Kerala withdraws nod for Young Scholar Exam 2026 after education minister Samsudheen steps in

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Keralam government on Saturday withdrew permission for the Young Scholar Exam 2026, a scholarship test proposed for government schools, after criticism over the alleged involvement of a right-wing organisation. General Education Minister N Samsudheen intervened after the approval drew political criticism. 

He sought an explanation from the Director of General Education and asked the department to submit a detailed report on how permission was granted, according to a statement. His office later said the order permitting the exam had been cancelled on his directive.

The exam is organised by the National Teachers' Union (NTU), a Sangh outfit, in association with Mayilpeely magazine. The magazine is published by Balagokulam, a right-wing organisation known for organising Sree Krishna Jayanti celebrations in the state.

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Young Scholar Exam 2026 by NTU

The school-level exam was held on October 30, and the sub-district and district-level tests were scheduled for November 14 and 22, respectively. It was meant for upper primary and high school students, sources said. Leader of the Opposition and CPI(M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan accused the UDF government of joining hands with the Sangh Parivar to turn state-run schools into its "laboratories". 

In a statement, he alleged that the permission was part of a deliberate attempt to introduce communal ideology. He said the Director of General Education granted the permission on an application by T Anoop Kumar, general secretary of the NTU, which he described as an RSS teachers' organisation. 

Vijayan said the same person was recently nominated by the UDF government to the state school curriculum committee, calling it open appeasement of the Sangh Parivar. Mayilpeely introduced the exam in 2017, but government schools in Keralam gave no space to such alleged communal agendas during the previous decade of his government, he said. Vijayan said withdrawing the order after protests would not erase the government's mistake. 

Pinarayi Vijayan demands education Minister's apology

He demanded that the Education Minister apologise to the people for allowing state-run schools to be used for programmes that allegedly promote communalism among children, and that the nomination of the alleged RSS representative to the curriculum committee be cancelled immediately. The move would not be accepted by Keralam's secular society, and the CPI(M) would resist at all costs any attempt to undermine the state's secular public education system, he said.

BJP sources here criticised the political row and the government's decision to withdraw the order. They said the controversy stemmed from a narrow political mindset, as associations linked to all political parties routinely make similar academic interventions.