Nod for Mayilpeeli scholarship exam withdrawn

The Directorate of General Education has withdrawn the permission given for conducting a scholarship examination in association with a right-wing group’s publication in State schools.

Permission had been given to the National Teachers’ Union (NTU) on October 12 for conducting the scholarship exam. However, the permission was withdrawn by the Director of General Education (DGE) on the directions of Minister for General Education N. Samsudheen in the wake of complaints from various corners, a communication to T. Anoop Kumar, general secretary of the NTU, said on Saturday.

The Minister has also sought a detailed report from the DGE on the permission given for conducting the exam.

The approval was given last month on an application from the NTU general secretary for organising the ‘Young Scholar Exam 2026’ for government and aided upper primary and high school students in the State. The exam was to be conducted for schoolchildren from Classes V to X in association with Mayilpeeli, a publication brought out by Balagokulam, a right-wing organisation that works to “impart the cultural spirit of the country to the new generation.”

The approval drew flak from the Students Federation of India (SFI). SFI State secretary P.S. Sanjeev, in a social media post, asked whether the Minister, who is from the Indian Union Muslim League, knew of the matter. If the IUML workers did not react now, its office in Kozhikode would see Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Savarkar’s photo come up. He wrote that actor Unni Mukundan was the brand ambassador of the scholarship scheme.