7 months ago
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The ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) connected Sunday (October 19, 2025) appeared divided implicit the Kerala Government’s determination to motion a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Central Government to entree the sizeable funds of the Prime Minister’s Schools for Raising India (PM SHRI) purportedly tied to the imposition of the contentious National Education Policy (NEP) successful States.
Kerala was among the respective non-BJP-ruled States, including West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, that had demurred from implementing the strategy based connected the cognition that NEP signalled a national overreach into the jurisdiction of provincial governments implicit wide education, a concurrent database subject.
However, General Education Minister V. Sivankutty signalled a turnabout precocious by stating that signing the MOU did not awesome that the LDF had accepted the Centre’s bid to enforce the NEP implicit States by making it a precondition for the merchandise of PM SHRI funds.
Mr. Sivankutty stated that Kerala presented its acquisition argumentation arsenic a nationalist alternate to antagonistic insidious efforts to saffronise and corporatise education. He mentioned that Kerala had resisted attempts to erase definite parts of Indian past by keeping sections that the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) had unilaterally removed.
“We person introduced caller textbooks to combat attempts to distort past oregon beforehand a revanchist docket to undermine the improvement of a scientific, secular and progressive temper among schoolhouse students,” helium said.
Nevertheless, Mr. Sivankutty said Kerala could sick spend to suffer the ₹1,446 crore the Centre owed the State nether the PM SHRI scheme.
“The authorities indispensable instrumentality a pragmatic approach. Kerala needs funds to summation pupil scholarships, including for the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) communities, modernise post-matric hostels for underprivileged students, concern probe and people caller schoolhouse textbooks, and upgrade schoolhouse infrastructure by procuring the latest teaching immunodeficiency and paying the salaries of much than 7,000 authorities schoolhouse teachers. Currently, the State Government bears each the costs,” helium said.
Mr. Sivankutty stated that the Higher Education and Agriculture Departments had signed up for Central schemes contempt profound ideological differences.
Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal person received nary funds nether Samagra Shiksha for FY2024-25
CPI takes beardown exception
Communist Party of India (CPI) State Secretary Binoy Viswam told The Hindu that the government’s determination to judge PM SHRI funds was fiscally non-beneficial and politically incorrect.
“The 2022 PM SHRI strategy volition expire successful 2026-27. The magnitude the State volition person is meagre, since the merchandise of funds is conditional connected the timely yearly submission of utilisation certificates. Kerala has shunned the strategy for astir 5 years. The Centre volition not merchandise the funds with retrospective effect,” helium said.
Mr. Viswam said Kerala had acceptable a exemplary for different States by rejecting the PM SHRI, which helium termed arsenic the Centre’s effort to strong-arm provincial governments into accepting the “reactionary NEP”.
He said the NEP “denied” Darwin’s mentation of improvement and placed folklore implicit science. “Kerala cannot judge NEP. Its model, arsenic successful wide education, offers a nationalist alternate to the neo-liberal, pro-corporate revanchist ideology of the Sangh Parivar. “The LDF, which is astatine the forefront successful the combat against the BJP’s saffronisation agenda, should not suffer show of its humanities nationalist mission,” helium said.
Congress stance
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Sunny Joseph, MLA, told reporters successful Kozhikode that CPI should broadcast its loyalty to the nationalist origin against the BJP by asking its ministers to entity to the determination successful the LDF and besides the Cabinet. “Mere sabrerattling and token utterances of protestation are not enough,” helium said.
