Union Education Minister writes to Tamil Nadu CM Stalin over non-signing of PM SHRI scheme MoU

In reply to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking release of funds under the Samagra Shiksha Scheme for the financial year 2024-25, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has said Tamil Nadu is required to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the PM-SHRI scheme aimed at developing exemplar model schools that offer leadership to other schools in the neighbourhood.

Mr. Pradhan has stated in his letter that the Central government had released all four instalments under Samagra Shiksha, an integrated scheme that envisages education as a continuum from pre-school to Class XII. Further, for 2024-25, ₹4,305.66 crore has been approved for Tamil Nadu. 

“In September 2022, PM SHRI was launched with an aim to develop more than 14, 500 selected schools as exemplar schools that offer leadership to other schools in the neighbourhood, showcasing all the initiatives of the National Education Policy (NEP)-2020. Every State/Union Territory is required to sign an MoU with the Ministry of Education and so far 32 States/Union Territories have signed [the MoU] and have been onboarded on the scheme platform,” according to Mr. Pradhan. 

He further states that the Ministry has made repeated requests to Tamil Nadu for signing the MoU since September 2022 through nine letters.  “Tamil Nadu gave an undertaking on March 15, 2024, indicating willingness to sign the PM SHRI MoU in 2024-25. After receiving the undertaking, a draft MoU was sent by the Ministry of Education to Tamil Nadu. However, I was surprised to see that the State responded with a modified MoU vide letter July 6, where a key paragraph referring to implementation of the NEP-2020 in entirety has been dropped,” Mr. Pradhan said. 

He further said, “The NEP-2020 fully supports the idea of teaching Tamil in schools of Tamil Nadu. It is a matter of national pride that Tamil is one of the oldest classical languages in the world. I acknowledge that Tamil Nadu has been a front runner not only in initiating but embracing forward-looking policies in health and education. Many of them also have become the best case practices for the nation and have been scaled for better delivery of services. We sincerely hope that the implementation of the NEP-2020 in the State would similarly see emergence of more best practices.”