Thiruvananthapuram, May 1 Kerala Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty on Thursday said that he will register a protest at the upcoming National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) General Council meeting to be held in Delhi on Friday.
The protest will centre on the replacement of English titles in school textbooks with Hindi names.
Sivankutty said, “I will express our strong displeasure over the manner in which Hindi titles are being imposed in English-medium textbooks. This issue will be raised at the NCERT General Council meeting, and I will also take it up with Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.”
The controversy stems from NCERT’s rollout of new textbooks aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, where titles traditionally in English have been replaced with Hindi names such as Mridang, Santoor, and Poorvi for classes 1 to 6.
“It is wrong to reject English titles that have been in use for decades, especially when they promote inclusivity and respect for India’s linguistic diversity,” Sivankutty said.
He also said he would raise concerns about the implementation of the PM Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) scheme, which he claims has also ignored federal norms.
At the April 9 cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, the decision to adopt the scheme was deferred following strong opposition from the Communist Party of India (CPI), the second-largest constituent of the ruling Left Democratic Front.
Initially, Sivankutty had questioned the CPI's stance, arguing that the PM SHRI scheme was focused on infrastructure development and should not be opposed. He even publicly criticised CPI State Secretary Binoy Viswam for resisting the move. However, in the face of firm opposition from the CPI, the Minister has since shifted his position.
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