU and had received money. He said the government was exploring ways to implement the scheme without affecting the state’s rights in the education sector.

“Because the last government signed the PM-SHRI scheme, Kerala is already a participant. Not only that, the Centre has also released over Rs 99 crore of the amount pending from it. Another Rs 106 crore has already been allocated. Our opposition is that they should not interfere in the curriculum and that the state government should be free to choose the implementing schools,” Satheesan said, referring to over Rs 1,000 crore in pending central funds. He said a subcommittee had been formed to prepare a report informing the Centre of the state’s ideological disagreements.

The committee comprises General Education Minister N. Shamsudheen as convenor, along with Roji M. John, P.C. Vishnunath, and M. Liju.

Launched in September 2022, the Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) scheme had led to a political controversy last year after Vijayan’s LDF government signed an agreement to implement it. The decision invited criticism from both the UDF as well as LDF ally CPI.

In the wake of the controversy, the government said it would freeze the implementation of the scheme.

Soon after Wednesday’s announcement, the CPI(M) hit back at the Congress, saying the state had only frozen the scheme and had never received any money from the Centre under PM-SHRI.

“When the LDF government signed it, the Leader of the Opposition and the Muslim League alleged that it was a sign of a deal between the CPI(M) and the BJP, and said they would never implement it if they came to power. Now that they have become the ruling government, they are not only saying they will implement it but are also spreading lies. No money has been given to the state because we froze it,” Govindan said.

Also Read: Inside UP’s PM Shri testing ground: Labs, smart boards and a race to catch up

PM-SHRI scheme & the controversy

Launched in September 2022, the PM-SHRI scheme aims to improve school infrastructure and the quality of education. It was proposed to be implemented in more than 14,500 schools across the country, with a maximum of two schools per block, between 2022 and 2027.

Kerala’s opposition to the scheme largely stemmed from the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, implementation of which forms part of the scheme’s MoU. Apart from Kerala, the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government and the TMC-led West Bengal government had also raised concerns.

According to a Parliamentary Committee report published in March last year, the Centre had withheld Rs 1,000 crore from West Bengal, Rs 859.63 crore from Kerala and Rs 2,152 crore from Tamil Nadu under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) funds. The report added that 33 of the 36 states and UTs had signed the PM-SHRI MoU.

The LDF government in Kerala announced in October last year that it had decided to secure central funding of Rs 1,466 crore under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) by implementing PM-SHRI in the state. Though the minister said the state had not changed its education policy, the move marked a departure from LDF’s earlier stand that it would not sign the scheme and would instead consider legal recourse to secure the funds.

This decision led to a controversy after both the opposition Congress and the CPI, the CPI(M)s largest ally, publicly criticised it. It later emerged that the MoU had been signed days before the announcement was officially made, without discussions within the Left Front.

After intense pressure from the CPI, with four of its ministers threatening to boycott a Cabinet meeting, Vijayan announced that the scheme would be put on hold and that a Cabinet subcommittee would examine the matter.

Satheesan, then Leader of the Opposition, had alleged that Vijayan and Education Minister V. Sivankutty had kept the state in the dark while signing the agreement, claiming it pointed to a “CPI(M)-BJP deal” and a conspiracy. He also alleged that Vijayan had bowed to pressure from the Centre and signed a scheme linked to what he described as an “anti-federal, communally divisive and patently centralist” NEP.

In February this year, Sivankutty said the Centre had not responded to the state’s letter informing it that the scheme had been put on hold.

However, Satheesan said Wednesday that no such letter had been sent. He also said his earlier opposition to PM-SHRI was due to the lack of transparency with which the LDF signed the agreement, not to the state accepting central funds under the scheme.

(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)

Also Read: ‘Milestone’ pact after 3 years of resistance—the debate over PM-SHRI & what’s behind Kerala’s U-turn

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