UDF Government Reverses Stand on PM SHRI Scheme It Once Vowed to Scrap

Thiruvananthapuram: The UDF government is preparing to implement the PM SHRI scheme — a central government plot to communalise education and impose the National Education Policy — despite having vehemently opposed it while in opposition.

The previous LDF government had signed on to the PM SHRI scheme solely to recover withheld Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan funds, explicitly stating it would not implement the memorandum of understanding and subsequently informing the centre of its withdrawal from the scheme. The LDF's position was that it refused to accept the condition that NEP implementation was a prerequisite for receiving funds owed to Kerala's students.

It was the UDF itself — including ministers now in the cabinet like K M Shaji— that had loudly campaigned against the LDF government's alleged handling of PM SHRI. Local Self-Government Minister and Muslim League leader K M Shaji had declared at a protest rally that if the UDF came to power, it would throw PM SHRI into the dustbin. That same Shaji is now part of the cabinet preparing to implement the scheme.

Education Minister N Shamsuddin recently told the media that a decision would be taken after discussing the report submitted by the Principal Secretary of General Education — and also made misleading claim that the previous government had merely "temporarily paused" the scheme rather than withdrawn from it. He has also not declared that Kerala would refuse to accept the threat that funds under SSA will be distributed only after implementing NEP. The criticism is growing that the UDF's dramatic reversal reflects a behind-the-scenes deal between the UDF and BJP.