Copyright thehindu
Signing up for PM SHRI (PM Schools for Rising India) does not mean National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) syllabus will be taught in schools in the State, Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty has said. Former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president K. Surendran’s remarks that content related to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) co-founder K.B. Hedgewar and Hindutva ideologue V.D. Savarkar will be included in the Kerala curriculum were politically motivated and a propaganda, a statement quoting Mr. Sivankutty said on Saturday. Mr. Sivankutty alleged that Mr. Surendran did not have an idea about the State’s educational policy. Kerala signed the agreement for implementing PM SHRI to utilise Central funds for improving physical infrastructure of schools in State schools and raise their academic quality. It was not to surrender the State’s syllabus to the Union government. The State had its own powerful curriculum and outlook on education, he said. The Minister contended that moves by the Union government to rewrite history and communalise education would not gain ground in the State. “The historical truth that Mahatma Gandhi was killed by Nathuram Godse cannot be erased from textbooks in the State by anyone,” he said. The State government, he said, had no intention to teach students about Hedgewar and Savarkar as desired by Mr. Surendran. Such remarks were an attempt by the BJP to create confusion in the education sector. “Government and aided schools in the State will continue to impart education that upholds Constitutional values and secularism based on the curriculum here,” the Minister said.
