MEMORABLE PIECE OF BASIC LEGISLATION Winding up the debate during the third reading of the Kerala Education Bill in the State Legislature today, (September 2, 1957), Shri.Joseph Mundasserry, Minister for Education, spoke as follows: Sir, No new suggestions have been raised on the floor of the House against the passing of this Bill into law. People generally consider it a good fortune to do good deeds or be participants in good deeds. I regret very much that my friends opposite, even at this last [...]

Pro-Bill Procession. Trivandrum, August 28. Another big demonstration, second in three days, was held in Trivandrum today, this time to support the Kerala Education Bill, now under clause by clause consideration of the Assembly. On Tuesday opponents of the Bill demonstrated in the city demanding the withdrawal of the Bill. Today’s demonstration was organised by the Trivandrum District Committee of the Communist Party. Demonstrators from various parts of the district collected in front of the Mus [...]

Procession in Trivandrum. Trivandrum, August 26-Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala, today witnessed the biggest-ever demonstration when thousands of volunteers from all over the State paraded through the streets of the city to voice their protest against the Communist Government’s Education Bill. Spearheaded by about 3000 blue-uniformed “Christophers” (bearers of Christ) the procession marched through the three mile route and converged at a public meeting at which resolutions were passed demandin [...]

Anti-Education Bill Demonstration. Government have received reports to the effect that an anti-Education Bill Demonstration is being organized in Trivandrum on the 26th of this month and that batches have already started from some places. The demonstrators are expected to number a few thousands. The Government understands that there is a certain amount of anxiety as to what such a demonstration may lead to. It is feared, on the one hand, that this demonstration itself may go beyond peaceful limi [...]

The Main Objects of the Bill The Education Bill already introduced in the Kerala Legislature and referred to the Select Committee is intended mainly to be a safeguard against the disabilities enumerated above. The following are the main objects:- (1) To give the departmental rules and practices legal sanction so that the Department is in a position to enforce its orders and see that reasonable protection is afforded to teachers. (2) To regulate the choice, appointment, conditions of service, etc [...]

Not A Minority The contention of Christians in Kerala who are under the discipline of he ecclesiastical heads, that the schools established and maintained by them under the prescribed rules of the Department are to be reckoned as minority schools or denominational schools is absolutely untenable. There are minority schools in Kerala, but these are not many. They are owned by Anglo-Indians, Jews, Gujarathies, etc. The claim of Christians that they should be allowed to establish and maintain minor [...]

The attainments of today. After the liberation of India from foreign domination, the continuous agitation of teachers for better salary and conditions of service has considerably improved the situation. At present we have more than ten thousand schools (Lower Primary Schools, Upper Primary Schools and High Schools) in the Kerala State. The teaching personnel would be over 70,000. More than half of the schools in the State are owned by private agencies. In the Travcancore-Cochin area, the most ou [...]

The Kerala Education Bill: Background to Policy. Following is the full text of a Press release issued on the 19th August 1957. The aim and purpose of the Education Bill now on the anvil of the Kerala Legislative Assembly have been explained in detail by the Minister for Education himself and by his colleagues in the Council of Ministers, besides having been clarified in official hand-outs to the Press and utterances by impartial leaders of public opinion. There has, however, been a continuing ca [...]