School Education Programme of Rs 27,360 Crore Cleared by Cabinet

Vinod Kakumanu
Oct. 4, 2022, 11:17 a.m.

A new centrally sponsored scheme of Rs 27,360 crore was approved by the union cabinet for creating digitally driven schools and strengthening around 14,600 existing schools aimed at holistic development of students. The amount will be spent in 5 years till 2026-27, with 66% of the amount coming from the central government.

As stated by Dharmendra Pradhan (Union Education and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship minister), these schools will be designed as green institutions with digital learning tools and have entrepreneurship as a focus area. Under the Prime Minister’s schools for rising India (PMSHRI) scheme, Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas will also be strengthened. The funds will be transferred directly from the central government to the school’s account. These schools will be developed as green schools by using environment-friendly aspects like solar panels, LED lights, nutrition gardens with natural farming, waste -management, and water conservation and harvesting

According to an official statement, these schools will not only create holistic and well-rounded individuals with 21^st century skills but will also provide mentoring and leadership to other schools in their neighbourhood. Encouragement will be provided by these schools for flexibility in choice of subjects to students, along with use of mother tongue/local languages as medium of instruction using technological interventions to overcome language barriers. Experiential, holistic, and integrated pedagogy will be adopted by these schools with focus on learning outcomes of every child in every grade. Competency-based assessments will be conducted based on conceptual understanding and knowledge application to real-life situations.