Bid to misinterpret PM SHRI MoU conditions: Kerala General Education Minister

Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty has alleged a bid to misinterpret the conditions in the memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the centrally sponsored PM SHRI (PM Schools for Rising India) programme that Kerala signed recently.

He has termed baseless reports that Kerala will have to implement the Central curriculum instead of its own. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 (page 17 paragraph 3) makes it clear that States can follow their own curriculum.

In a statement on Monday, the Minister points that whichever textbook a State chooses, it has full right to decide what lesson is taught and what is not since education is on the Concurrent List. This is the reason why the State brought out additional textbooks when the NCERT axed certain portions from textbooks brought out by it.

He also urges the people to verify the situation in States that had already implemented PM SHRI.

The Minister said that if Kerala, which believes in upholding federal principles, rejects Centrally sponsored schemes it will hurt the people. The New India Literacy Programme or the higher education’s PM USHA scheme are all being implemented by the Union government by linking them to NEP. Since 2022, Samagra Shiksha too has been aligned with the NEP. However, Kerala has implemented these schemes in the context of the situation here.

The more than 40 lakh students in the State too have educational rights. Free textbooks, uniforms, education of the differently abled, special schemes for students in tribal and coastal areas, teacher training exams all need to be ensured in future for quality education to children till they are in class VIII according to the Right to Education, the Minister pointed out.

He also argued that Kerala did not take legal recourse as its neighbouring Tamil Nadu did as it could lead to a delay in meeting children’s educational needs. Kerala took a final decision after studying the case of Punjab that had become part of PM SHRI but then withdrew from the agreement only to rejoin it again in 2023.