KSU speaks out against Minister Saji Cheriyan over his comments on quality of school education in Kerala

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As controversy erupted over Minister Saji Cheriyan's statement that many children who have passed Class 10 in the state do not know how to read and write, KSU said that the minister's statement is a mockery of the student community. The students' organization also demanded that minister should retract his statement and apologize. KSU further said that the minister who insulted the constitution should not evaluate the students.

V Sivankutty, Kerala's Minister for General Education and Labour, also spoke against Saji Cheriyan's remark.

"It is a requirement of the general public that the quality of education should be further improved in the school education sector in Kerala. More projects are being conducted by education agencies including SCERT under the Department of General Education," he said.

"Controversy is being created by taking some remarks from the speech given by Minister Saji Cheriyan. If you listen to the entire speech, it is clear that he has expressed his opinion to take the general education sector to a higher level," Sivankutty pointed out.

Saji Cheriyan's controversial comment was during a graduation ceremony of a private institution in Alappuzha.

"Most students who passed the SSLC examinations still don’t have the skills to read or write properly. Earlier, getting 210 marks in SSLC was a prized achievement. But now, every student is getting more than 90% marks. If some students fail the exam, it will be portrayed as the government’s failure. Opposition will create an uproar. So it is fit for the government to be liberal while evaluating SSLC papers. I hope the educational minister stops this trend and adopts some prudent measures. Children these days are so fixated in the world of technology that they can barely differentiate a buffalo from a cow. The only establishments that will continue to be relevant are liquor outlets and hospitals. These two establishments are seeing big progress," he said.