What is PM SHRI (PM Schools for Rising India) Scheme?

The central government sponsored scheme namely PM SHRI has been approved by the Cabinet on 7 September, 2022 out of the above nine CSSs. The aim was to adopt and demonstrate the part and parcel of National Education Policy 2020 and become model school in the long run and provide leadership to the neighbouring schools. The appointed leaders will also collaborate in their regions on offering quality education within a fair, inclusive, joyful school environment that caters to the diversity in learners’ backgrounds, their multiple languages, and varied learning skills and engage them in the learning process, as envisaged by the NEP 2020 vision.

• It 2020 envisages the establishment of over 14,500 basic schools with various facets such as diverse background, multiple language needs, and multiple intelligences in India.
• These schools aim to nurture students into engaged, productive, and contributing citizens for building an equitable, inclusive, and plural society.
• The pedagogy will be experiential, holistic, and integrated, with a focus on learning outcomes and competency-based assessments.
• The schools will be developed as green schools, incorporating environmentally friendly aspects like energy efficiency, nutrition gardens, waste management, and water conservation. Community and alumni will be involved in volunteer efforts to enhance learning.
• The dignity of the school will be restored, and the un-utilized capacity of school infrastructure can be used for social, intellectual, and volunteer activities.
• The goal is to achieve universal participation in the school of neighbourhood children by tracking enrolment and learning levels to ensure they are enrolled and have suitable opportunities to catch up or re-enter school.

Six pillars of PM SHRI Schools:

Under this scheme following provisions are made

Development of more than 14500 PM SHRI Schools (PM Schools for Rising India) by enhancing the facilities in the existing schools from among the schools’ managed by the Central Government/State/UT Government/local bodies. Schools are selected by the following process.

The duration of the project is scheduled to be from 2022-23 to 2026-27

after completion, it will be the duty of the States/UTs to maintain the specified standards by their respective organizations. About twenty lakh students shall be the direct beneficiaries of this scheme. It is a five-year project with total outlay of Rs. 27360 crore and out of this, central share component is Rs. 18128 crore.

Highlights of NEP

• The New Policy focuses on the expansion of education from Pre-school to Secondary level with a GER of one hundred present by the year 2030.
• It will replace the present 10+2 pattern and adopt 5+3+3+4 pattern with a special emphasis on the introduction of basic literacy and numeracy.
• Vocational education from class 6, teaching up to grade 5 will be in the mother tongue/regional language.
• There are plans for an assortment of assessment reforms involving the use of a 360 degree Holistic Progress Card for L.O.
• Higher education should attain a total GER (gross enrolment ratio) of 50 percent by 2035, this with addition of3. 5 crore seats.
• The p. olicy aims for extensive, integrated, identity Under Graduate education with highly-facilitating curricula, innovative domain blends, and various points of access and existence with suitable accreditation
• Academic banks of Credits to be established for credit transfer.
• They will include the National Research Foundation to drive a research intensive culture and enhance research capability in higher education
• The policy will gradually stop the affiliation of colleges and develop a step-by-step procedure for providing graded autonomy to colleges.
• The NETF (National Education Technology Forum) will allow free flow of creativity for technology, assessment, administration and learning process.
• Multilingualism is supported when it comes to school going children as well as when one is pursuing his / her university education.

Pros and Cons of PM SHRI SCHEME

Pros

• High-Quality Education: As seen, PM SHRI schools that seek to deliver quality education integrated in an environment that is happy and conducive to learning do so with diverse students and different learning capacities.
• Holistic Development: It deals with the implementation of curriculum that entails experiential, holistic, and integrated learning that enhances critical thinking as well as creativity.
• Green Schools: These schools will therefore include modules like solar energy, LED lights, nutrition growing, waste management including water conservation.
• Modern Infrastructure: These include; better teaching facilities of classrooms, laboratories, libraries, sporting equipment’s, art studios etc., which in turn increases learning facilities.
• Skill Development: It will foster relationships with Sector Skill Council and local industries shall increase employability rates and avail better jobs for students.
• Mentorship: PM SHRI schools will extend their services as training schools for schools within their proximity and share the rudiments of effective education governing.

Cons

Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan

• The Union Budget presented for the financial year 2018 – 19 has outlined a broad approach to school education coming under pre-school, primary, secondary and higher secondary stages.
• Samagra Shiksha in aggregate contemplates to support affectivity of schools by providing opportunity for enrolment and quality education.
• It consolidates the three preceding programmes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, and Teacher Education.
• The scheme is intended for synchronizing the mechanisms and the costs of transactions at all levels including the state, district and sub-district ones with the help of the systems and resources at these levels.
• The emphasis is made on increasing systems-level performance and schooling results, also on states’ motivation to enhance the quality of education
• From this, the scheme intends to help the country to accomplish SDG-4.1 that propounds the achievement of the following: all the boys and girls shall be provided with free, equitable, quality primary and secondary education by the year 2030.
• And as well as SDG 4.5 that looks at eradicating the gender imbalance in terms of education, promoting equal opportunities of education by all the vulnerable groups as well as vocational training at all levels.
• In this context, the scheme envisages organisational structure of school and colleges linking from pre-school to the senior secondary levels that is focussing on achieving the inclusive and equitable quality education as planned in sustainable development goals (SDGs).
• Other objectives of the ministry are to achieve quantitative and qualitative goals in child education, that will reduce social and gender gaps, aims at equity and inclusion, vocationalization of education, help states in implementing the Right of Children toFree and Compulsory Education and upgrading the State Institutes of Education and DIET.