Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal received no funds from the Centre under the Samagra Shiksha scheme for 2024-’25, the Union education ministry told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

The Samagra Shiksha scheme, implemented in 2018, is an initiative through which the Union government provides support for elementary and secondary school education.

Data shared in the Upper House by Minister of State for Education Jayant Choudhary showed that while Kerala was allocated Rs 328.90 crore, Tamil Nadu Rs 2,151.60 crore and West Bengal Rs 1,745.80 crore from the Centre for the current fiscal year under the scheme, no funds had been released to these states as of March 27.

Choudhary was responding to a question by Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP John Brittas on the funds yet to be released to states under the Samagra Shiksha scheme

The data showed that Uttar Pradesh was allotted the highest funds at Rs 6,971.26 crore under the scheme and had already received Rs 4,487.46 crore.

Overall, the Centre had allocated Rs 45,830.21 crore to 36 states and Union territories for the current financial year, of which Rs 27,833.50 crore was released by March 27 to all entities except Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

Choudhary also noted that funds under the scheme, which is used for educational components like textbooks, infrastructure upgrades and teacher salaries, were released to states and Union territories based on several criteria.

This included their pace of expenditure, receipt of their commensurate share, submission of audited accounts, statements on outstanding advances, up-to-date expenditure statements and audited utilisation certificates from previous years.

For several months now, the Tamil Nadu government has been complaining that it has not received its allocation of funds under the Samagra Shiksha scheme. Teachers in the state have faced delays in salaries due to a lack of funds.

The halt in funding to Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal comes against the backdrop of these states refusing to comply with the PM Schools for Rising India, or PM SHRI, scheme.

The centrally-sponsored scheme aims to upgrade the infrastructure of schools managed by central, state or regional bodies. However, to avail the scheme’s benefits, state governments must first sign a memorandum of understanding with the Centre to implement the 2020 National Education Policy.

The 2020 National Education Policy proposes major changes to the curricular structure for school education, claims to promote flexibility in choosing academic streams and emphasises on using the mother tongue as a key medium of instruction in primary school, among other measures.

The policy has been criticised by sections of the academic community, for encouraging the privatisation of public institutions. It was also criticised for creating numerous “exit” options for students, which opponents said would encourage dropouts.

Tamil Nadu has repeatedly expressed opposition to the three-language formula in the National Education Policy. The state government said it will not change its decades-old two-language policy of teaching students Tamil and English.

The three-language formula refers to teaching students English, Hindi and the native language of a state. It was introduced in the first National Education Policy in 1968 and was retained in the new policy introduced in 2020.