About 1,780 government schools in 890 blocks of Uttar Pradesh are being upgraded under the centrally funded PM Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) program. These schools are being developed to showcase all components of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, an official with the Department of Basic Education said.
UP Principal Secretary for Basic Education Deepak Kumar said a meeting was held in Delhi on Friday where Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan spoke about the scheme. Sandeep Singh, Minister of Basic Education in Uttar Pradesh; Secondary Education Minister Gulab Devi and others attended the meeting.
“We are awaiting details and other modalities to be followed to improve some of our schools under the PM Shri program. One primary and one secondary school in each block will be upgraded under the programme,” said Principal Secretary for Basic Education Deepak Kumar.
“In UP, 890 primary schools and as many secondary schools will be modernized according to the central government plan. More details and modalities on the upgrade are awaited,” said Director-General for School Education, UP, Vijay Kiran Anand. In a statement, the central government said these schools will adopt a more experiential and holistic pedagogy, as foreseen in the NEP 2020.
More than 14,500 schools across the country are to be developed as PM-SHRI schools to showcase all components of NEP 2020. The program of the PM-SHRI schools is to be implemented with total project costs of €27,360 crore for a five-year period from 2022-23 to 2026-27, according to the PIB press release.
In these schools, assessment at all levels is based on conceptual understanding and the application of knowledge to real life situations and is competency-based. A School Quality Assessment Framework (SQAF) is being developed, specifying key performance indicators to measure outcomes. In order to ensure the desired standards, a quality evaluation of these schools is carried out at regular intervals, according to the PIB press release.
PM SHRI will provide quality education in an equitable, inclusive and joyful school environment that takes care of children’s diverse backgrounds, multilingual needs and diverse academic abilities, making them active participants in their own learning process, in line with the vision of NEP 2020 does , it said.
selection methodology
PM SHRI schools are selected in a challenge mode in which schools compete for support to become exemplary schools. The schools would have to apply themselves via the online portal. The portal will be opened four times a year, once a quarter for the first two years of the program. The primary schools (grades 1-5/1-8) and the secondary/secondary schools (grades 1-10/1-12/6-10/6-12) would be considered for selection under the programme. The selection would take place in a three-stage process with fixed deadlines.
