Kerala’s decision to proceed with PM SHRI has ended the dispute over participation. The previous Left Democratic Front government signed the memorandum of understanding with the Centre in October 2025. On July 31, 2026, the United Democratic Front government decided to retain the scheme, while leaving the selection of schools until it had considered a cabinet sub-committee’s report. The question is no longer whether Kerala should join PM SHRI, but how it can use the money without weakening the strengths of its public school system.
Launched in September 2022 to strengthen more than 14,500 existing government schools as exemplars of the National Education Policy 2020. The five-year PM SHRI scheme has an outlay of ₹27,360 crore, of which the Centre will provide ₹18,128 crore. Kerala’s share will follow the 60:40 Centre-state funding formula. As of July 27, 2026, the Union government had selected 13,092 schools. Besides improving their own facilities and teaching standards, these schools are meant to support neighbouring institutions.
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Kerala PM SHRI starts from a strong base
Kerala does not need PM SHRI to validate its public school system. The state’s literacy rate was 95.3% in 2023-24. Its secondary-level gross enrolment ratio reached 98.1% in 2024-25, against the national average of 80.17%. The primary dropout rate was 0.2%. These outcomes are the result of sustained public spending and programmes such as KITE and Samagra Shiksha. Few states have built comparable reach or public confidence in government schooling.
The record, however, conceals a loss of budgetary priority. Education accounted for 16.4% of Kerala’s total expenditure in 2018-19. Its share fell to 13.3% in 2024-25 and was budgeted at 13.4% in 2025-26. These ratios do not show that nominal spending fell. They show that education lost ground against other claims on the state budget. For a government dealing with limited fiscal room, the fall can constrain maintenance, accessibility upgrades, laboratories and teacher support. a require a similarly careful reading. ASER 2024 recorded a recovery among Standard II pupils in rural Kerala.
In government schools, the share able to read at least words rose from 65.8% in 2022 to 72.8% in 2024. The share able to recognise numbers up to 99 increased from 77.3% to 86.5%. Yet a longer comparison of ASER data points to weaker arithmetic proficiency among pupils in Standards V and VIII than in 2014. The recent recovery is welcome, but high enrolment cannot substitute for evidence of competence at later stages. condition of schools presents a more immediate problem.
A survey reported to the Kerala Assembly in 2025 identified unfit buildings in 1,157 schools: 875 government, 262 aided and 20 unaided institutions. UDISE+ also found gaps in ramps, handrails, accessible toilets and information technology facilities. Kerala’s aggregate performance therefore conceals serious deficiencies in individual schools.
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HRI can deliver in Kerala
The useful parts of PM SHRI correspond closely to these gaps. The scheme finances science and vocational laboratories, smart classrooms, digital libraries, sports facilities and infrastructure for children with special needs. It also supports experiential learning, competency-based assessment, teacher development and green-school measures. Kerala already follows several of these practices. Central assistance can speed up work that the state budget has delayed or spread too thinly. It permits a maximum of two schools, one elementary and one secondary or senior secondary, in each block or urban local body, subject to the national ceiling. Its central funding period ends in 2026-27, after which states must maintain the standards achieved.
PM SHRI cannot repair Kerala’s entire school estate or meet recurring staffing costs. A model-school programme will yield little if the state’s regular education budget continues to lose relative priority. Kerala should avoid spending the money mainly on institutions that already satisfy most benchmarks. Within the scheme’s eligibility rules, it should choose schools where additional investment can produce visible gains in learning, accessibility and infrastructure, and where neighbouring schools can use the facilities or adopt tested teaching practices. Baseline indicators should be published before work begins. Subsequent funding should be linked to measurable improvement rather than completion certificates.
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Curricular autonomy is a legitimate concern because PM SHRI schools are meant to showcase NEP 2020. The state government has said it will continue with the scheme while resisting central interference in curriculum. That position is defensible. Kerala can accept common standards for laboratories, accessibility, teacher training and outcome monitoring without surrendering control over its textbooks or language policy. The agreement should be administered with that distinction kept clear. d also resist the assumption that better buildings will by themselves lift arithmetic or reading levels.
The PM SHRI framework gives the state room to combine facilities with teacher support, competency-based assessment and mentoring of nearby schools. Those components deserve more attention than branding. A renovated classroom is an input. The relevant outcome is whether pupils can read, calculate and progress without private remediation.
Kerala’s public school system remains the principal vehicle for reform. PM SHRI can add finance, impose clearer benchmarks and create a limited number of schools that demonstrate workable improvements. The state should preserve its curricular freedom, publish the results and use successful interventions beyond the selected institutions. Used on those terms, PM SHRI would supplement Kerala’s education model rather than replace it.
John tharayil Mathew is an intern at the Centre for studies in Population and Development, Christ University, Delhi NCR. Deepa Palathingal is Assistant Professor in Economics, Christ University, Bangalore.