Follow TNM's WhatsApp channel for news updates and story links.
Kerala’s Left government is facing a growing storm of criticism from within its own ranks after signing an MoU to implement the Pradhan Mantri School for Rising India (PM SHRI) scheme, raising concerns that the state is quietly embracing the National Education Policy (NEP) it had long opposed.
Kerala has opposed NEP for years, calling it a clandestine attempt to saffronise education. Education Minister, V Sivankutty, who had been firmly against NEP, has steadily shifted his stand. Speaking to the media on October 24, he defended the move, saying, “Yes, it is true that we will not agree with NEP. But we cannot take the same stand till the world ends … Holding on to NEP, how can we deny crores of money that the Union government has to give?”
The move has drawn sharp reactions from the state government’s key allies and left-leaning intellectuals. Student organisations aligned with the Left, including the All India Youth Federation (AIYF) and the All India Students’ Federation (AISF), have staged protests, arguing that the scheme undermines secular and democratic values in education.
CPI(M)’s student organisation SFI has expressed concerns, though it did not oppose strongly.
Critics point out that PM SHRI, despite the state government’s claims of opposing NEP, is fundamentally designed to implement the controversial policy across selected schools. With funding and guidelines tied to NEP benchmarks, Kerala’s adoption of PM SHRI effectively aligns the state’s education system with the Union government’s policy, sparking unease among Left circles that see it as a compromise of ideological principles.
The decision to implement PM SHRI has drawn sharp criticism from prominent intellectuals and writers. Sara Joseph, a well-known author, took a sarcastic tone on social media, remarking that “time is waiting for the PM Shri kids, who are born in Hindutva from communism.”
K Sachidanandan, Chairperson of the Sahitya Akademi, said, “When Union government funds are accepted, that means supporting and creating a favourable environment for the Union government’s policies and their experiments in education. But even if it is the financial crisis rather than surrendering for this, it is better to leave the governance. Any government with self-respect should do that. I don’t agree with many of Mamta Banerjee and Stalin's policies. But if a Left government cannot show the courage even they showed, then there is a big drawback here.”
The Tamil Nadu and West Bengal governments have both refused to sign the MoU regarding PM SHRI. Tamil Nadu has pointed out that the implementation of the PM SHRI scheme would also force the state to comply with the NEP, particularly its three-language stance. Earlier this year, Tamil Nadu temporarily halted school admissions under the Right To Education (RTE) Act for the academic year 2025-26, citing pending Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) funds from the Union government to the tune of Rs 2,151.59 crore.
SFI, while not strongly opposing the PM SHRI scheme, has expressed its concerns and even met with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
PS Sanjeev, state secretary of SFI, said, “The government had a discussion about this with us earlier, then we had informed our stand in this matter. As per SSA, we have to get Rs 1,500 crore. The Union government is putting a condition that PM Shri needs to be signed if that money should be granted. There is concern, and we will surely let the government know about it.”
Other Left student organisations, including the AIYF and AISF, have taken to the streets to protest the government’s move.
Sivaprasad, SFI state secretary, said, “Sangh Parivar is trying to sneak their agenda into the education sector to undermine secular democratic values; that will be opposed.”
The Kerala government had long been a vocal opponent of the NEP. However, when it decided to sign the MoU for the PM SHRI initiative, initially the Education Minister claimed that the state would continue to oppose NEP while implementing PM SHRI. Documents related to the scheme, however, reveal otherwise, indicating that PM SHRI is essentially built around NEP.
Under the PM SHRI scheme, each selected school is set to receive Rs 1 crore per year for five years, with the programme planned for around 14,500 schools across India with a total budget of Rs 27,360 crore.
The PM SHRI documents explicitly state: “The selected schools will help showcase the implementation of the National Education Policy 2020 and emerge as exemplar schools over a period of time.”
The documents further note, “The following quality benchmarks would be manifested in a PM SHRI School: (a.) Showcase of NEP 2020 in school practices (b.) Student registry, including Divyang – for tracking enrolment and learning progress.”
The scheme also specifies: “The PM SHRI schools’ scheme is based on the development of sub-domains of six major pillars derived from 9 chapters of NEP 2020.” With these provisions, Kerala’s participation in PM SHRI effectively signals full adoption of NEP practices in government and local body–managed schools.
Only schools with a valid UDISE+ code—short for Unified District Information System for Education Plus, the national database used to monitor school performance—are eligible for selection. The scheme follows a three-stage “Challenge Mode” process where schools compete to become model institutions. First, states and union territories must sign an MoU with the Union government, committing to support selected schools in achieving defined quality standards. Next, an eligible pool of schools is identified based on benchmarks derived from UDISE+ data. Finally, schools from this pool compete by fulfilling specific criteria, which are verified through physical inspections by authorities. Those that meet all conditions are designated as PM SHRI schools, intended to serve as examples of NEP implementation.