General Education Minister V Sivankutty said on Wednesday that the government has consulted the Advocate General to assess the legal implications of the Cabinet’s decision to shelve the PM-SHRI agreement with the Center to secure federal funds for school education.
Mr. Sivankutty’s statement took on political significance against the backdrop of reports that the Communist Party of India (CPI) had signaled impatience with the “administrative delay” in communicating a key cabinet decision to the central government.
The government hastily backtracked on the controversial deal after the CPI threatened to withdraw its cabinet ministers last week, accusing the government of keeping the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the ministry in the dark about the controversial decision.
In a public split with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)), which added a lot of strain to coalition relations, the CPI pointed out that the governor should be the signatory to the agreement and not a bureaucrat sent “by stealth” to Delhi to sign the agreement.
The CPI opposed the deal ideologically as it argued that signing up to PM-SHRI amounted to an implicit endorsement of the “reactionary and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-inspired” National Education Policy (NEP).
Additionally, the CPI said Kerala’s inclusion in the PM-SHRI undermined the left national line against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which led the central government’s insidious drive to “centralise, commercialise, communalise and saffronise school education”.
Mr Sivankutty said legal procedures and constitutional issues informed the state’s dealings with the Centre. “The state couldn’t just run them,” he said.
Mr. Sivankutty chairs the Cabinet sub-committee tasked with reviewing the state’s Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Center regarding release of funds to PM-SHRI and SSK. The sub-committee is made up of ministers representing key allies, including the CPI.
Mr. Sivankutty said the sub-committee, which was yet to meet, would examine whether the MoU violated the LDF line on PM-SHRI and NEP.
He said the government’s priority is the interests of 45 thousand students attending government and government-aided schools.
“Kerala must secure the ₹1,402 crore statutory federal funding owed to the state by the Center without any conditions or compromising the government’s secular and progressive public education line,” he added.
Mr. Sivankutty said the center’s one-time funds for education were overdue. When he meets Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in Delhi on November 9, he will raise this issue along with a host of other issues related to Kerala’s school education.
Published – 05 Nov 2025 19:07 IST
