The controversy within Kerala’s Left Front over the Prime Minister’s Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) Fund is not one that should be limited to that sphere in isolation. However, what has currently made headlines is the disagreement between the CPM, which leads the Front, and its second-largest ally, the CPI. The government argues that if the National Education Policy (NEP) is not adopted and the PM SHRI scheme not implemented, Kerala stands to lose ₹1,500 crore in central funds — money that would otherwise go to waste — and, as a result, school children would be deprived of the benefits the scheme offers. The CPI contends that if Kerala signs the MoU under the PM SHRI scheme committing itself to implementing the National Education Policy, it would in effect, be compelled to adopt the saffronisation-oriented reforms embedded in the NEP. Kerala has made it clear that it will not accept the National Education Policy (NEP) in its entirety. CPI leader Binoy Viswam stated that the Centre is attempting to introduce the policy through the back door by linking it to funding provisions. He also criticised the decision being made at the departmental level without prior discussion within the Left Front whose policy stand had guided the earlier decision. The government, on the other hand, maintains that since the state has not fully accepted the NEP, it can make the necessary modifications while implementing it. Whether that is actually feasible remains to be seen. The state government has cited as an example its deviation from the Centre's stand in having separately printed and added portions that were removed from history textbooks by the Centre. But the legal implications of such an approach remain unclear at this stage.
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Not only Kerala, but Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have also refused to accept the National Education Policy (NEP). Tamil Nadu has stated that it is even willing to forgo ₹2,000 crore in central funds if accepting it demands implementing NEP. The state has also mounted a legal challenge, filing petitions in both the Madras High Court and the Supreme Court — the latter being yet to be heard, the court having declined to give an urgent hearing. The CPI believes Kerala, too, should pursue a legal course of action. The core question, they argue, is whether the Centre has the authority to enforce a uniform education policy across the entire country. in contradiction to federal principles. Imposing centralised schemes and monolithic ideas — and compelling states to comply through financial control — undermines the principles of federalism. Since education falls under the Concurrent List of the Constitution, states are not entirely without room for its own decisions. As critics of NEP point out, it is not merely a matter of accepting central funds and following orders.
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In fact, this is not merely a dispute between the CPM and the CPI. Many of the curriculum changes required under the NEP directly affect the wider population of Kerala — a society that has largely resisted Hindutva ideology. These include the compulsory inclusion of Hindu religious content under the guise of “national knowledge systems”, the injection of bias and racial undertones into history and science lessons, the promotion of unscientific theories in the name of traditionalism, and the mandatory addition of modules such as yoga studies.
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It remains unclear whether the recent shift in the state government’s stance stems solely from the logic of not letting central funds go waste. During a discussion with student leaders last June, General Education Minister V. Sivankutty had firmly maintained that there was no question of yielding to the NEP. However, some interpret the latter-day change in position as a sequel to recent discussions between Chief Minister with the Prime Minister and that of General Education Minister V Sivankutty with Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. It is also possible that the government’s reasoning includes the argument that, just as it accepts funds from the Union Health and Agriculture Ministries, education should not be treated differently.
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In the present context, there are several key facts that the state government owes revealing to the public. What is Kerala’s annual entitlement under the PM SHRI Fund? How much of the total allocation for the 2022–2027 period remains for the state to receive? Now that only a year of the PM Shri funds remains, what will become of the scheme after 2026–2027? Has the government identified the means to cover the 40 percent share it is required to contribute under the scheme’s provisions? Is there any funding yet to be received under other NEP-linked initiatives? If the NEP is implemented only in part, will the Centre still treat it as compliance and release the funds? Will the state government legally challenge the requirement that selected schools operate under the PM name with PM's photo? And most importantly, will it challenge in the Supreme Court the broader question of whether the Centre can dictate the use of funds collected from states through their own tax contributions? The Left Front government must be prepared to release a detailed fact sheet clarifying its stance on these critical issues before the public.