Tamil Nadu had initially agreed to the Centre’s Prime Minister’s Schools for Rising India (PM-SHRI) scheme, but eventually refused to sign the memorandum of understanding (MoU) and has remained ambiguous over the issue, said Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi said on Thursday, September 5. He made these observations while interacting with teachers and educationalists as part of the ‘Governor’s ‘Think to Dare’ programme at the Raj Bhavan in Chennai.
When asked to list the benefits of PM-SHRI, Mr. Ravi said, “When the signing of the MoU for the PM-SHRI scheme was brought up, the Tamil Nadu government first said ‘yes’. But when it came to actually signing it, it has refused, and has remained ambiguous since. So, our State has not outright rejected it, yet it has not signed it either. It is dithering. That is where the matter lies.”
Advocating for PM-SHRI scheme, he said it was a very progressive initiative. “If we get that, we will have a large number of schools in our State that will be able to upgrade themselves with better infrastructure and teaching and learning facilities,” he added.
While most States have agreed to the PM-SHRI scheme and have been doing it, some have “reservations for reasons known only to them” and “just a few States have disagreed with that”, the Governor said.
‘No alternatives for NEP’
To a query on the “confusion” over the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP), Mr. Ravi said: “The NEP will be implemented. It has no alternatives,” and added that, “The NEP was not a policy framed by a set of people or the government. Several hundred thousand people from different walks of life came together and gave their ideas. The NEP was a distillation of this exercise.”
He also advocated for the transformation of the education system so that the younger generations would be capable of critical and creative thinking.
Mr. Ravi also paid floral tributes to the portrait of former President S. Radhakrishnan, whose birth anniversary is observed as Teachers’ Day in the country. He also felicitated 17 teachers for their exemplary services to the nation, a Raj Bhavan release said.
Published - September 05, 2024 08:05 pm IST
