From the appropriateness of gender-neutral uniforms to the credit for Kerala’s achievements in the education sector, a debate on curriculum revision for school education organised by the Kerala School Teachers’ Union (KSTU) here on Thursday saw fierce arguments put forth by speakers representing various streams of political thought.
Opening the debate, E.T. Mohammed Basheer, Indian Union Muslim League MP, said an unnecessary controversy had been created in the name of the Kerala Curriculum Framework, 2022. The government was mischievously trying to insert its political interests into the framework under the guise of gender justice. “It is foolishness to say that we will attain gender equality if girls and boys sit on the same bench. Why should someone insist on all students wearing pants,” Mr. Basheer asked.
‘Not much care’
K.V. Manoj, former research officer, State Council of Education Research and Training, claimed that the government was unilaterally trying to impose reforms in the sector without caring much for the cultural diversity of the State. “The main issues to be addressed in school education are that of equality, quality and access. But, the government is not doing it. Its efforts are to divert the discussion to some other topics.... Also, an impression is being created that only the Left can take credit for our achievements in the educational sector,” he said.
K.M. Abhijith, president, Kerala Students Union, endorsed this, saying that successive governments led by various political dispensations were behind the accomplishments in school and college education. The State government was doing nothing to stop the nefarious designs of the National Democratic Alliance government, which was trying to corporatise and privatise education. There was no resistance to the attempt to insert Right-wing views in students, he added.
S.K. Sajeesh, former State treasurer, Democratic Youth Federation of India, said the concerns over the curriculum framework were misplaced because the proposals were still in the stage of discussions. “They are not in the public domain. Right now, only some questions have been posed before the 34-member framework committee on rooting out gender discrimination. I can assure you that there will be democratic discussions on all these issues,” he said.
P. Gavas, Communist Party of India leader, echoed his views and said that actual criticism should be levelled against the New Education Policy, which was a short-sighted document.
