Karnataka Approves 585 PM Shri Schools, Aims to Upgrade Educational Quality

Bengaluru: While the neighbouring states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu are staunchly opposing the PM Shri (PM Schools for Rising India) schools, Karnataka has as many as 585 schools covered under the centrally sponsored scheme.It is likely to add another five schools if the Centre opens up the approval process once again.The PM Shri scheme was the Centre's flagship initiative to establish around 14,500 model schools across the country that put the principles of the National Education Policy into practice. The plan was to build a model school by upgrading infrastructure, pedagogy, and overall educational quality.Karnataka, which was the first to launch NEP in higher education, signed up for PM Shri schools.Around 590 schools were to be approved over six phases. While the state received approval for 585 schools, five schools did not make it to the list in the seventh phase due to technical issues while uploading the documents.You Can Also Check:Bengaluru AQI|Weather in Bengaluru|Gold Rate Today in Bengaluru|Silver Rate Today in BengaluruThe Union ministry of education has orally informed that they might open up an eighth phase and the state is expected to send the pending proposals. The first set of schools was approved in 2023-24 and the next set in 2024-25.These 585 schools enrol over 2 lakh students in total in the state. While the primary schools will be given Rs 30-35 lakh over five years, the secondary and higher secondary schools will get a grant of up to about Rs 1.3 crore. The Centre will fund 60%, while the state will contribute 40% of the funds.Around Rs 546 crore has been approved for the schools in the state so far, while Rs 230.5 crore has been released. There are around 110 activities where the funding can be utilised.These include hiring guest faculty, separate teachers for extracurricular activities like music, dance, arts, band sets, ICT training, solar panels, indoor and outdoor playing material, spoken English, outdoor science parks, labs, among others.The SSLC results of PM Shri schools in the state are, however, below the state average. While the state average has been around 66%, the results of PM Shri schools have been around 62%.Around 1,100 students from 153 schools wrote the exam.A PM Shri school head said the fear among the states that oppose these schools is their association with NEP. "Their fear could be that once these schools start receiving funds from the Centre, there will be strings attached. However, we have thus far not received any dictums on curriculum. We follow the same curriculum that the state schools follow. There have been a few competitions like buildathon that we need to mandatorily participate in.Other than that, activities have been just the same," said the school head.Bengaluru Rural has nine schools, Bengaluru North has six schools, and Bengaluru South has 10 schools that have the PM Shri tag.BOX: PM Shri Schools in B'luruBengaluru Rural — 9Bengaluru North — 6Bengaluru South — 10Approved schools in K'takaSchools with classes 1-5 – 12Schools with classes 1-7 – 166Schools with classes 1-8 – 254Schools with classes 1-10 – 108Schools with classes 6-10 – 41PU colleges – 3Schools with classes 1-12 – 1Total – 585