Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 19: Kerala General Education Minister V Sivankutty on Sunday announced that the state will join the PM SHRI scheme to get the due central funds, but asserted that it would not backtrack from the existing educational policy in the state. While CPI, an important constituent of ruling LDF expressed reservations about this policy shift, its representative in ministry, Revenue Minister K Rajan, said the matter was not discussed in the cabinet.
BJP both welcomed the minister’s announcement and slammed the CPI(M)-led government’s “two years of unnecessary opposition and stubbornness” before joining the scheme. BJP state chief Rajiv Chandrasekhar termed the state government’s change of heart as “CPI(M)’s admission that Union government’s stand and National Education Policy were correct”.
While speaking to a television channel, Minister Sivankutty said every citizen of the country deserves Central funds and so there is no need for Kerala to stay away from it. There is already a due of ₹1,466 crore central funds to the state for various educational programmes and children of Kerala deserve it, minister added. (PTI)
