Thiruvananthapuram: The General Education Department has withdrawn permission granted to the National Teachers' Union (NTU), a BJP-affiliated teachers' organisation, to conduct a scholarship examination in schools across Keralam in association with Mayilpeeli, a magazine published by Balagokulam.

The decision came after complaints that the examination was a politically motivated initiative. Acting on the directions of Education Minister N Shamsudheen, the Director of General Education, who had earlier granted permission, withdrew the approval. The minister has also sought an explanation from the director on how the permission was issued.

The minister's office said the approval had been granted without his knowledge.

The director had given permission for the examination, titled 'Young Scholar Exam', about a month ago, based on an application submitted by National Teachers' Parishad state general secretary T Anoop Kumar in July.

According to the organisation, school-level examinations were held a week ago, while sub-district-level examinations took place on Saturday. Anoop Kumar claimed that the examination had been conducted in 90 per cent of the sub-districts.

He said the withdrawal of permission would not affect the remaining stages, as the district- and state-level competitions would be conducted online.

Questioning the decision, Anoop Kumar said several other organisations conducted quiz and scholarship competitions in schools through publications associated with political parties.

He cited Aksharamuttam, a quiz organised by CPM mouthpiece Deshabhimani, examinations conducted by Malarvadi, a magazine associated with the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), and the CH Quiz organised by the Indian Union Muslim League.

He questioned why the Mayilpeeli scholarship examination alone had attracted objections. He also pointed out that the National Teachers' Parishad had conducted scholarship examinations in schools in association with the Vivekananda Sahitya Sarvaswam during the previous LDF government's tenure.