Kerala is considering filing a review petition in the Supreme Court in connection with the latter’s directives to the State government on establishing primary schools in areas where none function, Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty has said.
Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, the Minister said the government respected the apex court ruling in the case related to a petition seeking the setting up of a school at Elambra in Manjeri municipality in Malappuram district and was examining the practical aspects of the judgment, though a copy of the order was awaited.
The Minister pointed out that Kerala was much ahead of northern States when it came to educational facilities. Government and aided schools functioned within a radius of 1-2 km of the majority of the populated areas in the State.
School dropout rates were almost zero in the State. When it came to literacy rates, the national average was much lower than that in Kerala. This showed that no student was denied education just because of lack of schools.
The matter of the school at Elambra would be specially considered since the local body had informed that free land and building would be made available for it.
The government, the Minister said, was committed to implementing the Right to Education Act, but it should be done scientifically and in a practical manner.
The quality of education maintained by Kerala became evident when comparing the number of schools and the population here and in other States. In Uttar Pradesh, for instance, though there were over 2.5 lakh schools to cater to a population of more than 24 crore, the number of students in a school was high. In Bihar, there were only 93,000 schools for 13 crore people, resulting in crowded classrooms. In Kerala though, there were nearly 16,000 schools for a population of 3.5 crore. Besides an enviable teacher-student ratio, Kerala did better on infrastructure and individual attention. It did as good as Punjab and Chandigarh in literacy teacher training, and infrastructure.
The State’s policy was to lift existing schools to international standards, rather than increase the number of schools, the Minister said.
Published – November 26, 2025 07:46 pm IST
