Kerala’s Minister for General Education and Employment, V. Sivankutty, has strongly criticized the NCERT’s recent decision to assign Hindi titles to English-medium textbooks, calling it a “grave illogicality” and a blatant act of “cultural imposition.” He warned that such moves threaten the federal values and linguistic diversity enshrined in India’s Constitution.
Sparking fresh controversy, NCERT has renamed well-known English textbooks like Honeysuckle (Class 6) to Poorvi, while also introducing titles such as Mridang and Santoor for younger grades. Sivankutty argued that these changes go beyond semantics — titles, he said, help shape young minds and imaginations, and English-medium students deserve culturally neutral, English-language titles.
The minister emphasized that Kerala remains committed to promoting linguistic diversity and regional identity, and he urged NCERT to immediately roll back the decision. He also called on other states to collectively resist such one-sided policy implementations.
The move has reignited national debate around the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, with leaders like Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin accusing the Centre of pushing Hindi hegemony and marginalizing non-Hindi speaking states — both culturally and financially.
