Lok Sabha Question No. 3732 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-16
Subject: Withholding of Funds Under Samagra Shiksha
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Smt. Bag Mitali

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3732 ANSWERED ON 16/03/2026

## Withholding of Funds Under Samagra Shiksha

## 3732. Smt. Bag Mitali:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

(a) the time by which the Union Government plans to disburse Rs. 19,045 crore it owes to the State of West Bengal under the Samagra Shiksha; and

- (b) the reasons for which the Government has stopped disbursing these funds?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)

(a) & (b) : Education is in the concurrent list of the Constitution and majority of the schools are under the domain of respective State and UT Governments. The Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Samagra Shiksha is implemented in partnership with all the States and UTs. Financial  assistance  is  provided  to  all  States  and  UTs  for  various  components  for implementation of the interventions under Samagra Shiksha as per norms. Accordingly, the annual plans under Samagra Shiksha are prepared by the States and UTs based on their requirements and priority and this is reflected in their respective Annual Work Plan and Budget (AWP&B). These plans are then appraised and approved by Project Approval Board (PAB) in consultation with the States and UTs as per the programmatic and financial norms of the scheme. The funds are released based on the fulfillment of conditions prescribed by Ministry  of  Finance  such  as  pace  of  expenditure,  receipt  of  commensurate  State  share, audited accounts, statement cumulative State share, statement on outstanding advances, upto date expenditure statement, furnishing of information as prescribed.

The scheme of Samagra Shiksha has been aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP)  2020.  The  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  of  PM-SHRI  envisages  to  showcase  the implementation of the National Education Policy 2020 and emerge as exemplar schools over a period of time, and also offer leadership to other schools in the neighbourhood.

States and UTs are required to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the  Department  of  School  Education  and  Literacy  (DoSE&L),  Ministry  of  Education, Government of India, for implementation of PM SHRI scheme. However, West Bengal has not signed the PM SHRI MoU. The issue of PM SHRI MoU has been followed up with requests and repeated reminders at the level of Secretary and Union Minister.

Since, West Bengal State is implementing Samagra Shiksha Scheme which has been aligned with NEP 2020, it would be appropriate that the State come forward to implement and showcase all the initiatives of NEP 2020 including under PM SHRI Scheme in order to develop  government  schools  of  the  State  as  exemplar  schools  to  facilitate  best  school education services.  In fact, implementation of Samagra Shiksha Scheme is implementation of NEP 2020 and PM SHRI Schools are exemplar schools of NEP 2020.

In  this  context,  Rs.  311.29  Crore  were  released  to  West  Bengal  in  2023-24.  The central share approved by Project Approval Board (PAB) considering the Annual Work Plan & Budget (AWP&B) submitted by West Bengal for 2024-25 & 2025-26 is as below:

| Year    |   Total Central Share Approval (in crore) |
|---------|-------------------------------------------|
| 2024-25 |                                   1745.8  |
| 2025-26 |                                   1965.66 |

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