Govt. spent ₹5,000 crore to strengthen public education sector: CM

The State government has spent ₹5,000 crore to protect and strengthen the public education sector, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Tuesday (February 10). He was declaring the Munderi Government Higher Secondary School as the State’s first integrated international school.

The Chief Minister said the objective of development was to ensure that everyone benefited from it equally. He noted that universal and free education, strengthened by social reformers and later by policy interventions, had ensured near-total school enrollment in the state.

The government, he said, had taken major steps since 2016 through the Public Education Protection Mission to upgrade infrastructure, ensure the timely distribution of textbooks from June 1, and improve academic standards.

According to him, improvements in general education had also led to children of migrant workers enrolling in public schools, reflecting the growing confidence in the system. Significant changes were also underway in the higher education sector.

Highlighting the transformation of the Munderi school from a conventional high school into a national model, Mr. Vijayan said infrastructure of international standards had been created alongside curriculum and timetable reforms. Arts and sports were given equal emphasis.

Established in the 1980s with strong public support, the school had grown steadily over five decades.

A cluster model integrating the higher secondary school with 14 primary schools in the panchayat was implemented under the ‘Mudra’ scheme, which aided rapid development.

The campus now features modern laboratories, an advanced robotics lab, smart classrooms, and bio-gardens to help students learn from nature.

The school, the Chief Minister said, had become a source of pride for Kerala’s public education sector.

Former MP K.K. Ragesh and District Collector Arun K. Vijayan were present.