Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala General Education Minister V Sivankutty said the state government has received the first instalment of central funds for the Samagra Shiksha Kerala (SSK) scheme.

Of the ₹109 crore approved by the Centre for educational purposes, ₹92.41 crore was sanctioned recently as recurring funds entitled to children under the Right to Education Act, the minister told reporters here.

He added that the non-recurring component of ₹17 crore, meant for construction works, was yet to be released. Despite the approval, arrears of ₹1,158 crore from 2023-24 remain pending with the Centre, Sivankutty said.

The minister also noted that the Union government has informed the Supreme Court that it will soon allocate SSK funds for the appointment of special educators for differently-abled children.

According to the Rehabilitation Council of India's guidelines, one special educator is required for every 10 differently-abled students in classes 1-5 and one for every 15 students from class 6 onwards. Since the number of differently-abled students in each school is small, the state has proposed treating a group of schools as one unit, which would require over 4,000 special educators, he said.

Sivankutty added that the issue affects nearly 45 lakh children in public schools but has not had a major impact so far as the state government is covering part of the Centre's share. He assured that Kerala will continue to pursue the release of all pending central funds.