The Punjab government has withdrawn from a central scheme to upgrade select schools, which had to prefix “PM-SHRI” to their names.

The state government had initially signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the ministry of education (MoE) for implementing the PM Schools for Rising India (PM-SHRI) scheme. However, it later decided to stay away from the programme.

Six states — Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Bihar, Delhi and Kerala — have already decided not to implement the scheme. They have not signed the MoU with the MoE so far. Though they have not openly cited any reason for their non-participation, officials from these states have told The Telegraph that the PM-SHRI scheme was designed as part of central government propaganda. They said prefixing PM-SHRI in the name of the schools is not being supported by the political leaders in states.

The PM-SHRI was approved by the Union cabinet in September 2022 to upgrade 14,597 schools, which will later provide mentorship to other schools in their vicinity.

A Punjab government official said the state government had launched three different schemes on a pilot basis for the improvement of its schools. These schemes are Schools of Brilliance, Schools of Excellence and Schools of Happiness.

“It was felt that school education is practically the responsibility of the state governments. So the state government has started three schemes to improve infrastructure, teaching-learning activities and introduce new technologies. So there is no need to implement PM-SHRI,” the official said.

Under the PM-SHRI scheme, states have to sign an MoU with the Centre to receive grants.

“Name of the selected school shall be prefixed with PM SHRI schools,” says a provision in the MoU, a copy of which this newspaper has obtained through an RTI application.

“No change shall be undertaken thereafter, by the state for these schools, as these schools are to be developed as PM SHRI schools for providing quality education.”

Schools will be selected at the block level and will be provided support for their upgrade. A block can get a maximum of two schools while some blocks may not get any.