The Chief Minister and the General Education Minister should clarify if they will implement the National Education Policy, 2020, in Kerala, former Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty has said.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday (June 26, 2026), Mr. Sivankutty said there was no legal hurdle for the United Democratic Front (UDF) government in withdrawing from the PM SHRI (Prime Minister’ Schools for Rising India) scheme. “It is not right to go ahead with PM SHRI implementation in the name of legality or precedence. The LDF had kept the scheme implementation in abeyance when it was in power,” Mr. Sivankutty said.

Mr. Sivankutty said there was no confusion that the State had not proceeded with the PM SHRI scheme. It had not received any funds under the scheme. Nor had it kickstarted processes such as selection of schools as part of the scheme implementation. “There is nothing wrong in deciding not to go ahead with the scheme implementation.”

He categorically denied Minister for General Education N. Samsudheen’s remarks that the LDF had implememted NEP in the State since some NCERT textbooks were being used for higher secondary classes and Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (PM USHA) was being implemented in the higher education sector.

The PM SHRI scheme, he said, was meant to showcase the implementation of the NEP. The NEP reflected the approach of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) towards education. “It is the NEP that talks about the curriculum. It has revamped educational practice and its structure and paves the way for privatisation of education. For this reason, it cannot be implemented in the State on any account.”

The then LDF government in Kerala had clearly specified that it would not implement the NEP. Moreover, it had brought out additional textbooks when the Union government had made attempts to distort history in the name of textbook revision, Mr. Sivankutty pointed out.

If the NEP were to be implemented, all progressive education practices in the State would be wiped out, he said.

However, Mr. Sivankutty did not give a satisfactory reply as to why the LDF itself did not withdraw from the scheme instead of keeping it in abeyance if there were no hurdles to withdrawing from the scheme.

A Cabinet subcommittee was formed to study the scheme implementation, he said. However, he admitted that the subcommittee did not meet once.