7 months ago
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Kerala sprang a astonishment past week by signing up for the scheme, Prime Minister Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI), that dovetails the National Education Policy (NEP)-2020, to upgrade and marque 14,500 schools nationwide arsenic exemplary institutions. Kerala, 1 of the 3 States to reason the NEP-2020 (the others being Tamil Nadu and West Bengal), connected the contention that it sought to encroach connected the taxable of schoolhouse education, which is successful the Concurrent List, and infuse it with communal bias and anti-scientific content, was evidently looking to summation cardinal funds. Earlier this year, Tamil Nadu had approached the Supreme Court of India aft the Centre withheld funds nether the Samagra Shiksha (SS) strategy implicit the State’s refusal to follow the NEP-PM SHRI framework. Kerala’s statement connected adopting the strategy is now successful freeze aft strife wrong the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) soon aft the authorities signed the PM SHRI Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Centre, without Cabinet support — an contented deferred doubly successful Cabinet meetings. The CPI, a cardinal LDF partner, demanded an contiguous withdrawal. The CPI(M), which holds the wide acquisition portfolio, initially defended the decision, arguing that enrolment successful PM SHRI was indispensable to avail of national funds withheld nether the SS, which had led to wage arrears for teachers and non-teaching staff. The CPI(M) clarified that Kerala remained opposed to the NEP-2020 and would clasp power implicit its schoolhouse curriculum. The allies reached a détente connected Wednesday — a furniture subcommittee volition scrutinise the MoU. Implementation of PM SHRI volition stay suspended until the subcommittee’s recommendation. The Centre volition beryllium formally informed of this decision.
Kerala has agelong excelled successful schoolhouse education, achieving near-universal gross enrolment ratio, precocious retention rates, superior learning outcomes, and modern infrastructure — milestones that render galore NEP-2020 targets redundant successful the State. For Kerala, PM SHRI amounts to small much than cosmetic rebranding of already high-performing institutions, but the State would beryllium forced to comply with provisions of the NEP-2020 for integration of ‘Indian Knowledge Systems’, which galore reckon is simply a euphemism for pseudoscience. It is regrettable that the Centre withholds national funds nether the SS to arm-twist States into accepting NEP-2020 oregon PM SHRI. While Tamil Nadu has pursued ineligible redress, its lawsuit has not received the judicial urgency it warrants. In India’s national polity, the judiciary indispensable robustly support cooperative federalism whenever it is undermined. As Kerala pauses PM SHRI, it indispensable see litigation to unafraid its rightful stock of cardinal funds. Federalism and State autonomy cannot beryllium bargaining points successful the quest for funds.
