The standoff between the CPI and CPM partners in the Left Democratic Front government in Kerala over the state government’s U-turn on the PM SHRI (PM Schools for Rising India) scheme appears to have eased
up, but tensions persist between the two Left parties, with the former questioning the reversal in policy and demanding its withdrawal.
The Pinarayi Vijayan government has now decided to put implementation of the scheme in abeyance and is set to approach the Centre seeking relaxation in some conditions which it has described as unacceptable.
After holding out for three years and refusing to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Union Education Ministry on the PM SHRI, which envisages an infusion of funds to states for improving educational infrastructure under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the Kerala government suddenly decided to join the scheme.
The decision, which was taken sans the state cabinet’s approval and without consulting its allies in government, was justified as a pragmatic move to ensure that the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) funds withheld by the Centre from states that refused to join the PM SHRI would be released for the benefit of schoolchildren and educational infrastructure in the state.
Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have also refused to join the scheme, questioning the Centre’s alleged bid to centralise education and describing it as an assault on federalism. Altogether, Rs 1000 crore has been withheld from West Bengal, Rs 860 crore from Kerala, and Rs 2152 crore from Tamil Nadu under the SSA, according to a parliamentary report.
The MK Stalin government is firm in its opposition to the scheme, as a prerequisite is the adoption of NEP 2020, which envisages a three-language formula, and the DMK sees this as a backdoor imposition of Hindi. The disruption to the present educational system in states by the forced adherence to the NEP is also being objected to, especially the alleged saffronisation of the curriculum.
For the Pinarayi Vijayan government, the CPI weighing in sharply on the policy reversal has come as an embarrassment ahead of the local body polls. Despite assurances from state education minister V Sivankutty that the present school curriculum will not be changed, it is obvious that the CPI remains unconvinced.
Party general secretary D Raja has been firm in his disapproval of the move, asserting that the CPI cannot support the scheme that aims to centralise, commercialise and communalise education. Now many in the state are questioning the government’s hasty decision and see in it further evidence of the alleged nexus between the Kerala CPM and the BJP.
