No provision for Kerala to withdraw from agreement PM SHRI: Chief Minister VD Satheesan

Kerala Chief Minister VD Satheesan Photo Credit: Nirmal Harindran

Chief Minister VD Satheesan said there was no provision to allow the state to back out of the agreement with the Union government to implement the PM SHRI (Prime Minister’s School for the Rise of India) programme.

At a press conference after the budget meeting here on Friday, the chief minister said that only the Union government has the right to withdraw from the agreement after a month’s notice. The agreement also contained no provision delaying the implementation of the regime. Kerala became his party the moment the agreement was signed, he said.

According to the MoU signed by the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government with the Union government, “DOSE&L (Department of School Education and Literacy), MoE (Ministry of Education), GoI (Government of India) reserves the right to cancel, cancel or terminate the agreement in public interest by giving 30 days notice.

The LDF government had signed an agreement which the state had no right to freeze or revoke, he said.

Mr Satheesan quoted from an article by former General Education Minister V Sivankutty in Deshabhimani in October last year. In the article, Mr. Sivankutty wrote that it is not right for the state syllabus to be replaced by the syllabus set by the Union government once the agreement is signed. The National Education Policy makes it clear that states can follow their own curriculum, Mr. Satheesan said.

Mr. Sivankutty further writes that centrally sponsored programs are implemented from public funds. Rejecting the plans of Kerala, which believes in federalism, will be tantamount to harming public interests, Mr. Satheesan quoted from Mr. Sivankutty’s article.

LDF Mr. Satheesan should remember all these arguments while criticizing the decision of United Democratic Front (UDF) on PM SHRI.

Mr. Satheesan accused former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Mr. Sivankutty of keeping the Cabinet and the ruling front in the dark about the deal, even as the Communist Party of India protested against it. “No Chief Minister in Kerala has shown such duplicity,” Mr. Satheesan said.

He also denied any change in his attitude towards PM SHRI. “We will not allow any provision that affects the state’s freedom to decide its curriculum.”

Published – 20 Jun 2026 0:10 AM IST