In last financial year, MoE released only 20% Samagra grants to SED

Srinagar, May 30: The J&K School Education Department (SED) has received only 20 percent of the grants from Ministry of Education (MoE) GoI, under centrally sponsored scheme, Samagra Shiksha during the last financial year.

A top official told Greater Kashmir that the curtailment was not faced by only J&K but other states and UTs as well.

The official said that during the last Project Approval Board (PAB) meeting, the department of School Education and Literacy (DSEL) allocated around Rs 2500 crore under Annual Works Plan and Budget (AWPB) but released only Rs 500 crore, which was the first installment under the scheme. “The funds are released in four installments quarterly. But during the last financial year we received only 20 percent funds,” he said.
The latest PAB meeting for the current financial year was convened by Secretary DSEL in the Ministry of Education on May 26, 2026. “The department  showed 100 percent expenditure of the funds released during the last financial year,” the official said. The PAB meeting was earlier scheduled on May 7 of 2026 but was deferred till May 26 of 2026.

“During the fresh PAB meeting, we did not receive grants for civil works as the MoE informed that the name of the scheme is likely to be modified by September this year. After that grants for execution of civil works will be released to the J&K SED,” the official said.

He said out of Rs 500 crore, around Rs 6.75 crore is utilised for the salary of AAYA workers working in schools across J&K. “Besides J&K, the funds were curtailed to all the states due to various reasons. But various projects are on cards to bring reforms in J&K’s education sector,” he said. The official said despite the MoE is also mulling to converge Anganwari centres with pre primary classes and utilise the service of the human resource in schools.

In this regard, the J&K Chief Secretary is likely to take a review of the initiative in J&K and participate in a conference to be organised by MoE. “The initiative has been implemented by various states and is likely to be officially implemented in J&K as well,” the official said. He said the government is mulling to bring reforms in education through convergence mode.