Centre Ties Tamil Nadu Education Funds To NEP And PM-SHRI MoU

The Union government has reiterated in the Lok Sabha that the release of Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) funds to Tamil Nadu remains strictly linked to the state's implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. Responding to questions raised by DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran, the Ministry of Education stated that the state must sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the PM Schools for Rising India (PM-SHRI) scheme to access the full funding.

According to the Centre, the PM-SHRI scheme, which was launched in September 2022, is designed to showcase all components of the NEP. The Union government stated that because Tamil Nadu has not signed the MoU for this scheme, the state is not implementing the education policy in its entirety. The Tamil Nadu state government has previously refused to sign the MoU and has opposed the three-language formula stipulated under the NEP.

As a result of this ongoing disagreement, the central education budget allocated to Tamil Nadu has seen a steady decline. For the 2026-27 financial year, the Project Approval Board under the Union Ministry of Education has allocated ₹3,041.81 crore to Tamil Nadu under the Samagra Shiksha scheme. Of this total, the Centre’s share is ₹1,825 crore, while the State’s share is ₹1,216 crore.

This allocation represents a continuous drop in funding over recent years. In the 2025-26 financial year, the Centre had allocated ₹3,044.52 crore to the state, while the allocation for the 2024-25 financial year was higher at ₹3,586 crore. The allocations for Samagra Shiksha are distributed across elementary, secondary, and teacher education components. Due to the dispute, Tamil Nadu has not received the Centre’s full share of these funds since 2024.

However, the Union government clarified that the Right to Education (RTE) Entitlements component of the SSA funds will continue to be released to the state in due time. For the 2026-27 financial year, the Project Approval Board has allocated ₹624.19 crore for the RTE component, which includes a central share of ₹374.51 crore. This follows an incident last year where the Union government released ₹538.39 crore for the RTE component only after receiving a notice from the Supreme Court.