New Delhi: The 6,000 Model schools to be set up by the Human Resource Development ministry is still a distant reality as data from the ministry shows that only two states have so far utilized the funds allocated for the project.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, HRD minister Kapil Sibal informed that 434 Model schools have been sanctioned for 12 states so far in the economically backward blocks.

According to the information given to the lower House, Punjab and Tamil Nadu are the only two states which have submitted the amount utilization certificates to the centre.

Other states for which funds have been sanctioned are Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, West Bengal and Gujarat.

The scheme, launched in November 2008, envisages setting up 6,000 model schools in every block 'as a benchmark of excellence' across the country with 3,500 of these being in educationally backward blocks.

Another 2,500 of these schools are to be built in the public-private-partnership mode.

"The objective of setting up the schools in public-private-partnership mode is to enhance access to quality school education through private investment to augment the efforts of the government," Sibal said. IANS