Explaining his statement, Raveendranath said, “Figures were sought and they were given. There was no other interpretation to the issue.” Kozhikode: Education minister C Raveendranath has said that the figures regarding the number of students who took admission in schools without mentioning their caste or religion was only “a technical reply to a technical question.”
Meanwhile Deputy Leader of the Congress party in the Assembly, K C Joseph, gave a notice for moving a breach of privilege motion against the education minister for misleading the House.
Explaining his statement, Raveendranath said, “Figures were sought and they were given. There was no other interpretation to the issue.”
“When some people contested the genuineness of the figures, the Director of Public Instruction (DPI) was directed to examine the matter. The statistics presented in the Assembly were based on the data uploaded in the software dealing with admissions,” said the minister.
The minister added that filling the column on caste and religion was not mandatory.
He had earlier told the House that 1,24,147 students had secured admission in schools without filling the column seeking information on caste and religion.
While 1.23 lakh ‘casteless’ students had joined classes 1-10, 275 students were admitted to plus one and 239 to plus two, according to the minister.
The DPI had come out with a clarification that the figures were obtained from the data uploaded in the software, which was not the true picture regarding the caste and religious status of the students.
On the incidents at Kasargod Nehru College, Raveendranath said that a report has been sought from the Director of Collegiate Education.
“Any official response can be given only after the report is received,” he said.
