State PCS - West Bengal (WBCS)

• 04 Apr 2025

No Funds for West Bengal Under Samagra Shiksha

Why in News? 

The Centre has not allocated any funds from its share under the Ministry of Education’s flagship Samagra Shiksha scheme (SSA) to Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal.  

 Key Points 

• About the Funds: 
  • Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal were allocated Rs 328.90 crore, Rs 2,151.60 crore, and Rs 1,745.80 crore, under the SSA for the 2024-25 financial year. 
    • Although these states had received no funds from the Centre’s share. 
  • In contrast, Rs 27,833.50 crore out of the total Rs 45,830.21 crore central allocation had been disbursed to other states and Union Territories. 
  • Uttar Pradesh, which received the highest allocation of Rs 6,971.26 crore, had already received Rs 4,487.46 crore.  
• Criteria for Fund Release: 
  • The Centre disburses SSA funds based on multiple factors, including: 
    • States’ pace of expenditure. 
    • Receipt of the required state share. 
    • Submission of audited accounts and expenditure statement 
    • Clearance of outstanding advances. 
    • Up-to-date utilisation certificates from previous years. 
• Dispute Between Tamil Nadu and Centre: 
  • Tamil Nadu has reportedly refused to implement the National Education Policy’s (NEP) three-language formula. 
  • The state has also not signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for establishing PM-SHRI schools, which may have contributed to the funding halt. 
• Parliamentary Standing Committee Observations: 
  • The committee noted that withholding SSA funds was severely impacting: 
    • Teachers’ salaries. 
    • Right to Education (RTE) reimbursements. 
    • Student transportation in remote areas. 
    • It criticized the Centre for linking SSA fund disbursal to states participation in separate schemes like PM-SHRI. 
    • The committee recommended the immediate release of SSA funds to Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal to ensure continuity in education programs. 

 Samagra Shiksha 

• Samagra Shiksha is an integrated scheme for school education extending from pre-school to class XII to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels of school education. 
• It subsumes the three Schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE). 
• The scheme treats school education holistically as a continuum from Pre-school to Class 12. 
• The main emphasis of the Scheme is on improving the quality of school education by focussing on the two T’s – Teacher and Technology. 
• It is being implemented as a centrally sponsored scheme. It involves a 60:40 split in funding between the Centre and most States. It was launched by the Ministry of Education in 2018. 

 PM-SHRI Scheme 

• The PM SHRI Scheme is a centrally sponsored initiative, launched in 2022, by the Government of India aimed at establishing over 14,500 PM SHRI Schools by enhancing existing schools to showcase the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. 
• The primary objective is to create an inclusive and nurturing environment that promotes the well-being and safety of every student, offering diverse learning experiences and access to quality infrastructure and resources.