Student unions have been protesting in Kannur University since Thursday
Thiruvananthapuram:
A day after allegations of saffronisation of education against Kannur University in Kerala for including parts of books by RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) ideologues in the postgraduate curriculum, state Governor Arif Mohammad Khan said on Saturday that People oppose various oppositions, there is a loss of ideas.
“Vidya (education) gives you a sense of distinction between different shades of right or wrong or right or wrong… Diversity is a law of nature. People who feel uncomfortable with the study of diverse ideas, I think, can’t get enough of someone. Will not harm. They will harm themselves,” Mr. Khan told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram.
State Higher Education Minister R Bindu said the education department considers the curriculum problematic and does not include many other perspectives.
The university has been witnessing protests by student unions since Thursday against its decision to include parts of books by RSS leader MS Golwalkar and Hindu Mahasabha leader VD Savarkar in the syllabus.
A two-member expert committee was appointed to look into the matter and asked to submit its report within five days.
On Friday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the state government would not glorify the ideas and leaders who had turned their back on the freedom struggle.
“The Department of Higher Education is of the view that the curriculum is problematic… Many other points of view are not included. The government has a societal view that the communal agenda should not gain power because of the curriculum. It would be dangerous to create communal ideas in classrooms. Manch, which should live as a truly secular space,” Mr Bindu wrote on social media.
The minister said that the articles which are contrary to the constitutional values in the syllabus are not correct. “Sometimes, there is a need to critically evaluate reactionary ideologies. But one should not glorify such ideologies and the leaders who uphold those views,” Mr. Vijayan said.
The Kerala Students’ Union (KSU), a wing of the Congress, and the Muslim Students’ Union (MSF), a wing of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), staged protests on the campus on Thursday over the issue.
According to unions, Golwalkar’s books such as “Bunch of Thoughts” and Savarkar’s “Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?” parts were included. in the curriculum of the third semester students of MA Governance and Politics.
He alleged that the syllabus was not prepared by the Board of Studies but by the teachers of Thalassery Brennan College and it was decided by the Vice-Chancellor.
MA Governance and Politics is taught only at Brennan College which comes under Kannur University.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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