Chandigarh, Dec. 5 -- After withholding approval for a similar proposal earlier, the Centre has sanctioned Rs.106 crore to Punjab for digital initiatives such as computer laboratories and smart classrooms in government schools under the Samagra Shiksha scheme for the current financial year, while also flagging the need to enhance focus on quality interventions, girls' education and skill education. The additional budget was approved by the project approval board (PAB) of the Union ministry of education at a supplementary meeting held in Delhi last month. The funds have been sanctioned for procuring digital hardware and software for information and communication technology (ICT) labs in 2,065 government secondary and senior secondary schools as well as for establishing smart classrooms in 10 such schools in the state. The Punjab government had submitted a proposal seeking Rs.128 crore to set up computer labs and smart classrooms in 2,407 schools across the state. However, the ministry excluded schools already covered under the Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India (PM-SHRI) scheme and those with an enrolment of less than 40 students, according to minutes of the board meeting received by the state government a fortnight ago. The meeting, chaired by Union secretary, school education and languages, Sanjay Kumar, was attended by the secretaries of women and child development, labour and employment, social justice, jal shakti and minority affairs ministries, NCTE vice-chairperson, and Punjab's secretary, school education, along with SPD, Samagra Shiksha, and the directors of school education and SCERT. Earlier, while approving the annual work plan and budget of the state government for 2025-26 in March this year, the central government had not cleared proposals related to certain digital initiatives, including Rs.23 crore for computers and software for elementary classes and recurring expenditure of Rs.37 lakh for smart classrooms at secondary level. At the same time, the state authorities were asked to analyse the availability of computer labs and smart classrooms as per the norms and submit a fresh proposal in addition to examining the availability of integrated science laboratories in secondary schools and subject-specific (physics, chemistry and biology) in senior secondary schools for a supplementary proposal. The education ministry, in a PAB meeting last year, had expressed concern over the high pendency in setting up ICT labs and smart classrooms. Punjab had utilised only 33% of the funds allocated for digital infrastructure in schools under the scheme over the past five years. A total of Rs.198.62 crore was allocated to the Punjab government between 2020-21 and 2024-25 to establish 1,910 ICT labs and 3,885 smart classrooms in government schools in the state. Of this amount, Rs.66.80 crore was utilised by the state government during that period. With these additional funds, the total budget approved for Punjab under the scheme has risen to Rs.1,710.15 crore this year, including a spillover of Rs.215.6 crore. Of this, approximately Rs.927 crore are earmarked for elementary schools, Rs.701 crore for secondary schools, and the remaining Rs.79.91 crore for teacher education. The scheme follows a 60:40 Centre-state funding ratio, and the central government has already released two instalments of 25% each, out of its total share of Rs.861 crore. The education ministry, in the PAB meeting last month, also advised the state officials to enhance their focus on teacher education, quality interventions, skill education, and interventions related to gender and equity and access and retention. "As per the monthly progress report, the state has incurred expenditure primarily on Right to Education (RTE) entitlements, financial support to teachers, inclusive education, and programme management," it said, analysing the state's spending under the scheme. While the Union ministry had earlier flagged teacher vacancies at both elementary and secondary levels, state officials informed it that the recruitment process for 8,000 teachers in government schools has begun, which will help improve dropout and retention rates in foundational and primary grades. The central ministry appreciated the state for its "good achievement" in gross enrolment ratio (GER) at all levels....