PM SHRI schools enter Bengal after BJP win ends TMC’s long standoff with Centre

After years of resistance under the Trinamool Congress government, West Bengal has finally signed up for the Centre’s PM SHRI schools scheme following the BJP’s victory in the state.

The earlier Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government had refused to join the scheme, arguing that education was a matter of state autonomy. The disagreement had become part of a larger political and financial standoff between opposition-ruled states and the Centre.



During the 2024-25 financial year, the Union government had withheld or paused Samagra Shiksha funds for states including West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Punjab after they declined to sign the PM SHRI agreement.

The education inistry is also expected to push the state to implement the ULLAS scheme, which focuses on adult literacy and lifelong learning.

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The political situation remains uncertain in Tamil Nadu, where the earlier DMK government had also refused to join the PM SHRI scheme. The state has now seen a change in power after C Joseph Vijay and his Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam won the Assembly elections.

In Kerala, the Centre is expected to seek revival of the PM SHRI agreement. The state had signed an MoU with the Union government in October 2025 but later put the arrangement on hold.

The PM SHRI, or Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India, scheme was launched in September 2022 to upgrade more than 14,500 existing government schools across the country into model institutions aligned with the NEP 2020 vision.

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