Kerala on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Centre to join the PM SHRI Schools scheme, officials said.

It was after a prolonged spell of uncertainty that the Kerala government under the Left Democratic Front decided to become a signatory to the Central government's Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) scheme, brushing aside objections raised by key coalition partner CPI.

The scheme aims to develop infrastructure in two schools from each block with Central assistance.

Each selected school receive an annual average assistance of Rs 1 crore for five years.

Sivankutty confirmed that the decision to join the scheme has been communicated to the Centre, and the department's secretary has been instructed to sign the agreement.

"This was the only way to secure the Centre's share of Rs 1,500 crore, which is pending for various educational programmes in Kerala," the minister said.

Although the CPIM and the Department of General Education had agreed to join the PM SHRI project much earlier, the Kerala government was forced to backtrack on the decision twice following strong objections from the CPI.

The latest decision to proceed was taken without placing the matter before the state Cabinet.

Initially, the state government had opposed joining the scheme, arguing that it could pave the way for the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) in Kerala.

Concerns were also raised over the requirement to display boards identifying schools as PM SHRI Schools.