UDF will take decision on PM SHRI after studying report: Minister

Minister for General Education N. Samsudheen has reiterated that the United Democratic Front (UDF) government will study a report submitted by the General Education Principal Secretary on the implementation of PM SHRI scheme and take a decision.

The Minister told The Hindu that he had gone through the report, which gave factual details on the PM SHRI scheme, the impact of the signing of the MoU, if the scheme could be continued, if one of the parties could withdraw from it unilaterally, and if so how to go about it. He had reported these to the UDF leadership.

The report would be discussed with education experts too and the UDF would announce a decision on the future of the agreement signed between the Kerala government and the Union government.

Mr. Samsudheen said there was no need for an urgent decision on the issue. The UDF needed time to discuss it. However, it did not mean that decision-making would be extended indefinitely. “The government came to power less than a month ago. We will announce a decision soon,”he said.

The LDF government, after holding off on signing the agreement with the Union government on the grounds of ideological opposition to the National Education Policy (NEP), had inked the agreement in October last year, only to see coalition partner Communist Party of India (CPI) allege that it had been kept in the dark about the decision.

Soon after the deal was signed, the Union government released Samagra Shiksha funds to the tune of ₹92.41 crore due to the State for the 2025-26 year.

However, faced with a schism in the ruling coalition, the government decided to put the agreement on hold and announced that a Cabinet sub-committee would study the scheme.