Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan has said that there is no provision for the State to withdraw from the agreement with the Union government on implementing the PM SHRI (Prime Minister’s Schools for Rising India) scheme.

Addressing a post-Budget press conference here on Friday, the Chief Minister said only the Union government had the right to withdraw from the agreement after giving a notice of one month. There was no provision in the agreement to keep the scheme implementation in abeyance either. Kerala became a party to it the moment the agreement was signed, he said.

As per the memorandum of understanding that the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government signed with the Union government, “DOSE&L (Department of School Education and Literacy), MoE (Ministry of Education), GoI (Government of India) reserves the right to rescind, cancel, terminate the agreement in the interest of public by giving a notice of 30 days.”

The LDF government signed on an agreement which the State had no right to freeze or withdraw, he said.

Mr. Satheesan quoted from an article by the former Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty in Deshabhimani October last. In the article, Mr. Sivankutty wrote that it was incorrect that the State curriculum would be replaced by that stipulated by the Union government once the agreement was inked. The National Education Policy clarifies that States can follow their own curriculum, Mr. Satheesan said.

Mr. Sivankutty goes on to write that Centrally sponsored schemes are implemented using public funds. Rejection of schemes by Kerala, which believes in federalism, will be tantamount to harming public interests, Mr. Satheesan quoted from the article by Mr. Sivankutty.

The LDF, Mr. Satheesan, should remember all these arguments when it was criticising the United Democratic Front (UDF) decision on PM SHRI.

Mr. Satheesan accused former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Mr. Sivankutty of keeping the Cabinet and the ruling front in the dark about inking the deal, even as the Communist Party of India kept protesting against it. “No Chief Minister in Kerala has shown such duplicity,” Mr. Satheesan said.

He also denied any change in his stance on PM SHRI. “We will not allow any provision that affects the State’s freedom to decide its curriculum.”