Kerala will join PM SHRI scheme, says Education Minister Sivankutty

Thiruvananthapuram | Kerala General Education Minister V Sivankutty on Sunday announced that the state will join the PM SHRI scheme to get the due central funds, but asserted that it would not backtrack from the existing educational policy in the state.

While CPI, an important constituent of ruling LDF expressed reservations about this policy shift, its representative in ministry, Revenue Minister K Rajan, said the matter was not discussed in the cabinet.

BJP both welcomed the minister's announcement and slammed the CPI(M)-led government's "two years of unnecessary opposition and stubbornness" before joining the scheme. Saffron party's state chief Rajiv Chandrasekhar termed the state government's change of heart as "CPI(M)'s admission that Union government's stand and National Education Policy were correct".

While speaking to a television channel, Minister Sivankutty said every citizen of the country deserves Central funds and so there is no need for Kerala to stay away from it. There is already a due of Rs 1,466 crore central funds to the state for various educational programmes and children of Kerala deserve it, minister added.

However, Sivankutty made it clear that joining the union government scheme is only a practical way to get the due funds and it would not make any difference in Kerala's existing educational policy.

He said the state can implement various programmes in the educational sector and pay the salaries of over 7,000 teachers smoothly only if it receives the funds.

"We will not backtrack from the state's educational policy. Various departments, including health, higher education and agriculture have already accepted the central funds," Sivankutty said. The state would not implement anything against the existing policy, even if the Centre suggests so, he said.

He also recalled how Kerala had brought out alternative textbooks when the country's history was allegedly attempted to be distorted in the books of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) recently.

When reporters asked whether the decision was taken after holding a discussion with CPI, a key partner in the LDF, which has been vehemently opposing the state joining PM SHRI scheme, the minister didn't give a clear reply. The PM Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) scheme is a union government's initiative to upgrade select schools across the country.

More than 14,500 existing central, state, local body run schools will be strengthened and upgraded as PM SHRI, official sources have said. Meanwhile, the differences of opinion in the ruling LDF over the PM SHRI came out as CPI leaders, later in the day, clarified that they were not aware of the development.

While CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam said there is no change in their earlier stand in the matter, senior party leader and Revenue Minister K Rajan said the Cabinet has not taken any decision in this regard.

When reporters sought his reaction, Viswam said he came to know about Sivankutty's statement only through the media and had no other information.

He said it should be thought of multiple times before taking any decision,

Kerala General Education Minister V Sivankutty

as the state cannot accept the National Education Policy (NEP) which reflects RSS ideology and part of their agenda of "communalisation and commercialisation".

Rajan also spoke on similar lines and said no decision has been taken at the government level to join PM SHRI.

"It's a matter that requires necessary consultations," he said. Though the Centre puts pressure on the state, Kerala won't kneel down before it, the minister said, adding that no decision has been taken in terms of the Central scheme.

However, BJP state chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar described Kerala's decision to join the scheme as a "wisdom that came too late".

In a statement, he said the CPM and the Pinarayi Vijayan government owe an apology to the people for denying the benefits of the Central government's education programme to thousands of students in the state for so long. It is the CPI(M)'s agenda to first oppose good initiatives and later turn around to claim credit for them, he alleged.

"After two years of unnecessary opposition and stubbornness, the Kerala government has now decided to sign the MoU for the PM SHRI scheme. The BJP considers it as an admission by the CPI(M) that the stand of the union government and the National Education Policy was completely right," he said.

He accused the state government of spreading false propaganda claiming that the Centre was not releasing funds and of refusing to implement the scheme while demanding money at the same time.

"Now that they have realised that such tactics will not work, their decision to finally accept the Central government's plan to modernise Kerala's schools is welcome," he added. BJP's youth wing ABVP also welcomed the state government's decision and said around 336 schools in the state would benefit directly from the scheme and would be elevated to the standards of Kendriya Vidyalayas.