Gurgaon: Senior administrative officers of the Haryana Civil Services (HCS) will now adopt select schools under the central govt’s PM SHRI scheme to strengthen school education and infrastructure across the state. Each adopted school will receive up to Rs 2 crore annually for two years to upgrade facilities and improve the overall learning environment.During a review meeting, chief secretary Anurag Rastogi directed officials to ensure effective implementation. Authorities were instructed to set up district-level committees headed by deputy commissioners and additional deputy commissioners. These committees will assess infrastructure and academic gaps in the selected schools and will work towards resolving them.Officials were asked to conduct field visits to assess school facilities and identify priority areas for funding. The goal is to strengthen academic infrastructure and ensure effective use of resources to transform these institutions into model schools. Rastogi also directed that all teaching and non-teaching staff vacancies in PM SHRI schools be filled on priority. The state govt will honour the three best-performing PM SHRI schools and three Model Sanskriti schools on Independence Day. The awards will be based on academic performance, infrastructure development and innovative teaching practices.Education department officials have been instructed to form evaluation and selection committees at district and divisional levels to identify the top-performing schools.So far, 250 schools across the state have been selected under various phases of the PM SHRI scheme—124 in the first phase, 111 in the second, six in the third, and nine in the fifth—ensuring broad regional coverage.Out of 143 development blocks in the state, 137 have already been covered under the initiative. Among them, 113 blocks have two PM SHRI schools each—typically one senior secondary school and one primary or secondary school—while the remaining 24 blocks have one such school.For financial year 2025–26, the scheme has an approved budget of Rs 191.6 crore, of which Rs 95.8 crore has been sanctioned and around Rs 29.78 crore spent so far.Selected schools are being developed as green campuses with solar power plants, LED lighting, water conservation systems, nutrition gardens, and waste management facilities. The focus is also on smart classrooms, digital tools, and experiential learning.
