STATES TO GET OVER ₹7K CR AS EDUCATION GRANT

NEW DELHI: The Union government is releasing almost ₹7,750 crore to states to meet immediate education expenses during the pandemic, the Union education ministry said after a meeting with the state education secretaries on Monday.

Of the total amount, ₹5,228 crore have been released as “ad hoc grants” under the flagship school education program called ‘Samagra Shikha Abhiyan’ and ₹2,500 crore will be released soon to continue various initiatives including online education, the Union ministry said.

It further explained that the school education department of the ministry has started conducting the meetings of the project approval boards (PABs) virtually for approving annual work plan, and budgets of the states under SSA, “so that the states and union territories can get timely (financial) approvals for implementation of the above interventions”.

The ministry and the state education secretaries, however, did not take a call on the conduct or cancellation of Class 12 exams.