Launch of PM SHRI Kendriya and PM SHRI Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya

Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister for Education, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, inaugurated 37 PM SHRI Kendriya Vidyalayas and 26 PM SHRI Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas across Odisha. According to the minister, these schools will operate in accordance with the National Education Policy 2020 and offer pupils with a complete and inclusive education. He also stated that about 800 government schools in Odisha will be converted into PM Shri Schools, with a total investment of more than Rs. 1600 crore. He also urged that the Chief Minister of Odisha, Shri Naveen Patnaik, sign an MoU to execute the PM Shri Yojana in Government Schools in Odisha.

What is PM SHRI School?

• Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) is a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme that was approved by the Cabinet on September 7, 2022. 
• These schools would demonstrate the National Education Policy 2020 implementation and emerge as exemplary schools over time, as well as provide leadership to other schools in the community. 
• As part of the NEP 2020 goal, they would give leadership in their particular areas in providing high-quality education in an equitable way.
• The project provides for the establishment of more than 14500 PM SHRI Schools by strengthening existing schools operated by the Central Government/State/UT Government/local entities. 
• A maximum of two schools would be chosen every block/ULB, with no restriction on the total number of schools selected across India.
• The programme was proposed to run from 2022-23 to 2026-27.
• The project's entire cost would be Rs 27360 crore distributed over 5 years, including a federal share of Rs 18128 crore.

President of India to inaugurate Eklavya Model Residential School

• Droupadi Murmu, the Honourable President of India, is scheduled to open the new Eklavya Model Residential School site in Kuliana during her visit to Mayurbhanj on November 20, 2023. 
• These schools are designed to help indigenous children grow as individuals.
• The President has dedicated the school at Kuliana, Mayurbhanj, for which the Ministry of Tribal Affairs has approved a budget of Rs. 38 crore.

Features

• The Kuliana EMRS campus is built on around 12 acres of land. 
• It will include 16 classrooms for 480 kids, 240 males and 240 girls. 
• There are separate boys' and girls' dorms, as well as Mess, residential housing for the principal, teaching and non-teaching personnel, an administrative block, a play area, and computer and scientific laboratories.

EMRS in Mayurbhanj District

• Mayurbhanj district alone has 19 new EMRS sanctioned in Odisha, one in each block, which is the most for any district in India. 
• In the previous two years, construction work has been underway at 48 locations across Odisha, including 19 schools in Mayurbhanj, in collaboration with the state government.

What is the Eklavya Residential Model School

• Eklavya Residential Model School is the Government of India's flagship project for providing quality education to tribal kids. 
• The national government approved 452 new Eklavya Residential Model Schools in 2019, one in each tribal block having 50% or higher ST population and 20,000 students.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the initiative on September 12th, 2019 from Ranchi, Jharkhand. 
• On the model of Navodaya Vidyalayas, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs is executing this initiative through the National Education Society for Tribal Students (NESTS). 
• For these schools, the NESTS is also hiring around 38,000 teaching and non-teaching personnel.