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➔ Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) Scheme (UPSC/RAS/PSI)

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  • Nodal Ministry/Department- Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education

Strategic Vision, Rationale & Financial Trajectory

  1. NEP 2020 Operationalization- Designed to act as the primary institutional vehicle to showcase and operationalize all components of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 on the ground.
  2. Macro Schooling Landscape- Caters to India's vast school system comprising 14.71 lakh schools and >24.69 crore enrolled students by establishing benchmark institutions.
  3. Target Scale & Direct Beneficiaries- Seeks to upgrade over 14,500 existing schools into exemplar institutions, directly benefiting more than 20 lakh students.
  4. Exemplar & Mentorship Philosophy- Shifts focus from isolated school upgrades to a hub-and-spoke model where PM SHRI schools mentor, handhold, and cluster with neighboring regional schools.
  5. Budgetary Escalation- Central Project Approval Board (PAB) funding allocation surged by ~107%, rising from ₹2,520 crore in 2023–24 to ₹5,224 crore in 2026–27.
  6. Paradigm Shift in Development- Transitions Indian public education away from purely civil infrastructure building toward an integrated, learner-centric, and future-ready model.

The Six Foundational Pillars & 21st-Century Competencies

  1. NEP Alignment- The scheme's institutional architecture is organized across six foundational pillars derived from nine chapters of NEP 2020-
  1. Curriculum, Pedagogy & Assessment
  2. Access and Infrastructure
  3. Human Resources and School Leadership
  4. Management, Monitoring, and Governance
  5. Inclusive Practices and Gender Equity
  6. Beneficiary Satisfaction 
  1. Curricular Restructuring- Adapts the  design framework via the National/State Curriculum Frameworks while giving States flexibility to contextualize local requirements.
  2. Experiential & Play-Based Learning- Promotes bagless days, local artisan internships, indigenous crafts, toy-based learning in foundational years, and field immersions.
  3. Core 21st-Century Competency Suite- Embeds team collaboration, real-life problem solving, critical thinking, creative innovation, and ethical decision-making into daily teaching.
  4. School Quality Assessment Framework (SQAF)- Establishes an institutionalized quality assurance tool to evaluate physical functionality, safety, aesthetics, and learning outcomes.
  5. Green School Benchmark- Integrates environmental sustainability, climate-conscious school management, water conservation, and eco-friendly campus operations.

Three-Stage Competitive Selection via Challenge Mode

  1. Stage 1 (State-Level Commitment)- States and Union Territories sign a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Central Government agreeing to support the prescribed benchmarks.
  2. Stage 2 (UDISE+ Filtering)- Eligible applicant schools are pre-screened based on mandatory minimum benchmarks verified via the UDISE+ database.
  3. Stage 3 (Challenge Competition)- Shortlisted schools compete on an open challenge matrix covering academic performance, green initiatives, and community support.
  4. Minimum Threshold Scores- Mandates a minimum qualifying benchmark score of 70% for urban applicant schools and 60% for rural applicant schools.
  5. Basic Infrastructure Pre-requisites- Requires a pucca building, barrier-free access for Children with Special Needs (CwSN), separate toilets, power supply, teacher IDs, and above-average State enrollment.
  6. National Apex Approval- Physical ground verification by State/UT authorities is submitted to an Expert Committee headed by the Secretary (School Education & Literacy) for final clearance.

 Inclusive Pedagogy, Technology & Teacher Empowerment

  1. Multilingual Instruction Support- Promotes mother tongue/regional languages in foundational years; UDISE+ 2025–26 records 9,152 regional language, 6,102 Sanskrit, and 1,994 Urdu teachers deployed.
  2. Technology-Enabled Classrooms- Integrates smart interactive boards, ICT facilities, high-speed broadband, STEM laboratories, and open digital repositories through the DIKSHA portal.
  3. Vocational & Entrepreneurial Linkages- Connects secondary school curricula with local economic clusters, industry skill councils, and entrepreneurship ecosystems.
  4. Institutional DIET Support- Disburses financial assistance of up to ₹3 lakh per District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) to run specialized pedagogical training modules.
  5. Direct Teacher Training Allowances- Provides up to ₹2,500 per educator for capacity-building covering subject teachers, principals, special educators, and master trainers.
  6. Holistic Progress Card (HPC)- Trains school leaders and educators to operationalize 360-degree multidimensional student progress tracking, mental health counseling, and safety protocols.

National Footprint & Implementation Progress

  1. National Achievement Rate- Selected 13,092 schools out of the 14,500 target (90% completion)across 36 States and UTs.
  2. Deep Geographic Penetration- Covers 725 administrative districts and 8,340 blocks/Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) throughout the country.
  3. Distribution Across School Tiers- Comprises 5,544 higher secondary, 3,141 secondary, 3,102 upper primary, and 1,305 primary schools.
  4. Central & Specialized Inclusions- Encompasses 913 Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVS), 620 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (NVS), 80 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs), and 4 NCERT model schools.
  5. Leading State Beneficiaries- Uttar Pradesh leads the network with 1,888 selected schools, followed by Andhra Pradesh (982), Maharashtra (946), Madhya Pradesh (944), and Bihar (904).
  • Himalayan & Island Integration- Encompasses schools across sensitive geographies, including Jammu & Kashmir (427), Ladakh (41), Andaman & Nicobar Islands (20), and Lakshadweep (13).

Source: PIB