GURGAON: Haryana became the first state on Wednesday to launch schools under the PM Shri programme. Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan and state school education minister Kanwar Pal Gujjar formally inaugurated 124 PM Shri schools in the state in the first phase of the project.The second phase will see 128 more schools being added to the programme.Four of the first 124 are in Gurgaon — one in each block. The CBSE-affiliated schools will follow the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 curriculum, officials said.The schools now under PM Shri – acronym for PM Schools for Rising India – are not new ones but existing government schools, both co-educational and girls, that have received special attention on infrastructure. A total of 6,448 schools across India are in the process of being upgraded under the scheme, which was approved by the Cabinet in September 2022.Chief secretary Sanjeev Kaushal said the Centre had shortlisted 3,893 schools in the state based on an assessment of existing infrastructure, student strength and accessibility. Of these, 124 schools were picked for the first phase. These are campuses that are better placed than others in physical infrastructure and teaching staff.Model Sanskriti Schools were not considered for the selection. Incidentally, the state has recently upgraded 67 more Government Senior Secondary Schools (GSSS) to Model Sanskriti Schools, affiliating them with the CBSE too.Students currently enrolled at the PM Shri schools will start studying the CBSE from the next academic session, said Anjana Dhingra, principal of GSSS Chakkarpur, which is one of the four upgraded schools in the city. The school is currently affiliated with the Haryana board.The switch to the new curriculum will, however, only be for students in classes 6-8 so that it doesnt affect board preparations for students in ninth and tenth, and eleventh and twelfth.Officials said the PM Shri schools will work on a five-year development programme with each school will get funds of about Rs 1 crore every year to overhaul the teaching-learning ecosystem. The scheme will be implemented from 2022-23 to 2026-27, after which it shall be the responsibility of the states/UTs to continue to maintain the benchmarks achieved by these schools. The total cost of the project will be Rs 27,360 crore spread over a period of five years, of which the Centres share is Rs 18,128 crore, said Sanjay Kumar, secretary (school education and literacy) in the ministry of education.Students of PM Shri schools will be provided facilities on a par with those in private schools, officials said. This includes smart classes, better arrangements for students to sit and study, sports labs and other facilities. Students can also choose their medium of study — English or Hindi, a senior department of secondary education official told TOI.The PM Shri schools will also aim to use more technology to aid pedagogy, like private schools do. Besides having ICT-based teaching infrastructure, these schools have been developed keeping carbon neutrality and environmental sustainability in mind. They have facilities such as solar panels, nutrition gardens, a plastic-free environment and waste management units, the official added.Each PM Shri school has been linked to a higher education institution for mentoring and to the local entrepreneurial ecosystem for enhancing vocational and internship opportunities. Children will also receive counselling on psychological well-being and career building, officials said. The schools annual grants will include library and sports components and expenditure on maths and science kits. .

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